-George Santayana
Today I "officially" resigned my credentials as a certified minister.
This has come as a huge shock to the many friends and family that have been praying for me and checking in with me from time-to-time to see how things were going. Considering your care, concern and prayers, I wanted to provide you with an explanation. I realize that some may disagree with the decision and many may not even understand and I'm okay with that. I thank God for you and your prayers!!
My intention is to simply explain the events of what transpired and led up to the resignation of my credentials.
Please understand that it is with great disappointment that I write this and truly wish that the events had not transpired.
It is a hard and grievous matter.
No matter how difficult, however, I am ill-content with allowing the matter to be ushered into the dark corner of concealment for the sake of it being a hard and grievous matter.
The public proclamation of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is a serious matter that is not to be trifled with. The lifting up the name of Jesus Christ to this lost and dying world in order that men might be saved should consume us, even to the point of taking Phinehas-like action when we see the opposite occuring, especially within our ranks. We should be mortified at any attempt to redirect the glory of our God, even if that means doing things that seem unseemly.
On March 31, 2010, I posted a link to a blog by a local pastor that was publicly published to the "world".
If you don't want to take the time to read the blog first, here is what transpired in a nutshell. It essentially stated that a new church plant within my denomination was cancelling church service (his words, not mine) and was going to have an Easter Egg Hunt in place of Sunday service. Readers were assured that there would be "no sermons attached" at this event.
Obviously, I felt that my peer was way off base in this matter in his public proclamation of non-proclamation of the Gospel.
I posted a link to his blog on my Facebook page and stated, "Nothing like dropping the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ for an Easter Egg Hunt. Seriously?? Is this the direction that we're headed??".
Many posts from both sides ensued and I did ask to speak with the pastor of the church in person if he'd like, with no response. There were no personal attacks made on the "Please don't cancel church and please preach the Gospel at your event" side and a lively Facebook discussion ensued.
80-something Facebook posts later, I received a call from the District Superintendent telling me that I was to cease and desist from making any further comments about this matter on my Facebook.
I later found out that the local pastor was also called and told not to continue the conversation. After the "buzz" that was created and after I had resigned my credentials, he was also told that he needed to make sure to preach the Gospel at his event...which I have been told that he did. Mind you, I wasn't made aware of this information until two weeks had passed.
The fact that I was a credentialed minister and that this was an "official" call came up several times in our phone conversation. In fact, it was obvious that my credentials were being used as a leveraging tool to silence the trumpet that was being sounded, by me and others, on behalf of the Gospel and God's glory.
After I hung up the phone I began to pray...and prayed some more! Finally, I made a decidedly strong "is there not a cause?" decision to resign my credentials rather than remain silent about the matter.
On Monday, April 5, 2010, I received a very gracious call from the Dean of KSOM. He told me that he had received my resignation and we briefly spoke of the situation. He asked that I would pray about it for an additional week before making my final decision "final". As a matter of wisdom and respect, I obliged.
After much prayer and consideration, I called the Dean of KSOM back on the morning of Tuesday, April 13, 2010 to let him know that my unfortunate decision would stand.
A few hours later, the District Superintendent called me back to make sure that I knew that he had no hard feelings towards me and it wasn't a personal matter. I informed him that I felt the same way about him, but was greatly confused by the whole matter because the proclamation of the Gospel is a personal matter to me. I was greatly concerned that God was not glorified on Resurrection Sunday and that He was not glorified in the events that transpired leading up to that Sunday. Unfortunately, the conversation did not go smoothly and the, already brief, discussion ended.
Again, I know many have been praying and asking me how things have been going along my journey. Know that your prayers and concern have not been in vain! Although there may be things that I do not fully understand, please know that my joy is in Christ!! My hope is in Christ!! My life is in Christ!! By His grace, I will continue to live my life to proclaim the Gospel to the lost and fulfill what you and I were made for...His glory!
"Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
-Isaiah 43:7
In Christ,
John@Heuglin.net
