In part 1 of this series we looked at the subject of “D”ollars in the life of a Baptist association. in part 2 we considered just a few of the actual and potential “D”eliverables that network dollars can help provide to partner churches and leaders reaching others for Christ close to home and around the world. Today I conclude this “Money & Mission in 3-D” series looking to the future dimension of our network.
The DREAM
Is it outrageous for women or African Americans to vote? No way, but that’s not always been true! There was a time when that notion would’ve seemed ludicrous — even to women and black people themselves. But a dream fed a desire which fueled a determination to labor with great discipline until that dream became reality, even though many of the first to dream it never saw it come true.
Abraham, our great forefather in the faith, was a dreamer. God gave him a dream and then the desire, the determination, and the discipline to forge ahead by faith towards the great blessing that he and his descendants would bring into the world: the Messiah! To the skeptics, Jesus (that very Messiah) says in John 8:56,
“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
Abraham saw it, but not with his eyes; he touched it, but not with his hands! Abraham rejoiced through faith and hope in a Savior God revealed to him in a dream. And, though imperfect in his pursuit, and though unrealized in his lifetime that dream defined the rest of Abraham’s earthly existence—and still does! Perhaps the greatest dreamer in Scripture is Joseph. A lot of good his dreams did him, huh!—at least at first! Scorned and scolded, thrown into a well, sold into slavery, presumed dead. Heartache and hardship are the common lot of dreamers.
Dreams are audacious. They are absolutely ridiculous and even offensive to non-dreamers and skeptics.
Can I be transparent for a bit?
Like many of you, I’m a dreamer. But (also like many of you) I battle discouragement and defeatism in some measure almost daily. As a family man, I have hopes and dreams of a strong and vibrant marriage; I long to see my kids growing physically, spiritually, and emotionally. As a pastor I dream of a church on fire for Jesus, emboldened through prayer, and reproducing through energized disciple-making and church planting. But in each of these capacities the day-to-day nicks and scrapes of life and ministry—along with occasional body-blows—crush my spirit and consume my energy as a husband, father, and also as a pastor. These dreams require desire (which I often slake with junk like TV, social-media scanning, Oreos, and other quick comforts), determination (which often crumbles in the face of opposition), and discipline (which ebbs and flows in highs and lows).
My pursuit is highly imperfect, yet my dreams for home and church persist. So I must persevere.
The same is true of my dream for Cleveland Hope!
In December of 2017 a small group of representatives (nine I believe) from our association met at Trinity Christian Church in Bedford. The purpose was to vote on me. Deborah and I were there with our (then) 3 year-old son Isaac. To this day I am humbled—near tears as I type this sentence—to have received that small gathering’s unanimous call to lead our association into the future.
Abraham’s dream didn’t come true right away—in fact he didn’t live to see it. Joseph’s dream took a couple of decades to be realized with a lot of suffering and loneliness along the way. Like both of these saints, my dream for our city and region is certainly bigger than myself; God is up to things I can’t even begin to comprehend. But I want to share with you some things I see… some things I dream.
I dream of Cleveland being a place brought from hopelessness to hope in Christ, and of our little network of churches and leaders being highly instrumental in this move of God.
I dream of 60 churches today being 120 churches five to ten years from now, 200 (or more) in fifteen years, etc. I dream of these churches spanning every format from mega to micro, from thousands to thirty to three gathered around Scripture to the glory of the Savior with an intent to reproduce disciples and worshiping communities on every block and backroad (yes, there are some backroads) in greater Cleveland.
I dream of Cleveland being both a mine of and a magnet to young ministers and missionaries. 1) A Mine - no young person should grow up in any of our churches wondering where and how he or she might grow as a gospel leader ready for kingdom deployment when God sends them out. Every church a shaping, sharpening, sending church! 2) A Magnet - I see this city and our churches being the talk of Christian college and seminary dorm rooms: “Hey, have you heard about Cleveland and the ministry internships and residencies available there? Every one of their churches has members with spare bedrooms and free lodging for summer or semester interns; some of them even have spare cars! And I hear Cleveland interns even get a stipend!”
I dream of every Cleveland Hope pastor considering himself not just a shepherd but a professor and coach, trained together and entrusted with building young leaders, coming together on a monthly rotation to host intern cross-training cohorts in all the disciplines of spiritual formation, ministry and mission all coupled with hands-on, local church experience.
