My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant. ²¹ His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. ²² Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

– Psalm 55:20–22 –

Recently, I received an email that brought to mind a dozen or so events from the last ten years. The email was intended to lay charges against our church, myself, and my fellow elders. And, in a world that offers multiple perspectives, those accusations are certainly one interpretation. However, as we learn from Proverbs 18:17, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”

Today, I have no interest in examining the charges made. They have been examined often over the last six months and before, but I do have an interest in giving thanks to God for the charges that have been made and for the events they recall. For in fact, all of things that were brought to light are, from another angle, testimonies of God’s grace. And thus, I want to give public praise to God for all the ways that his mercies have been made new over the last decade.

When Paul defended himself in 2 Corinthians against the charges of the super-apostles, he boasted in his weaknesses. In what follows, I will do much of the same. But more, I will boast in the kind and loving work of God in a local church that was once featured negatively in a book by Nancy Pearcey.

As with all local churches, ours is made up of members who have feet of clay. And yet, with clay feet we are learning to walk with our Lord, and looking back on the last three decades, God has demonstrated his mercy and grace again and again. And for that reality, I am profoundly grateful. And I share these ten reflections as a testimony to the wideness of God’s of God’s past mercies, which funds the promise of future grace.

Ten Reasons for Thanksgiving

First, I am grateful to God for the founding of Occoquan Bible Church.

In all the ways that OBC’s founding would fall under the scrutiny of things I have written here and here, I am grateful to God for its formation, troubled as it may have been. Like so many churches, we are an imperfect people who come from imperfect people. Our founding could have been laid straighter and ecclesiological commitments could have been grasped tighter, but it undeniably our church is one where God has been at work.

Just this last week, I went to a wedding of a young man who has grown up at OBC, and by God’s grace he is flourishing in the Lord and about to begin his first year of seminary. He is but one example of God’s grace at OBC. Beyond individuals too, over the last decade, God has proven his care by leading us from his Word to adjust many things that were embedded in the foundation of the church. This has often been hard, misunderstood, and maligned, but along the way, God has led our church revitalization efforts. And we give him praise for every step along the path!

Second, I am grateful to God for the elders who have led OBC through the years.

From its beginning, OBC has been committed to preaching the Word of God and standing on sound doctrine. As is the case with all churches who preach the full counsel of God, what is taught will always transcend what is lived. And thus, it should never be a surprise when members or leaders fall short of God’s glory.

When that happens, Scripture has wisdom and instructions for us. And this is where I am so thankful for the elders of OBC. When the founding pastor disqualified himself from ministry, they did not side with him and hide his sin. They proceeded with 1 Timothy 5 and then Matthew 18. Likewise, when another pastor was falling short of his pastoral duties, the elders confronted him and urged him to change, before eventually relieving him of his duties.

In both of these instances, the men charged with guarding the flock, gave of themselves sacrificially and subjected their reputations to the verbal assaults of others. For myself, all of these events took place before I came to our church. But upon my arrival at OBC, I was immediately struck by elders who were willing to humble themselves beneath the teaching of God’s Word.

Third, I am grateful to God for my fellows elders who express humility by obeying God’s Word.

In our day, humility is feigned by soft words and pliable convictions. Likewise, true humility is often identified as arrogance, because men of conviction who do not bend to opinions of others do not appear to be humble. In truth, however, humility is always found before the face of God. A humble man will obey God, but an arrogant man will not.

Coming to OBC, I was always amazed at the way the elders would submit themselves to Scripture. If the Bible said it, they would do it. And along the way, that meant changing many practices and policies. Again, there were ways that our church was begun with cracks in the foundation. But, in God’s kindness, has purified and straightened this body.

This does not mean we have come to final form. My prayer is that Christ would continue to be formed in us. Yet, it is abundantly clear that over the last ten years, the elders have grown in their understanding of Scripture and in their service to the Lord. Along the way, they have made mistakes and grown in their leadership. But always, they have committed themselves to the Scriptures. And for this, I give thanks to God!

Fourth, I am grateful to God for Tom Fillinger, Ignite US ministries, a Facebook post, and the providential way that he brought my family to OBC.

