Thread by @cuatronelson

A #SundayMorning thread:

1/

The soil where #FromDeathtoLife began to grow was a church I was pastored 7 years ago. I didn’t know I would write a book then obviously. But as I taught on what it meant to be a Christian I was surprised as a 24/25 year old to see so much push back.

2/

I preached Lordship salvation and that the mere recitation of a prayer didn’t save you. I guess I should have known but I thought preaching the Bible would be accepted by an established SBC church.

3/

When I accepted the call to pastor my wife told a lady in the church that we were excited to see what the Lord would do. The lady responded with a sinister “we’ll see.”

4/

On 6/13 (my birthday is how I remember) a man stormed in my office upset that the youth pastor told the kids baseball could be an idol

5/

The youth pastor said for him it wasn’t possible to play baseball and follow Jesus. He has to choose Jesus. And that might be true for others, even youth. Christ is the greatest treasure.

The man got upset that I took the YP’s side as I explained his point. They left church

6/

One time I preached on prayer and that it needed to be longer than two minutes a day. I had deacons upset with me on that one. One time I preached on the necessity of sanctification happening and I had people upset

7/

Holiness was important but optional. I called a solemn assembly (in response to SBC resolution on it) and received lots of pushback. There’s nothing we need to repent of was the general sentiment.

8/

One time a deacon and his wife met in my office telling me their son hasn’t been to church in 15 years and accusing me of saying he wasn’t a Christian. Which I didn’t say that but I do believe that.

9/

Once a deacon told me that Philippians 2 was pie in the sky and utopian. It’s not how people in the church really lived.

I can’t count the number of times that someone said “I know what the Bible says but...”

10/

One time I said on a Sunday night that a lot of things we’ve been taught about salvation in the last 50 years wasn’t biblical. I had 3 couples (all 50+) stand up and walk out in a public manner.

11/

I told the church I wanted to counsel people who came forward during the end of the service and not rush them through a prayer in a high pressured situation. They said I would be “quenching the Spirit.”

12/

I told the church I wanted to have healthier membership practices. A man on a Sunday night angrily told me to read Matthew 7:1 as I was teaching. My 3 year old at the time said “whys that man yelling at daddy?” 😳

13/

Our state convention told at least one other pastor in the state that I had “stopped giving invitations” which wasn’t true. Apparently church members had been calling them. I wish they (our convention) would have let me know about that.

14/

Don’t think I’m saying that I was a perfect pastor. I was not! And several things I could have handled better. Eventually deacons told me they needed to “clean house.” I offered my resignation in exchange for a severance. My wife was pregnant with 3rd child at the time.

15/

We lost lots of friends at that church as we found out many had been talking about us behind our back. We were wounded, broken, and weren’t sure what to do. It wasn’t what we thought ministry would be.

16/

We moved to my parents for 7 months after that and I worked a secular job and was a bivocational worship leader and associate pastor for a year and a half. God was so faithful to us during those very difficult days.

End/

This is the first time I’ve really been public about this. Maybe one day I’ll share more. I don’t know. God is good. Keep proclaiming His truth!

Sometimes preaching truth results in large growth! But sometimes it results in being asked to leave.

Keep pressing on. L