A Personal Confession from Pastor Greg
I’m presently assessing lots of emotional and spiritual information in the aftermath of our Eastland building dedication. There was a weightiness to it I hadn’t anticipated. I had some really good one on one time with Pastor Chuck. He is genuinely enthused about the work of the Lord here at Lighthouse. I also discovered that he is very sorry about the decisions he made and the people he backed in 1994 when our church was born. He issued a number of personal apologies to those who were impacted by those decisions. But he also told me that he is so thankful that God has a way of sovereignly overseeing even our failures and using them to accomplish His will on the earth. The truth is, if Pastor Chuck hadn’t made the decisions he made in 1994, Lighthouse Christian Fellowship would probably not exist.
That brings me to something the Lord has revealed to me personally concerning the birth of our church. Confession time: Deep in my heart I had always viewed the way our church was born as a negative. It was born of a church-split (or so I viewed it). So I tended to downplay those beginnings. No more…..In reality, Lighthouse was not born from a church split; it was born from Church deliverance. God put in motion an ingenius (although painful) plan to wrest a people out of a bad situation, so that He could give birth to a new work–a work He had in heart all along.
The Lord was speaking to me about this when I first came to Twin Falls 13 years ago. He gave me a passage of Scripture to tuck away in my heart that characterized the situation….’……1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord.2Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.3Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.4I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord…..’ (Jer. 23:1-4 ESV)
I knew from the beginning that God was doing a special work with a special group of people. I was privileged and humbled to be the one God chose as their pastor.
So….. I will no longer view the birth of our church in a negative way; nor will I apologize for God’s ways and plans. Nor will I take any credit for His work. Lighthouse is an amazing church with an amazing beginning and…….an amazing future. My love for you who were there at the beginning is deep and profound. I’m here for the long haul. What do you say we march forward together into the next exciting chapter God has prepared for His church-Lighthouse Christian Fellowship….Greg
Papa Chuck and the Calvary Tribe
Pastor Chuck Smith is coming to Lighthouse on May 15th to be a part of our Eastland building dedication. His coming has me thinking all sorts of thoughts. So here goes……’Papa Chuck’ as he is affectionately known, was in the center of what was arguably the greatest revival of the latter half of the 20th century. The ‘Calvary Chapel Movement’ as it is known, is really a group of approximately 1400 churches throughout the world who are loosely linked by a set of common ministry values i.e. teaching verse by verse through the Bible, casual dress, contemporary worship, etc. Lighthouse is a part of the Calvary Chapel movement.
Though I spent the first 10 years of my Christian life in Calvary Chapel, I also spent a number of years outside of the movement as well. Those years taught me some very valuable lessons:
1. The Body of Christ is big, diverse and beautiful (some of my biases and prejudices were torn down and God developed in me an appreciation for other parts of the Church)
2. Tribal pride is never a good idea (I look at the various churches, denominations and ministry styles as being a ‘tribe’. Pride in your tribe always comes off as arrogance to the other tribes. It’s just not a Jesus attitude.)
3. All the tribes are mine (God spoke to me deeply during those years from 1 Cor. 3:21 ‘Greg, it’s not good to boast or glory in any man or teacher or movement. All are yours. Chuck Smith. Chuck Swindoll. Chuck Stanley….’ you get the idea)
Those were hugely valuable lessons that I needed to learn. I now have deep love and appreciation for Body of Christ in all of its various expressions around the planet. And I also have a deep love and appreciation for our tribe-Calvary Chapel.
We make a mistake when we boast in anything other than the Lord Himself. ‘…let him who boasts, boast in the Lord…’ 2 Cor. 10:17
All that to say this, you’re officially invited to our Eastland building dedication (no matter what tribe you’re in)……peace, pastor g