Be a Son of Encouragement
#1 in the Gospel-Centered Mentoring Series
It is October 2009. After a painful season of ministry, I am more discouraged than I have ever been in my life. Throughout the previous Spring, multiple people had left our congregation. Within weeks, we went from 100 people every Sunday to less than 50. During my Summer vacation, someone sent all the church members a survey about my pastoral performance. Several submitted harsh complaints. One member called cottage meetings to decide how to get rid of me, after submitting a 10-page essay to the denominational authorities, demanding that they deal with my unbiblical teaching.
After 2 weeks of prayer and conversations with Christine, I have decided that I am going to resign from the public gospel ministry. I am convinced that I have made too many mistakes and that I do not have what it takes to be a pastor. I am attending one last ministry conference with my family, and then I will submit my resignation letter to the elders.
I am grateful that the conference speaker is Rick because he is a professional counselor; I am sure he can help me let the congregation down easy. As he begins his presentation, he shows us how many pastors resign because they are spiritually, emotionally, and physically empty. He relates how many pastors lost hope and only continue to serve because they don’t know what else to do with their lives. He tells us how pastors self-medicate and spiral down into depression.
I’m stunned. Every point he makes is a giant railroad spike being driven deeper and deeper into my splintering heart. During one of the breaks, I ask if I can speak with him after the presentation. I know he can help me through this mess, but I am so broken that my only thought is, “This guy can help me resign.”
That evening, as I empty my jar of broken dreams into the quiet hotel room, he doesn’t tell me how to resign. He tells me how to rest in Christ—how to find real, lasting healing in my heart, soul, and body.
I feel like Peter, eyes wide in swirling water, helplessly flailing in a lake without bottom. One moment, he had been confident he could walk on water with Christ; the next moment, he was confident he was going to drown…Until…that sturdy carpenter’s grip hauls him powerfully up to the surface again.
Christ puts Rick in my life at that critical moment to begin hauling me up from the murky depths of failure, to breathe deeply of the gospel again.
When I remember those moments with Rick, I think of Barnabas.
Acts 9:26–27 tells us…
26 When [Saul/Paul] came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
Acts 11:19–26 tells us…
19 Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. 20 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. 22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. 25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
We know Paul as the greatest missionary in history, but what would have happened if Barnabas had not advocated for him when he first arrived in Jerusalem? And what if Barnabas had not journeyed hundreds of miles to find him in Tarsus and escort him to the new church in Antioch?
Or look at Acts 15:36–40 (NIV)
36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord.
Barnabas not only encouraged Paul; he also mentored Mark, when Paul wanted nothing to do with that immature evangelist who had abandoned them on their previous journey. Barnabas offered Mark a second chance at that critical moment in his life.
Chew on this: From a human standpoint, if Barnabas had not quietly and faithfully mentored Paul and Mark, over half of the New Testament would never have been written!
This is how God works: through ordinary people who serve as the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus just when we need it, to convict us with the law, comfort us with the gospel, and to help us carry our crosses with humble confidence.
This is why mentoring is also so important for us today: because God still uses ordinary people to make an extraordinary difference in the lives of others. I pray God blesses you through this series, so you become a more fervent son/daughter of encouragement, like Barnabas.
Next: Introduction to Gospel-Centered Mentoring…
Great writeup, thanks Matt! Looking forward to the series.