Let me back up a bit and share that when my husband found out his company was transferring him to my hometown where I grew up, there were so many mixed emotions. The hardest part about that decision was leaving a church we loved. We had finally found a church that shared our same values and standards when it comes to basing everything on Scripture...dress, music, family, and education of our children. We were growing in grace and fellowship was a blessing. Because I grew up where we were moving, we knew ahead of time the challenge we would be facing. I will be honest and say that the church I was in when I got married had made some compromises that I was not in agreement and yet the other options for churches were not what we felt the Lord would have us attend either. We both began praying for wisdom in this decision and it scared us even more when a couple months after we moved here, that church was without a pastor. We began praying that God would provide our church family with a pastor who was not afraid to stand solely on the Word of God, unwavering on truth. Because of the challenges we were having with our daughter, we also prayed that God would provide us with a pastor and wife who could shepherd us through this. God heard our prayer. We have been so blessed with a pastor and wife who are like minded in music standards (a huge thing to us as we raise our children with a higher standard), like minded in dress standards, and most importantly, he stands unwavering on the Word of God as he leads. He can back all decisions concerning how he leads with Scripture. It is clearly obvious that he is not a novice when it comes to the Bible. Because of this, I once again feel like I am under leadership that can be trusted.
Having the privilege of working alongside our pastor with all the VBS preparations has shown me even more how blessed our church is to have Pastor Counterman. Due to past issues in our church, it wasn't an easy road for him in coming to our church but God has had the glory in it all. I have seen people who had stagnated growing by leaps and bounds recently because of the shepherding of our pastor, both in the pulpit and out of the pulpit. To have a shepherd who is approachable and will sincerely listen when I go to him and say "I am really struggling with (fill in the blank...there have been many...LOL)" and have him listen with thoughtfulness, taking time to show in Scriptures how best to handle the "fill in the blank" issue only increases the trust I can have in knowing he will continue to lead from Scripture. Sometimes the answers from Scripture are hard to hear from a human perspective, but I learned long ago that the there is no higher calling than to be teachable. Knee-jerk reactions hurt and are so pointless, but when you take learn from what you have been fed from Scripture, there is grace to be had.
I must also add that our pastor's wife is totally on board with her husband, our pastor. What an example of how a Godly marriage should be.
I know that several of you have commented on Facebook on the amount of time I have spent on VBS this year and I wanted you to know why it has been such a privilege for me to do this. God is up to some amazing stuff in our church family and this is one avenue God can use to reach out to the community...how can I give less than my all when I know that God will use it? My children are working alongside me in this endeavor and are seeing ministry up close and personal...they may not always be working as they do take their electronics to church when I work...but they are observing nonetheless. Maddie gets to visit with ladies who come in for various reasons...that totally makes her day because she is a socialite. Jack is amazed by grandpa's talents to take a painters drop cloth and make it a work of art. Other members work with various other ministries and God is working through them as well and I am so blessed to have VBS as a ministry I can do for the glory of God.
All that to say, I am thankful for God's answering our praying and providing us with a leader we can trust. He is a good example of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 :
"This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."
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