A response to a letter from my friend and ministry colleague, Don Argue.

[1]

Thanks, Don, for your comments on WHAT’S IT LIKE—BEING A PASTOR.[2] It’s always great to hear from you. I am interested in what you shared about your Call to be a pastor, yet giving a major portion of your life’s work as a college/university president. There was a time in my life when I thought I’d like to be a college/university president. But it was not to be in the grand scheme of God’s plan for me. Anyway, you’ve caused me to reflect. 

WHEN I WAS SIXTEEN,

I made the ultimate commitment of giving my life to Jesus Christ, knowing when I did, it was, for me, wrapped around a call to vocational ministry (though I’m not sure I understood what the word “vocational” meant at the time). I could not separate the two. Accepting Christ as my Savior and a “calling to ministry” were a “both and” thing for me. But I never intended on being a pastor. It wasn’t even on the list. 

My eventual goal was to be a military chaplain. Then circumstances changed. And I changed. Dropping out of seminary (I returned to grad school years later), I wandered through the land with my wife and infant daughter, as a young evangelist, served as a denominational youth/men’s ministries director, a college public relations director, a pastor in three churches, an adjunct professor, writer, novelist, and nonprofit organization executive director. I never did make it to my “dream job.” However I take great pleasure in having been a kind of handyman for Jesus, fixing, repairing, inviting, restoring—I’ve just never wanted to leave anyone where I found them. 

I RECALL MY 16TH SUMMER,

shortly after turning my life over to Jesus, I was invited to Fruitland Adult Bible Camp In eastern Washington to sing my first public solo. The song I chose, Don, I’m sure you will remember. It was,  Where He Leads Me I Will Follow[3]

         I can hear my Savior calling,

         I can hear my Savior calling,

         I can hear my Savior calling,

         “Take thy cross and follow, follow Me.”

                  Refrain:

                  Where He leads me I will follow,

                  Where He leads me I will follow,

                  Where He leads me I will follow,

                  I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.

The kind of song George Beverly Shea would sing. And do it so much better.

I had no idea how ‘prophetic’ the words in that song would be for me. Like Abraham[4] of old, I simply started out in obedience to a Call I didn’t really understand. And while my path did not go in the direction I wanted, every now and again, I would hear my Savior calling, as he has so often, “This way…over here friend[5]…there’s something more I want you to do…don’t forget to bring your cross…and follow, follow Me.”  

Thanks, Don, for sharing a part of your story with me. And for breaking open a memory of my own.

READER/FRIEND,

if you have a story you’d like to share, I’m listening. You see, God calls every follower of Jesus, not always into vocational ministry, but sometimes into business or professional life, or as a stay at home parent or grandparent. A calling unique to you, one that only you can answer.

There are thousands of “Jesus calling” stories. Yes, you have one, too. If you want to share it with someone, here’s the secret. Ask them to tell you their story first. Chances are if you listen well and ask good questions, they’ll want to hear yours, too.

[1] Don Argue was Director of Evangelism for Teen Challenge in New York City, pastored in San Jose and Morgan Hill, CA, served as President of North Central University, Minneapolis, MN, for sixteen years, as President of the National Association of Evangelicals for six years, and as President of Northwest University, Kirkland, WA, from 1998 to 2007. He now serves as Ambassador at Large for Convoy of Hope.

[2] https://wardtanneberg.com/2019/10/21/whats-it-like-being-a-pastor/

[3] Lyrics by Ernest W. Blandy, 1890. Public domain.

[4] Genesis 12-25; Romans 4; Hebrews 11:8-12

[5] John 15:15