On June 8th, 2014 a small group from First Baptist traveled to Rockford to pay our respects to Pastor Bob Bixby and Morningstar Church. The special service we were participating in was not a funeral rather it was a special "commissioning service" for Bob Bixby. We were attending this service in large part to show our appreciation for a selfless servant of God. Our group also wanted to thank Morningstar Church for what they have meant to our congregation over these past six years.
For a long time I have wondered if conservative evangelicals are really "Together For the Gospel"? Yes, I know more and more local churches now say they embrace the chief tenants of biblical Calvinism and I realize that pastors come together in droves today for mega conferences telling the world along the way that we are gloriously united in the truth (see the Gospel Coalition and Together For the Gospel for example). However, I have witnessed and experienced first hand many actions that seem to tell a much different story. I have found that professing evangelical churches often function as if we embraced religious Darwinism. It's the survival of the fittest. It's lets grow my ministry even if it's at the expense of undermining yours brother-pastor. It's your loss is our gain (praise the Lord). It's, can I say, a dog eat dog world out there!?!
In one 'real world' situation a former lay leader left our local church, after trying to secretly run me out, only to be welcomed by another evangelical pastor the next Sunday. No follow up phone call ever came even though this pastor knew me and was fully aware that this member use to joyfully serve at our church. This whole situation saddened me but honestly it really did not surprise me because I have experienced similar situations like this many times before and I am guessing most of my pastor readers have too. My favorite story is the (former) "missional" pastor in town who was actually teaching his local church that being a 'missionary' involved actively recruiting Christians from other local church congregations (including ours) to come and join the mission at ___ church. In a previous ministry context I remember when our senior pastor received an email informing him that in a few weeks a new, like-minded, church plant was going to start up just a few blocks away from our location. A few months later one of our pastor's fellow elders left to join the "Harvest team" down the street. With interactions like this, are we really together for the gospel?
Thankfully I/we have also had the joy of meeting some amazing pastors and local churches. These shepherds truly care about the spiritual health of local churches that they don't even pastor! They actually look out for one another and serve one another in the joy of the Lord. They contact each other if a member from another local church starts attending their ministry just to make sure everything is above board. Some of them even pray for one another's ministries by name on Sunday morning. I have briefly written about this refreshing experience in a previous blog post.
No pastor has modeled this spirit more than Pastor Bob Bixby (pictured above). Bob was greatly blessed to have a plethora of gifted preachers at the church he "planted" many years ago. Of course some of these men were the direct fruit of Bob's ministry labors. Rather than hoard these gifts Pastor Bixby willingly shared these men with like-minded ministries that were in need of assistance. He even commissioned two of his best men to go pastor other needy congregations.
On many different occasions First Baptist Church has been the recipient of these grace gifts! Even as Bob left Morningstar Church for a needy work in California the attitude he modeled continues in the ministry ethos of those who remain (Pastor Rick Bovell, Kevin Thompson, and the entire church). In fact, just last week I realized that the nasty illness that had me hovering over the toilet most of Saturday was not the 24 hour flu bug. Around 2:30am Sunday morning I emailed Rick Bovell a ministerial distress signal ("emergency preacher needed in 8 hours"). I was not surprised when Rick wrote back saying he would find someone from his leadership team to cover for me/us.
Church revitalization is a team effort. In the case of First Baptist, Freeport our ministry family extends well beyond the walls of one ministry. This post is written in appreciation of the sacrificial ministry example of Pastor Bob Bixby and Morningstar Church. May your tribe increase!
P.S. Maybe we really are "together for the gospel."
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