My Last Out of State Trip

If the Lord wills, I will fly to Kansas City in the morning. I am scheduled to preach Thursday and Friday for Pastor Donald Slack at the New Hope Baptist Church of Independence Missouri. It is the last out of state preaching event I have scheduled for 2005. I still have other meetings I am scheduled to preach outside of Mt. Sinai. But they are local events. This is the last time I will be getting on a plane in 2005 to go outside of California to preach. And I am glad about it. I miss my wife and children so much when I am on the road preaching. I also miss sleeping in my own bed, studying at my desk, and going about my normal routine. And I definitely miss being with and ministering to my own congregation, Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church. So why, you may ask, do I travel so much to preach?

Let me offer several answers to that question. First of all, and this is honest, I don’t know. When I reflect on what I wrote in the previous paragraph, I really don’t know why I travel away from home as much as I do. Likewise, I would answer that question by saying that I am compulsive about preaching. I have a burden to proclaim the Word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ that I just cannot shake. Woe unto me if I do not preach! So I try to take advantage of the opportunities I have to preach, without being negligent of other responsibilities God has given me. Another thing that motivates me to travel so much is my passion to encourage pastor-teachers, edify the church, and evangelize the lost. I love preachers. I love the church. And I love lost people. And any opportunity I have to do them spiritual good in the proclamation of the Word is a fulfilling blessing to me. As MSMBC grows, and I am able to “go without going” through more and various media outreaches, I trust that my travel schedule will decrease. In the meantime, I have to go by actually going. Another thing is that I feel a definite sense of compulsion to go and preach.

Personally, there is no better place in the world to preach than Mt. Sinai Church. I am the “proud” pastor of MSMBC (hopefully, in the non-sinful sense). And I trust that they are proud to have me as their pastor. They take good care of me and my family, so that I don’t have to do anything out of a false sense of pressure. I am not wealthy; but I don’t have any needs, either. My congregation takes care of me so that I am free to pray, read, study, think, and preach. And Mt. Sinai deserves whatever human credit is deserved for my ministry. Sorry folks, but I do my best work for MSMBC. In 15 years of pastoral work, I have only preached two sermons away from 18th and Gramercy that I hadn’t first preached to MSMBC. One was during my first year of pastoring, 15 years ago. And the other was last year, when I preached the pastoral anniversary of a “son of Sinai.” My labor in the Word is for my own devotion and the building up of the congregation that I am called to oversee. Praise God if and/or when other congregation reaps some of the fruit of my ministry work at MSMBC.

A member once asked me if I traveled to preach because of the money. Laughing, I responded, “If you would have been with me the past several trips, you wouldn’t ask me that. You’d know that I’m not in it for the money.” I was amused; but I was serious. I don’t put a price on my ministry like that. And I don’t have any screening process that guarantees I will preach to a packed house, increase my ministry profile, or come home with a big honorarium. Most of the time, none of those things happen. Honestly, there are some places that I have been this year that I really regret going to; but it had nothing to do with what I got out of it. It was because of how I perceived my ministry was received. Some people don’t take the ministry of the Word seriously. They view preaching in terms of an exhibition, rather than exposition. That bothers me. But even in those instances, I trust that God was at work through his Word. And I have seen God do it enough times that it compels me to keep preaching in hope. Pray that the Lord continue to open a door for the Word. And may the Lord help me to walk in wisdom, as I make the most of every opportunity.