Pastors get shot at, too!

Our church was seeing growth, blessing and vitality! Up to nearly 500 in attendance, a sanctuary building project was in process. However, slowly some discontent by a few folks arose and began to spread among the congregation like a slow growing malignancy.

Like a dark cloud over the church, the services lost their luster. Excitement vanished, both in the pulpit and pew. I lost my joy and preaching became a laborious chore. The congregation seemed listless. I began to develop the sin of resentment toward a few who I felt were perpetuating the unrest in our midst. All this began to weigh down my spirit. The heavens became brass and I couldn’t get my prayers through. What was a joy to pastor now became a burden. I longed to be out of the ministry – even thinking I could enjoy working on a chicken farm instead. A nervous breakdown seemed eminent. In order to keep my sanity I began to jog each morning and while running I would quote over and over again a passage from Ephesians 3:16-20 “that He would grant unto me according to his riches in glory that He would strengthen me by his Spirit in the inner man…..” knowing that I was history unless the Lord God who had called me filled my empty heart with His power and love. I was at the end of myself.

After months of this, my wife and I were fortunate to attend a Billy Graham pastor’s conference. Of all the great sermons I heard preached, nothing seemed to reach me. That is, until the last sermon I heard that was just for me in Isaiah. 43:18-19. “Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. I am doing a new thing, don’t you see it! I am making a way for you through the wilderness.” In a flash the Holy Spirit pierced the blackness of my life. I had a promise straight from God’s heart to my heart. Ah, light at the end of the dark tunnel I had been in so long. I left the meeting with a new life and a newborn hope.

Two weeks later while jogging in the middle of the street in the darkness of the early morning, I experienced the fulfillment of that promise! The heavens opened and the Holy Spirit poured forgiveness and cleansing into me filling my spirit with Himself, his love and power in a definite discernible way. I prayed out loud, crying and blubbering, unaware of any who might have been around me. I didn’t care. I was in the presence of the King! He lifted my burden…I was running free… a free man. ….He had literally fulfilled His promise to me! I finished my jog that day with a prolonged sense of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit that changed my life. I had a new love for my people, a new anointing and joy in my preaching, a renewed zeal for God and his church.

The following weeks the parishioners exclaimed, “We have a new pastor!” The cancer that was eating at the vitals of our church body seemed to disappear. Our services became fruitful and exciting again. The church began to grow as the winds of the Spirit blew over us. Something we hadn’t seen for two years. Within six months, the unfinished sanctuary was completed and the church stepped out into a new chapter. Sixteen months later the Lord released me to accept a new assignment.Yep, as I look back, it was a hard experience to go through. But the Lord taught me to hang on when the going gets tough and not to hang it up until I get a clear signal straight from Him. I came out of it a forgiven and forgiving man, conscience clear, spirit free and a wiser, stronger and godlier man. Praise the Lord!
Straight ahead Ron Rodes