Many years ago my life was forever transformed when I realized what it means to be a true student of Jesus Christ and I put my faith and trust in him alone. From that point forward my goal has been to use whatever God gives me as a positive and transforming influence in the lives of others.
Anytime I start to worry about what I do or build for God, my life begins to drift off track. It can be very tempting to worry about why my ministry, church, or career is not as big or famous as that of another, or proud that it is. The pursuit of God in scripture continually reminds me that the success of my life is not as much concerned with what I do as it is with what I am and what I am becoming.
So, as I seek to take inventory of my life, I look for signs of transformational influence in the lives that God brings across my path. Seen from the perspective of that metric, these past few days have been confirming and encouraging.
In Croatia I saw a church made up of key families influenced by contact with KCBT 20 years ago. This is not to say we or I have been the only or even the main influence in their lives. This is only to say that when God connected us we did what we should have done and both parties were enriched. We gave to them training, tools, encouragement, friendship and enough money to put doors and windows on a new building they sacrificed to build for over two years. They gave us love and friendship, confirmation and inspiration in return.
In Germany I met with a pastor who has been a friend of our ministry for several years. We have been of encouragement to each other and to a group of Spanish-speaking pastors in Germany. At dinner with us that evening was a young man and his wife who attend his church. I can remember meeting him in his native Mexico just a couple of months after he had come to faith in Christ. Certain church leaders were discouraging him from his dream of singing opera and insisted that he should only sing “Christian music.” I gave him an alternative view that confirmed to him that he should invest the gift God gave him and that led to his meteoric opera career. Interestingly enough, he continues to be faithful to God’s call on his life, serves in his local church and has the opportunity to share his faith with people most of us could never access, even though much of what he sings is not “Christian music” as many have come to define it within the parameters of contemporary Christian culture.
Hosper Mulder, Daniel Douma, Ralph Johnson and me
One of the men on the trip to Amsterdam has an electrical construction company in Louisiana and also is pastor in a church. He is finishing his studies with KCBT’s Shepherd School of Ministry by extension. Sometimes I worry that we don’t have the resources to provide all I would like to provide to folks like this. One day as we were traveling together he said that his experience with Shepherd School of Ministry has been the single most influential factor in his life outside of his conversion to faith in Christ. Wow! That was a wonderful confirmation of what can happen if we just let God use what he has placed in our hands.
Our final morning in Amsterdam we had breakfast with two Dutch men, Hosper and Daniel, who are also finishing their course of study in Shepherd School of Ministry and plan to come to Kansas City for graduation this Spring. I was blessed to hear them discuss their experiences in their studies and how much it has meant to them. This is the type of thing that makes me content with who God made me to be. It’s great to be part of a team, a church family that is committed to being a transformational force in the lives of others. We all exert influence over others for good or for bad. My prayer is that we can continue together to use whatever influence we have for eternal transformation.
I’m writing these words from the Newark airport having landed not long ago on US soil. The rest of the group took a different route because their tickets were purchased at a different time. Sadly, their flight was delayed four hours in Amsterdam and they have still not landed in Houston. I was to leave three hours later than them and it looks like I might beat them home. Travel can be glamorous at times!
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Tengo un duda, en el internet cuando busco prediaciones de Jeff Adams sale otra página de un pastor llamado Jeff Adams, que es más güero. Me pregunto si es algún pariente suyo.
Lo siento mucho, pero el güero es otro y tampoco es pariente ni primo.
No tengo idea quien es, pero el nombre es igual – pobrecito.