Posted in Grace, Life, Ministry

My son’s first sermon

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This past Sunday my son Adam preached his first sermon at our church. He just finished his first year of classes at the seminary, so he’s getting some experience in front of a live audience. We’ve been here in Palm Coast for 14 years, so this is basically the church he’s grown up in. I had hoped that preaching in front of friendly faces, who have been supporting and praying for him would make for a positive start. I was right. And I was impressed. I had read his sermon ahead of time and given a few suggestions, and the final product was excellent (check it out here). He was poised, relaxed, confident and well-spoken. All this in a room where the AC and the sound system weren’t working since the power in the neighborhood went out the second he began preaching!

As a parent, I may have been more nervous than he was. I wanted him to have an enjoyable, positive first experience in the pulpit (even though he didn’t actually use the pulpit). I wanted him to be himself, not feel pressured to be like me. I wanted him to relax knowing that God’s work never returns void, always accomplishing what he intends. By the grace of God, all my parent prayers were answered. The only thing is, now I have a hard act to follow this Sunday!

I’ve searched my mind for memories of preaching my first sermon. No luck so far. I know where I was: Messiah Lutheran Church in Wolcottville, IN, my second-year field work congregation. And I believe I have the manuscript of that sermon. And I know I survived the experience. But I fear the memory has faded, and there is no recording. I suspect I didn’t do nearly as well as Adam did, though.

One memory I do have comes from my early years of ministry in Connecticut. I clearly remember Adam, age 4 and his sister, age 3, sitting at the dining room table one day, each with an open Bible and a page filled with scribbling. When I asked what they were doing, they replied, “We’re writing our sermons.” We may even have a photo of that moment.

I hope those present realized they were getting a chance to see the next generation of pastors being prepared by our seminaries. Our professors are doing a great job! But I also hope they see that they play a big part in preparing the next generation of church workers, too. God certainly uses the many years of prayer, encouragement, grace, example, and teaching of a Christian congregation to prepare and send out workers into his harvest fields. It certainly is a privilege — as a parent, a pastor, and a member — to be a part of that process.

Posted in Life, Ministry

Scary stuff

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A few months ago, a woman who somehow knew I was a pastor came up to me and asked if I had ever helped people who had spirits in their homes. Immediately I could feel the hair go up on the back of my neck as I replied, “Not really. Why?” She explained that they had built their home a few years ago, so no one else had ever lived there but their family. Still, she had eleven pages of notes recording all the strange phenomena she had observed in her house. Interesting, huh? Yes, but scary, too. While we can explain away a lot of things scientifically and medically, there are still things going on that defy explanation and suggest that spirits and demons may still be alive and well like they were when Jesus was on the earth.

In this week’s gospel lesson, which I’ll be preaching on, Jesus and his disciples come meet a man possessed by multiple demons (Luke 8:26-39). Pretty scary stuff. But then Jesus shows that he has complete command of unclean spirits. Even scarier, right? For some, yes!

Now, with that truth in our mind, how will we deal with the demons we encounter? We may not encounter anyone completely possessed by demons, but I’ll bet you’ve met people who in some way seemed to be under their influence. Addiction, abuse, self-destructive behavior and hateful words could all be the product of our depraved, fallen state. But perhaps someone or something drives those behaviors in some. If that’s true, then you better take good notes when Jesus exhibits complete and total authority over those someones or somethings. You better not go out there without your armor, either.

Posted in Grace, Life

Five is very good

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Last night my wife, my three children and myself were at supper together for the first time since Christmas. My son’s been at St. Louis at the seminary, my older daughter was in Gainesville graduating from college, and the rest of us were at home doing our thing. My younger daughter’s comment as we said our prayer together before we ate was, “Wow, that was loud!”

What a blessing to have all our voices together again! Until college life pulled us in different directions a few years ago, we had always eaten supper together daily. As our number gradually shrunk, it was sometimes no more than one or two of us praying. In the future, there may not be many “five” nights. We’ll often have less. Eventually we’ll have more when my children have spouses and families of their own.  But for now, five is very good.

