“Mission Provision”

10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.——2 Corinthians 9: 10-11

When I was contacted about joining the staff of Cedar Lake Church, I received some sage advice from my pastor. He encouraged me to look for values in the church that matched what I felt God had called me to do. When I interviewed, I found a church committed to two things that definitely resonated with me: worship and missions.

I grew up in a musical family and had started writing and recording some of my own music. Cedar Lake had an established reputation for a church on the cutting edge of praise and worship ministry, with an excess of talented people on the worship team. While this excited me, my real first love was affirmed when I began to discover the church’s rich history of missions ministry.

With missionaries in my immediate family and having spent time on the mission field myself, I wanted to be sure that I could continue to pursue the heart for the world that God had seeded into me from my childhood. What I discovered exceeded my expectations. To this day, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to host an effective, seasoned missionary who has been supported for decades by our church.

Growing up I was taught three keys to building a great church: (1) Missions; (2) Missions; (3) Missions. The greatest churches I encountered had global missions at their heart. My experience over these past three decades confirms that God is faithful to those who have His heart for the world.

He has most certainly done what the above verse says. He has enlarged our harvest of righteousness, allowing us to increase our effectiveness over the years. But He has also enriched us so that we could be generous on all occasions. I believe this is because we have maintained God’s heart for the world that was already present when I began my tenure as lead pastor.

Here are two examples of God’s Divine provision for our church through times of difficulty:

1. Hurricane Katrina

Although New Orleans received most of the national news coverage due to the flooding that occurred during Katrina, the eye of the hurricane came over the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Fifty families in our church lost everything, and we had 6-9 inches of water throughout our building. It was truly one of the darkest times our church body ever experienced.

During the crisis, God used my wife, Twila, in a powerful way. In a conversation with one of our staff who was struggling with all the negative reports and uncertainty following the storm, she made this prophetic statement: “We are going to be better off when this is over than before it happened.” That is precisely what happened.

Our elder board gathered to discuss plans for repairing our facility. We decided to secure a $150,000 line of credit to pay for the remodeling and reconstruction. Although the bank guaranteed us the money, we never had to borrow one penny. Here is a sampling of the miracles that followed:

• Instead of getting smaller, offerings grew larger.

• People headed to the Coast with truckloads of goods would call and ask if they could deliver to us.

• A church in Canada called and asked to give us a first-fruits offering.

• Joyce Meyer Ministries sent a representative who ended up writing the church a $10,000 check.

• We became an unofficial distribution center and our coordinator estimated that we gave away around $4 million worth of supplies during the following three months.

• Around October/November of the same year (3 months out) we gave a missions offering of $16,000 for missions efforts following an earthquake in Tibet.

2. Covid-19

Just prior to the lockdowns that came with Covid-19, I received a call from a man in our church. As we sat down for a cup of coffee, he handed me a check for $100,000. To date, that was the largest single offering our church had ever received. Neither of us had any idea of what was about to happen, but God did.

Over the months that followed, our congregation continued to give, and we have not had to reduce any staff or missions support. I have heard that some churches in our area have seen an increase in regular giving since Covid-19 started. Although this has not been true of CLC, the amount of giving has only decreased slightly and large gifts such as the one I mentioned have more than offset it.

I believe these testimonies demonstrate that when our heart is in line with God’s, He will never fail to supply our needs. Of course, we don’t give to get, we get to give! Paul’s admonition to the church at Corinth began by praising the believers of the churches in Macedonia for their offerings. He stated that they first gave God their hearts, and then they gave in spite of their need. I have had the privilege of watching the same kind of heart-felt giving, whether in crisis or abundance, from a congregation that is in love with Jesus and has a heart to reach the world.

Some years ago, Pastor Larry Stockstill challenged me with a deeper understanding of Romans 8:32…

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

If God went through the pain of watching His only Son die on the cross, why would he withhold anything from those who are ready to make sure the message of the gospel is spread to the whole world. You see, I believe that the 40% of the world’s population that has little or no access to the gospel is very close to the heart of God. When we embrace the agenda of reaching those who have not heard and who cannot hear, God will be faithful to supply our needs both in times of blessing and disruption.