Dear Friends,
I arrived home last Tuesday with Maggie, my traveling canine
companion after driving some 4,000 miles and meeting over 30 friends I
have made throughout my years of ministry. I stopped to see friends
in Annapolis, Md., Oak Island, N.C., Savannah, Ga., Vero Beach, Fl.,
Melbourne, Fl., Palm Beach, Fl., and finally Fort Lauderdale, where I
spent four days visiting a number of friends with whom I served while
pastoring at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale.
In Melbourne, Fl. I visited Armando Quatela, our former much loved
pastor to our New Monmouth church's Hispanic congregation.
Armando and I had a wonderful time catching up and sharing how
we had been dealing with our wives' passing. I am always on the lookout
to talk with people like Armando who have lost loved ones and to learn how they
traversed their grief, for grief continues to be a constant companion of
mine.
One of the friends I visited was the wife of a former athletic
director at Westminster Academy where my son Tommy went to school. She lost her
husband to brain cancer a few months ago. In the course of our visit, she
reminded me "that love is grief with no other place to go," and I
found those words helpful. Yes, grief is the price we pay for love, but who
would want to miss the wonder of love, even it if meant missing the pain of
grief.
I still have those moments when my soul erupts with a grief that
spills over at unsuspected times. It is often little things- a picture of Jean,
the sight of an empty bed, the passing of a restaurant where we
enjoyed dining together- that opens the floodgates of my emotions.
My primary reason for heading South after Jean's passing was to
spend time with some of our friends in South Florida. I spent 8 years as
athletic director, chaplain, and varsity basketball coach for
Calvary Christian Academy while serving on the staff at Calvary Chapel Fort
Lauderdale
In 2000 we opened the school with 400 students,
and today it is the largest Christian school in the country with an
enrollment of over 2,000.
From humble beginnings in 2000 when our basketball team played on
an outdoor court while our gym was being constructed, the school now has three
full sized gymnasiums and hosts a varsity basketball team that last year won
the hypothetical national public and private high
school basketball championship.
With Florida state championships in track, baseball, and two in
basketball, and achieving a reputation for developing Christian character
coupled with academic success, the school continues to thrive while
impacting the lives of its rapidly growing student body.
Calvary Christian Academy was established by Calvary Chapel Fort
Lauderdale. Calvary Chapel churches comprise a network of churches first
established in the 60's and 70's in Southern California. The movement was begun
in Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa where the late Chuck Smith was pastor.
Pastor Chuck recognized the search for meaning
that those young people flooding the beaches of
southern California, were looking for, and he opened the doors of his
church where they were introduced to Jesus. This was the beginning of
the Jesus Movement where thousands of young people gave their lives to Jesus.
Today there are almost two thousand Calvary Chapel churches
scattered over the country, and I have been privileged to serve in two of
them-Calvary Chapel, Fort Lauderdale and Calvary Chapel Old Bridge. I am
indebted to these Calvary Chapel churches for they have greatly shaped my
understanding and practice of ministry.
Why do I share all of this information? Because you may have
recently seen advertisements for the movie "The Jesus Revolution." It
is the story of the birth of the Calvary Chapel movement, which sparked
our nation's last great spiritual revival in the late 60s and early 70s. The
movement produced well known pastors like current evangelist Greg
Laurie and a host of others, and it has given rise to the birth of over
1,800 Calvary Chapel churches spread across our country and around the world.
As I sat watching the film with a church consultant friend in
Oak Island, N.C., my tears flowed freely as I was again relived the beginnings
of the last spiritual revival to sweep across our country.
Could such a revival happen again? I hope so, for our nation is in
great need of such spiritual revival.
2 Chronicles 7:14 reminds us "If my people, which are
called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn
from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their
sin, and will heal their land.".
The late Jerry Falwell writes, "Revival is not just a feeling
of excitement of the Lord. We get excited about many things, but excitement is
not a revival if God is not the thing that gets us excited."
Billy Sunday the famous evangelist years ago asked,
"When is a revival needed? When carelessness and unconcern keep the people
asleep."
We desperately need people who are excited by the Lord and
who will not allow carelessness and unconcern to keep them asleep to the need
for revival.
I encourage you to pray for the revival that our nation so
desperately needs.
And while you do, you might want to take a trip to your movie
theater where "The Jesus Revolution" is playing or watch it on
Netflix. I don't think you will be disappointed.
And who knows, perhaps like Chuck Smith, you might be that
instrument that God chooses to spark the flames of revival in our land.
Yours in faith and friendship,
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