Posted in Life

Into the real world

Posted on by William Douthwaite

My daughter is moving to Atlanta in a few weeks, to being her post-college life. Having landed a job, she is off into the world. I am trying hard to remember my transition from college to the real world thirty years ago.

To the best of my recollection, it was a long six weeks that I spent living back at home after finishing college. Finally, my letters and applications were noticed, and phone calls came. I was off to full-day and multi-day interviews at places like New Jersey Bell and Bell Labs (yes, I am old enough to have worked for Bell Labs).

There are few experiences as rewarding as someone calling you wanting to schedule an interview. One would be actually getting a job offer! The days following the job offer were spent trying to find an apartment, moving, and setting up a place to live. My first apartment had a table, a chair, a dresser and a bed. I’m pretty sure that’s all I had. I don’t remember if I had a bed frame or not. I may have begun with a mattress on the floor. In time, I added a piece of carpet and some shelves. But you know what? I really didn’t care. It was so cool to be on my own and have a job.

After I visited a local church, I remember the day the pastor came to visit me. I had nowhere to sit, so we sat on my new piece of carpet in the living room. Eventually I got a TV, a stereo, a sofa, and a dog. Life was good. And life was cheap, too. One person to feed. No cell phones. No laptops. And an amazing feeling of freedom, identity, and purpose.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

I wish I could teach kids every week

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Taking a break from teaching adults, I taught the kids in Sunday School today. For the summer, rather than having age-grouped classes, the ministries in our church (e.g. prayer shawls, choir, food bank, etc.) are each taking a week to help the children understand that activity and tie it in with a Bible story.

To kick things off, I represented the pastoral ministry of the church. With a wide selection of activities in my arsenal, I waded into the classroom and really had fun today. It’s been a while since I got to teach kids. We looked for lost sheep in the sanctuary, put band-aids on to remind us that pastors visit the sick, read the story from Nehemiah where God’s word was read and explained to the people, came up with worship words that were appropriate for God, and of course, had a snack. The high school class was there to help — a God-send to be sure.

How different each child was (no surprise). One just wanted to run. One just wanted to snack. One couldn’t wait to read from a new Bible he brought along with him. One filled a page with worship words. Another spent the whole time collecting trash. And I think most of them took home the Bible words, “Shepherd the flock of God” (1 Peter 5:2).

Rather than teaching adult classes on Sunday morning, I think I would pay to have the chance to teach children for a year. Even a quarter. I just love teaching kids. Someday, when I’m retired, and attending church, you can count on me to to teach a children’s Sunday School class.

Posted in Life

Car shopping

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Last week Lisa and I had the pleasure of going out car shopping. Our seven-year old Toyota Camry with 140K miles needed repairs costing more than we were willing to invest, so it was time for something new. It was nice not having a car payment for a year, but it’s one of those good things that comes to an end. While we had abandoned domestic make cars years ago, a lot has changed in the industry since we last shopped, so we ended up at a Chevy dealer. Plus, you can do a lot of your shopping online even before you get to the showroom. You can read reviews and recommendations, get an idea of what you’ll pay, and even check inventory before you step out the door.

Though stressful in some ways, our experience was a positive one. It just took a long time. Looking at models, driving some, conversations between ourselves and the salesman and his manager, checking out the trade in, credit checks, and an amazing amount of paperwork to sign took about five hours. I think I had to sign some papers attesting to the fact that I had signed other papers and knew what I was doing when I signed those first papers.

We also got to see generations of technology all in the same place. Everything from a car computer that can tell me how much air pressure is in my tires to the poor finance manager who is still using a 1990’s era dot matrix printer for his multi-part forms! (They keep a batch of old one in the back room for when they have to replace parts.)

We’re happy with what we purchased, feel like we got a decent deal, like supporting local business rather than having to drive to the next town, and made a few new friends, too. Not a bad day.

