LOOKING BACK DOWN A LONG ROAD (1)

With so much going on over this past weekend, it totally escaped my notice that on Sunday I passed another small milestone in ministry. You see, I started pastoring on the last Sunday of July (26th of the month then) in 1970, which means I'm now into my 37th year of doing something I love.

I was barely 20 years old at that time and whenever someone suggests it must have been tough pastoring a church at that young age, I point out it was no problem at all as I knew everything! It's tough now, because all these years on I realize I know nothing!

The first church I pastored was a small Assemblies of God Church in a depressed former coal mining community in the north east of England. The pits had long since closed and their disappearance had left an unemployment rate of horrendous proportions. That town, Birtley, was our home for just two years, which was generally accepted as the normal tenure for a first pastorate in the denomination at that time.

I didn't see this dying congregation turn around dramatically in those 24 months, but we did see a few young people come to know Christ. One of them, Ken Gott, went on to plant a very successful church in the nearby city of Sunderland and become a prominent figure in charismatic circles in the UK and far beyond. He has had some kind things to say about my influence on him as a teenager and he reminds me of one important lesson I have gleaned from those early days -

There is no telling what potential there is in just one life we are able to sow into.

I learned a few other things in Birtley and I'll bore you with one of them tomorrow!