Friday, April 24, 2009

Farewell to Scotland

Acts 16:6-10
6 They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; 7 and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; 8 and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9 A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Dear friends,
I recently took some time to meditate on Paul's experiences that led him to Philippi. His first desire was to go to Asia. Vast multitudes of unsaved people lived without the gospel and yet he was forbidden by the Spirit of God to preach in Asia. How would Paul respond to this prohibition? Obviously he would obey but was he as perplexed by it as I am? I can see Paul wrestling with God, reminding Him of the great commission to make disciples of ALL THE NATIONS. And yet God resolutely said, "no".

He then turned his attention to Bithynia; another land in great need of the gospel. Once again the Spirit opposes him. How did the Spirit "prevent" Paul? Was there a voice? A vision? Or were the circumstances orchestrated in such a way that Paul understood the movement of God in His life? It would be easy to be discouraged at this point but instead Paul went on to Philippi where he would hear the beautiful question, "What must I do to be saved?"

I find this passage very instructive. First it teaches me that God is actively involved in my life. He has not given a command and then left me alone to figure it out. He leads and directs sometimes in very confusing ways.

We have sensed His call to Scotland. Mostly because we long to reach the world for Jesus and we were invited to serve in Scotland. Over the last year, we have found a deep passion to bring the gospel to the unbelievers in Scotland. This passion has guided us to work diligently in recruiting and leading our team. It has also sustained us as we traveled around the world trying to raise the necessary financial support. Everyone involved expected this to take about two years.

After one year we are still at around 25% of our needed funds. We know that our job is to make contacts and then present the vision and the need. It is up to God to move the hearts of His people to send us to Scotland. He has not so moved them. People see the need, acknowledge our unique giftedness to reach the need and yet not enough people and churches are able to support us. The best conclusion that we can draw from this is that God will not permit us to go into Scotland. We, like Paul, do not want to fight God.

After Paul was prevented from entering Bithynia, God gave him a vision of a man in Macedonia pleading with him to come over and help them. Paul wisely chose to follow the vision.

Just when we were considering if God was blocking our path to Scotland through the lack of support, we received an email from one of our supporters asking if I would be interested in serving as the pastor of their Church. After much prayer, many discussions and seeking counsel, we decided to send a resume to the Church and ask God to reveal His will through the process. In the end, Cornerstone Fellowship has called me to serve as their pastor. They have a deep desire to reach their community and the world with the good news of Jesus. We have therefore concluded that God has not only closed the door for us to go to Scotland but that He is opening a field of rich service in Florida.

We will begin our work with Cornerstone in mid-June. Until then we will still receive our salary from MTW. Thank you for your gifts over the last year. We have seen God bear fruit through our labors. Our vision for the Church has grown and we are again ready to enter the pastoral ministry. Please pray for our labors as we seek to help Cornerstone develop and implement an outreach strategy for their neighborhood. We will likewise work to find how we can impact the world through cross-cultural missions.

You have been God's instruments to care for our family for the last year. Your prayer has kept us strong against the many temptations that we have faced. Your financial gifts have driven away our discouragement and met our needs allowing us to reach out beyond ourselves. We thank you and we thank God for you.

In Jesus' love,



Vince

About Me

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I have been a PCA pastor since 1993, having been a pastor in Arizona, Florida, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and as the Team Leader for MTW’s work in Scotland. I am currently the Senior Pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church in York, PA. As a pastor, my desire is to help everyone I meet live out Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in Heaven but You, and besides You I desire nothing on earth.” I love my Wife Robin, my two sons, Patrick and Michael and my daughter in law, Britney. I am firmly wrapped around the fingers of my granddaughters.

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