Following God’s Call with Passion

Last week, on Canadian Thanksgiving, I wrote of my gratitude for former students who serve in Canada, in part because of my involvement in their lives and I said, “Sometimes one person’s passion enlightens another’s call.” Let me elaborate. In my pre-teens and early teen-age years I was a member of a very progressive church, one of the first, if not the first, Southern Baptist church to build an Activities Building and hire a full-time Minister of Activities. We laughed because if built by anyone other than a church, it would have been called a Gymnasium, but churches didn’t build such in the 1950s, especially ones with ping-pong and card tables. So, even though it smelled like a gym, it was an Activities Building. Where would such a church go to find a full-time Activities Minister? Obviously, no seminary offered classes in the field. But Bob Boyd, a committed Christian, called by God to ministry, had been trained in secular institutions in the area of recreation. Our church called him and he became a monumental influence in my life. One statement will never be forgotten by me. In his testimony, he said, “I prepared for a job that did not exist during my preparation.” His passion, that led him under the call of God, to prepare for something that did not exist, enlightened my calling – to be unique and to follow God’s calling where no one else was prepared to follow. Others will have to determine the degree of success I’ve had with that, but it was influenced by Bob Boyd, who like Caleb, had “a different spirit” and followed God “passionately” (Numbers 14:24, MSG).

Join me this week in praying for the following global needs:
• Pray for the spiritual conversations that will be initiated during the visit of the Dalai Lama to the campus of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
• Join with Church on the Rock, Pitt Meadows (metro Vancouver), Canada in asking God for $1000 per month to keep a staff member with them after the NAMB intern salary expires in February.
• Pray for the GLOW Conference in Cologne, Germany, Oct. 31 – Nov. 2.
• Pray for those who serve in West African countries affected by the Ebola virus.