Lake Country Bible Church (10 Factors that Led to this Transition)

The invisible hand of providence is always at work even when our human eyes (Gen. 50:20; Rom. 8:28-29) fail to see it.  Jesus is not only the Creator of all things He is also the cosmos' Sustainer (Col. 1:16f)!

Some time ago a ministry friend from another state told me about a like-minded church outside of Milwaukee that was searching for a new Senior Pastor.  This pastor colleague of mine was friends with Lake Country's Youth Pastor via his finance who was a member of this shepherd's church  He recommended I connect with the Pastoral search committee.  Are you confused yet?  In God's good Providence this human connection was God's initial means to eventually transition us from Illinois to Wisconsin.  What things led Andrea and I to accept the pastoral call to a ministry setting outside of suburban Milwaukee?

Here is a list of 10 Factors:

10) I immediately connected with the initial contact person from LCBC.  Long time member and PSC chair (Jason Valentine) quickly became a friend.  The more he expressed leadership team's heart for gospel ministry the more compatible we appeared to be.  Though at the time LCBC did not have a lot of young families, the fact his sweet family was the same age as ours was also a providential blessing.

9) Lake Country Bible Church clearly knew what kind of shepherd-expositor and lead pastor they were looking for.    One of the things that discourages me the most about the American church today is how so many Word-dominated and biblically qualified pastors have such a difficult time finding full-time ministries.  I have many friends (that are much better men than me) who have been unable to find ministry work.  I was impressed that the founding pastor and elders at LCBC had a good grasp on what the priorities of a local church are (Col. 1:28-29; Eph. 4:11-16) and therefore they also knew what kind of lead pastor they were looking for.

The Lord (Still) Provides

The way the Savior takes care of His own is worthy of many articles.  This past week our family was reminded afresh that the Lord (still) provides.   Please take a moment and read this brief testimony of thanks.

This winter our furnace stopped working.  For Midwesterners that is actually a very big deal.   The repairman said because of the age of the unit combined with how much money the parts/labor were that the best option would be to 'bite the bullet' and purchase a new HVAC unit.  Six thousand dollars later we had a warm house again.  This massive bill meant that our tax return was spent before we even received it.  We pastors count on those annual tax refunds.  This also meant that our savings account was almost completely depleted (which does not take much).  I am sure many of you can relate to this.  Living paycheck to paycheck is truly nothing to complain about.  It is hard enough to manifest total reliance on God when we have a week's worth of food in our pantries (which is true of most Americans).  This explains why we rarely, if ever, pray "give us THIS DAY our daily bread."

Anyways, just this week we had some more unexpected expenses involving automobiles, home repairs, and few other things.  Sometimes all the planets in life seem to collide, don't they?  I wrote the following text message to my brother in Christ and deacon chairman Dick Hunziker. Tires are apparently below legal driving limit.  Wash machine not working (again) and we're still recovering from the cost of replacing the furnace and air conditioner this winter.  Prayer welcomed.