As I sit looking at this pile of memories – pictures of the people who have flowed through out lives – I am reminded how rich we are. We are rich in relationships. We have former VA interns serving in Togo, Africa. We have a former ministry guests leading an addiction recovery group. We have friends on earth and friends in Heaven. The opportunity to share this seventh-generation family farm with hundreds of guests is a privilege that I wish my grandfather had lived to see.
He passed away 14 years ago this month, but his memory lives with me every day. In many of the changes I make at the “old home place,” I think “I wonder what Grandpa would think?”
Part of the move for our family 10 years ago was the desire for my children to grow up with a sense of place. “Where are you from?” is a question that many in my generation don’t know how to answer. Do you mean where am I living right now? Do you want to know where I spent my childhood? Coming home was not something that came easily for me. My heart was in the city. I invested 10 years of my life in building a congregation in inner-city Indy, and it was with a deep sense of loss that we left. We left for the sake of ministry and a sense of God’s leading back to this place.
Developing a missional community at Victory Acres where we can welcome our friends from the city and disciples is some of the work God has given us to do in this season of life. Developing the leaders who will plant churches and grow our reach is the work that God has given us to do at present, and Victory Acres is the place where that work will primarily happen.
I preach every Sunday – sometimes speaking at other churches to represent the ministry, but most Sundays pastoring The Gathering God has given me to shepherd at Victory Acres. One of these families I met in 2002 when the wife was a resident at a homeless shelter in Indy. She called me from jail this past November, and God led them to our farm. Two of the families are a result of the Community Supported Agriculture Program we operated at Victory Acres for 11 years. Those are families from our community brought into relationship with us by the vegetables we grew. Another family served with VICM in Detroit for several years. One area farmer in our congregation has known me since I was a baby.
As I serve this local congregation, oversee the four cities where the Urban Ministry Division of EFM is currently working, plan for the urban leadership retreat that will hopefully still happen at the end of May, check in on the green house where our current ministry guests are working today, and write a communication piece promoting EFM’s work in South Asia, I am remembering again that it’s all about people. The relationships that God has given us to steward are the real work. Nothing is more valuable. Taking time for people and their problems is messy and sometimes seemingly fruitless work. It’s a lot like raising children. Someone said “The days are long, but the years are short.” It’s true. As I look back on this pile of memories that represent years of ministry, I don’t think of those long days. I see the lives they represent. Some are in heaven. Some are no longer serving Jesus. Some are still growing and developing. While each story is different, these memories inspire me to keep fighting the good fight and to keep living out the Gospel. Because only eternity will tell the whole story.
The Gathering at Victory Acres 