I dream of a staffed (paid and volunteer) multi-purpose resource center in a sizeable re-purposed downtown or near-downtown facility complete with offices, classrooms, meeting rooms, a resource library available for every pastor and church leader for browsing and borrowing, showers and bunkrooms for visiting mission teams, warehousing for outreach materials, food, clothing, and other items donated by churches, corporations, and other agencies for helping the hurting, and garage space for a small fleet of vans available to our churches for mission trips and outreach purposes.
I dream of business owners and corporate donors saying, “We see what you’re doing to serve this city and we want to buy in!” I see CEOs making Jesus their CEO!
I dream of Cleveland being a global launch-pad, a place, a network, churches and leaders so alive and aflame for the gospel that northeast Ohio can’t contain it’s spread.
I dream of every foreign people group represented in Cleveland being engaged in Christian hospitality by our churches with a view to their salvation and the transmission of the gospel to their countries of origin.
I dream of an annual scholarship available to offset travel costs for every pastor who leads his people on mission.
I dream of having the sharpest brotherhood of biblically-trained pastors of any association in the Southern Baptist Convention because we invest in our leaders’ theological education.
I dream of an network of churches and leaders held together by doctrinal unity and mutual moral & ethical accountability.
If you’re tempted to think this is impossible, STOP IT! Just go ahead and admit that it totally IS… for us.
Even at my very young age of 43, like Abraham, I feel the years creeping and time slipping away, and am tempted to wonder if the dreams God has given me will come to pass in my lifetime. In my dark and discouraged moments, like Joseph, I feel lonely, forgotten, and unloved, like I’m looking at the world and my dreams through a tiny disc of light at the top of a pit, and I wonder how, when, or even if God will come through.
Another moment of honesty…
As I near the end of this post, I’m tempted to trim some of the “I dream” bullet points above. My little heart can’t bear the thought of you reading this, rolling your eyes or snickering at my “pie-in-the-sky” vision for our network. Cleveland Hope is behind on dollars already for the year. We’re below target on deliverables. But can a God who calls a Mesopotamian geriatric to father His new nation and who takes a Jewish runt from prisoner to potentate of Egypt not do great things through us and among us, all for the same redemptive purpose and glory of the same Messiah that Abraham and Joseph looked for?
Ministry and Mission are trying and tiring endeavors. But I’ll tell you this: nothing is more tiring and hopeless than a dreamless ministry and mission.
I want and need your partnership—I crave it! I want you to get in on the promise of 1 Corinthians 9:8,
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
So much and so many of God’s resources for the dreams He’s implanted in our hearts for our churches, our network and our future gospel impact are latent and untapped right under our noses.
I was recently shown some demographics from across Ohio outlining zip codes with no Southern Baptist Churches present. Those zip codes were arranged by population as follows: 1) over 20k, 2) 15-20k, and 3) 10-15k. Guess what. Of the 41 zip codes in the “over 20k” population category across Ohio, 14 were in greater Cleveland (including 6 of the top 10, with Lakewood coming in at #1—a city of 52,804 people in our association with no SBC church). The total population of just the Cleveland-area zip codes over 20,000 people with no SBC church is 484,618. Add to that all the smaller zip code population categories with no SBC church and the number jumps to 627,261. That’s well over half a million people in greater Cleveland with no Southern Baptist church in their zip code. Some of those people may be Southern Baptists who commute to nearby zip codes to church. Great! But I never want to hear “We have enough churches…” That will never, ever, ever be true!
Our dreams have to be bigger not smaller. The potential and the resources for a gospel wildfire are all around us like dried leaves under a hot October sun. We carry the match of the good news; may the Holy Spirit of God graciously blow on it as we faithfully strike it and drop it into hearts and lives all around us every day. And may the growing and glowing light of churches and a city set on fire for Jesus flicker and send hot embers to the darkest parts of the world as we labor expectantly and TOGETHER until He returns!
One way to take an active part in strengthening Cleveland Hope is to join our Executive Leadership Team. Each church is permitted one seat on the ELT. If your church doesn’t have a representative, your seat at the table is vacant! ELT members may be pastors or laypersons. Notify me today at davery@clevelandhope.com if you or a member of your congregation would like to serve on the 2020 ELT. We have two remaining regular ELT meetings in 2020: Tuesday, May 12 and Tuesday, September 15.