Posted in Grace, Life, Ministry

A week with some guys from the sem

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This past week I’ve had the privilege of spending some time with a couple of first year students from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Originally, my son Adam had planned to spend a week at the beach with three of his classmates. A volcano and tropical storm changed our plans. Adam and his friend John got stranded in Guatemala for an extra week beyond their mission trip, so David and Tyler got the beach house to themselves. We had them over for supper a few night and went out to eat with them twice.

It was a pleasure to spend time with some fresh meat…what I mean is some young bucks…you know, new blood who will be pastors in just a few short years.  Adam is blessed to have some great friends. Our church body is blessed to have some excellent young men preparing for ministry. I was blessed to have a little time with them over the past few days, to laugh, eat, drink, and relax. When I was at the sem some twenty-five plus years ago, the hospitality of so may families was so important to a young single guy trying to prepare for the ministry. I met my wife through one of those families, found work through another, and enjoyed the prayer support of so many others.

If these two men are representative of our seminary graduates, I am very optimistic about the future of our church. They were easy going, faithful, caring, appreciative, and easy to talk to. Good with people, good with theology, good support for my son — great guys in so many ways. I hope they remember my comment that the friends they make at seminary will probably be some of the best they will ever have from now on. The friendships you form and nurture during your seminary days are unique, lasting, and priceless. Rarely will you find anything like that in the parish. These guys are a real answer to my prayers — friends to support, challenge, and encourage my son during his seminary years.

Once in a while I think about the truth that I’m not going to be doing this forever. Someday, one of these guys will be bringing communion to me because I can’t get to church very often. One day they’ll be preaching to me, making sure that I don’t forget about the grace of God, the sacrifice of my Savior, and eternal life. Having met these guys, I now look forward to those days. They’ve definitely got game!

Posted in Life, Ministry

Breath in, breath out

Posted on by William Douthwaite

In his book Between Sundays, Dr. Richard C. Halverson writes, “The real work of the church is what is done between Sundays when the church is scattered all over the metropolitan area where it is located — in homes, in schools, in offices, on construction jobs, in market places.”

What do you think of that statement? It has some interesting implications. For example, it means that volunteering at your child’s school is just as important as volunteering to teach Sunday School at your church. Knowing the names of and praying for the people who live on your block is just as important as knowing and praying with the people who worship with you. What you learn at school and getting good grades there is just as important as what you learn at church (and even though we’re all about grace, we’re trying to do our best there, too).

Dr. Andy Bartelt, a professor at Concordia Seminary, speaking at a recent church worker’s conference used the image of breathing in and breathing out to describe church work. Gathering together on Sunday is like inhaling, and scattering to go back to our homes and lives and world is like exhaling. We must do both to live. When we’re scattered, God calls us together by His word. When we’re gathered, he prepares us and send us out.

Breath in — breath out. I like that image. What do you think?

Posted in Ministry

You better wash your feet!

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Tonight is our church’s preschool graduation. Thirty-one four and five year olds will don royal blue caps and gowns and walk to “Pomp and Circumstance” as they receive their diplomas and set their sights on kindergarten. The church will be packed with their families and the night will be filled with photo ops as they sing songs they’ve learned from the past year.

I have to confess that I didn’t graduate from preschool. It’s not that I dropped out or anything. My preschool years were spent at home with mom, before two-income families were the norm. In fact, I think kindergarten was optional, and first grade was when you had to show up for school. Now you’ve got to have a few years of preschool under your belt or you’ll be hopelessly behind when you arrive for the first day of kindergarten.

One of the blessings of being the pastor at my current congregation is being a part of the preschool curriculum. I not only get to know the children and their families, but meet weekly with them for a bible story, prayer, and songs. It’s a ministry that I know has helped strengthen our community. The children go home and expect that there will be a prayer before meals! Families begin to pray and sometimes even make their way to church.

This past year, one young lady went home after we read the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet. She told her mom, “Jesus wants us to wash our feet. And if we don’t, he’s going to come and do it for us!”