Big Ripples from Small Stones

By Timothy Burns
 

 Ron and I lingered in the ballroom, reminiscing about Pastor Dan’s skillful leadership. The banquet room spilled over with people honoring Dan and rubbing shoulders with old friends. Years prior, Ron and I settled onto Dan’s church. Ron’s interest in missions had taken him to Guatemala. My love for my family kept me home involved in urban street ministry. Like a pond’s surface stirred by a small stone, Pastor Dan’s work changed our lives, and we passed on the ripples of God’s grace to those within our own reach.

 That morning, I listened to hundreds recount the same story. Our lives were changed by God’s hands through Pastor Dan. We were not pressed into a predefined mold. Instead, Dan led us into a relationship with Christ, and then insisted that God held an individual calling for each. There were no cookie cutters in Dan’s ministry tool basket; yet his heart-seeking questions couldn’t be evaded. “What do you think God wants you to do? God wants you to pass along his life, and love. How do you want to pursue his call on your life?” (See 2 Corinthians 5.17-18)

 As I prepared to leave, the people speaking from the platform caught my attention. This couple had met in Dan’s church, married and continued into seminary. They recently accepted the pastorate of a small congregation and their testimony concluded with this fact. Their story repeated 33 times during Dan’s 15 year ministry. Thirty three men and women, after finding a relationship with Christ, continued on into full time ministry. Ron and I looked at each other and nodded. We were among that company. I worked in the urban neighborhoods and streets a few blocks from the church doors while Ron caravanned shoes, food and building materials to orphanages in Central America.

While I marveled at the numbers, Ron’s the next few words arrested my perspective, and changed my heart. “You know, Dan’s a good pastor ...but not a great one. He doesn’t preach all that well. You don’t want to ask him to lead the singing. He is an average teacher who has trouble with large words.” Having listened to Dan for over 10 years, I chuckled quietly as Ron continued. “No, Dan isn’t great at anything. He’s simply faithful. He loves God, trusts the Bible as God’s true Word, and lives his faith. The people here are a testimony to what God will do through a faithful man.”

Ron’s intuitive words have rattled around in my mind and heart ever since. As someone who came to Christ in a time when Christian concerts and stadium-filling events are normative, I think I unconsciously looked for the ‘big event.’ Until that day, I had fallen into a trap . . . letting myself off the hook of living influentially for God today while I stood on the sidelines looking for something ‘big’ to do for Him, (or maybe to do for me).

As a result of that night, I made a new decision. I would focus my efforts on improving the spiritual life of one other person. I prayed and asked God to bring into my life one man whom I could bring into a relationship with Christ, help that person grow up in their faith, and then release into ministry. Like sowing seeds in a garden, and then nourishing those seeds until fruit was produced, I would cast my time, one at a time, into the life of one other person. At the end of the year, there would be two of us, and we would repeat the process. I couldn’t speak to thousands, but within my grasp was winning one man, and then the two of us winning two more . . . and so on. In time, a faithful discipler can bring hundreds into the kingdom. In time, God can change the world through me, one person at a time, like Jesus did. Within a few months, I met Jon and through Jon, four more. We spent every Thursday night together for over two years. We dealt with divorce, temptation, forgiveness, personal holiness, and financial responsibility. We held each other accountable to ask tough questions and confront real life issues. “What does God want in my life? How can I be more a personal reflection of His love to the world that is at my front door? What is standing in the way of a deeper and more intimate, unconditional relationship with Christ?”

Today, I am humbled by how God moved in our small band of brothers. Three of the group have completed seminary. One oversees a ministry to divorcing couples. Another has accepted leadership over a small church. I published my first book on discipleship, character building and personal integrity. Another is taking the final classes to complete his ministerial accreditations. God worked through my faithfulness into these four men, who are now influencing hundreds of people I could never touch on my own ...just like Dan’s ripples in my pond.