August 10

Day 149: Loony Bin

I preached a sermon yesterday on the Church. Entitled, "We Believe God Sends."

While there have certainly been times when I would have finished the sentence, "God Sends...me to the loony bin," I remain optimistic for the Church in this age.

But, my optimism is not in the absence of reality, but in spite of, in full view of my reality. I will not forget and cannot ignore a significant season in my life when I bolted. Not from Jesus nor His Church, but from me being a leader in the Church. This lasted most of a decade.

In realizing I seemed to always be in conflict with the powers that be (were), I came to the conclusion that I was the common denominator. There always seemed to be conflict when I was nearby.

So I excused myself. I released myself from vocational ministry. And I blindly dove into the marketplace.

I relocated my young family. I first sold telecommunications hardware. Then I sold advertising space. This was not a desert experience. Fact is, I flourished.

The Lord did not send me into the marketplace in order to learn how to sell things. He led me into the marketplace to learn how to be in the marketplace. How to be with (and even like) non-believers; how to be sent.

One day I woke up, and realized God has a sense of humor. I was suddenly the Executive Pastor of a large church. The management skills I had picked up during my marketplace decade served me well.

However, I returned to vocational ministry a different person. No longer exclusively motivated to be an effective organizational leader, I came back with two "new skills."

One, I came back more humble, and less combative. And Two, I came back with a heightened sense of mission - that Jesus sends His Church into the marketplace.

Since my "reemergence" (now 20 years ago) I have been unable to separate the organization of the Church from the mission of the Church.

I am now unable to ignore what we read in John 20:21. "Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, even so I am sending you."

This singular verse is bracketed by two significant things. The first was the risen Jesus, showing His scars, proving He was indeed alive.

Second, He "breathed on them, and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

Apart from purposeful, active participation in the gospel mission, the church, any church, ceases to be the Church. Because we are a sent people. A sent people empowered by the resurrection power of Jesus, delivered to us by the Holy Spirit.

Sent to the marketplace, or the neighborhood, or the gym, or the stores we frequent.

Even sent back into vocational ministry, as in my case.

I remain optimistic for the Church. Even if, at times, during those increasingly rare times it seems He sent me to the loony bin.

-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church | Juneau