Blog

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7).

"Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children is their fathers" (Proverbs 17:6).

Last Sunday, June 17th, 2012, my Dad preached his last sermon as the Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Richmond, KY.  He retired after pastoring that congregation for over 31 years.  All his children and grandchildren were present.  It was precious. 

Rarely am I rendered speechless!  But, as I sat and listened to my Dad preach his final sermon as Pastor of that church that I grew up in, I was speechless.  It was such an odd experience for me.  The emotions even still are so mixed and scrambled that I cannot really make heads or tails of them.  I was grateful to a church that stood by my family for 31 years, messy and demanding as it was on them.  I pondered how many people from that church my Dad had buried (only one man who was on the pulpit search committee that called him there is still alive).  My wife's own parents are two of the members of that church that my Dad buried.  I was sad at the closing of an era.  Cleaning out the home (parsonage) where I grew up with my sister and two brothers was almost surreal (not to mention the effect it is having on my brother who has lived there practically all his life and only recently got married and moved out).

But, as the Country Crooner-Theologian Patty Loveless once said in a song, "Life's about changing nothing ever stays the same." 

Well, almost nothing stays the same. 

My Dad chose to preach as his final sermon the very first sermon he preached as Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church over 31 years previously.  Now, that's a testimony to consistency in the pulpit!  The gospel never changes!  The sermon centered on the bloody cross-work of Jesus the Christ on behalf of all those He would save.  My heart and soul were moved to yet deeper adoration and awe of the awful cost Jesus paid to rescue me from sin and death and damnation.  My Dad ended his pastorate the way he began it - by preaching Christ crucified and risen for the salvation of unworthy sinners!

Jack Marshburn, the Pastor I was privileged to serve with in NC for nearly 10 years, likes to tell preachers he's praying that they will end well.  That's a prayer for grace-enabled, gospel-infused endurance.  That's a prayer for faithful Bible preaching.  That's a prayer to fight the good fight and finish the course for God's glory in the gospel of Christ.

Last Sunday I saw my Dad finish well by the amazing grace of God's Spirit.  I was so proud to be his son.  I am so proud to be his son.  May the Lord grant Dad many more years to proclaim the good news of Jesus, and may He also give Dad some days of rest in his "glory years."

Thank you, our Lord and Savior for choosing to give me a Dad who loves you and whose zeal for Your gospel has not waned through the years, but has only grown stronger!  I am so blessed.  I give You glory and worship Your Holy Name.  Please draw ever-nearer Dad in his "retired" years.  Fill his heart with Your love and His eyes with Your glory.  For Jesus' sake, amen.