Through a series of providential events, the Lord moved my family to Northern Virginia in 2015. If you want to read about those events, you can find them here. To keep it short, in 2014 when the elders removed the founding pastor from the office of teaching pastor, OBC began an 18-month process of introspection, confession, change, and pastoral calling. Facilitating that process was Tom Fillinger, the father of one of our elders. After recusing himself from the decision to hire Rod’s father, Tom was brought in to help a hurting church. And in God’s kindness, his ministry initiated a process of revitalization that continues to this day.

A year into that process (in the summer of 2-15), I posted something on Facebook and within an hour Tom contacted me, put me in touch with OBC, and set the trajectory for our family coming to Virginia by September. Providentially that Facebook contact came through a mutual friend, Tom Ascol, and the chapter I wrote on definite atonement in a book published by Founders. The Reformed Baptist world is small, and it is a joy to see the connection that the Lord makes between brethren—even those we only know from afar.

With respect to Tom, I only met him once in-person. Some years after my pastorate began, he visited his family and I got to meet him. Despite our distance, he was a regular encourager to me until the Lord took him home in 2021. I give thanks to God for Tom’s personal influence on me and his ministry to OBC, not to mention the countless other pastors he blessed in his decades of service. As is often the case, the Lord uses families to build churches, and in Tom’s case, with Rod his son, that is certainly true. I am grateful to God for his ministry and the way he always spoke truth in love.

Fifth, I am grateful to God for my time at Calvary Baptist Church in Seymour, Indiana.

Before I coming to OBC, I spent nearly six years at a church in Indiana. That ministry began as pulpit supply, then interim pastor, and then after six months I was called to be senior pastor. While it eventually became evident that my service there was not a great fit, as my doctrinal convictions did not match theirs (you can read about that here), I am grateful to God for the time I spent there.

I learned so much in that church and received an innumerable blessings. Today, I no longer have a Facebook account, but my wife does, and she often gets up dates from the families who live there. When I think back to Seymour, I give thanks to God for that time and for the way he led us to OBC.

Sixth, I am grateful to God for the growth that God has given to OBC over the decade.

Understanding where OBC was in its first two decades and how it perceived a need for change ten years ago, it is not surprising that many early members left for reasons related to doctrine, practice, or family needs. Some of these departures were very hard, others were good, because as OBC grew, departing members found another church was better. In this, we trust the Lord and give thanks for the way he grows his church body. (On that, read this, especially the part about mother and daughter churches.)

In all these transitions, I am grateful to God for the way he has grown our church body. Over the last decade, we have centered ourselves around the preaching of Christ from both testaments, a membership that is meaningful, and service that is regulated by God’s Word and not just individual preferences. In these ways, OBC has become foreign to some and home for others. Yet, in all of it, God has grown, pruned, enlarged, and purified the church. And I am grateful to God for each season and all the members who have grown with us. And I am grateful to God for the ways, the seasons of life have forced elders to grow in grace too.

Seventh, I am grateful to God that clumsiness in ministry is not sin, but a prompt for growth. 

The only way to walk in this life is to pass through stages of clumsiness. And the same is true in pastoral ministry. Compared to seasoned pastors of mature churches, a church plant that begins with green elders will have to endure leaders who are less skilled in the Word and leadership. The same is true for individuals. In one of the first blogposts I ever wrote, I reflected on the incredible blessing that Corn Creek Baptist Church gave to Southern Seminary students and to the wider world.

In truth, pastors must make progress in ministry, and churches will need to endure their clumsiness along the way. If members expect perfection from their pastors, they expect too much, just as pastors expect too much, if they think that members will make changes based upon one sermon, lesson, or counseling session. More realistically, we are all deeply-connected to our sins and weaknesses, and thus it takes time. With respect to ministry then, clumsiness is to be expected, but it is not sin. Rather, it is something to improve upon, but it is not immediately disqualifying.

As I look back over the last decade, the elders of our church have grown in their handling of the word, in holding doctrine, in contending against sin, and in making difficult decisions. Was there clumsiness in some of those things? Of course. Was there sin? Not for that. Rather, there has been, among the elders of OBC, a profound hunger to grow, to learn, and to improve. And for all who are teachable themselves, there is every reason to submit to the elders, and to grow with them. Indeed, God delights to grant his leaders observable progress (1 Tim. 4:11–16), and for that I am grateful to God.

Eighth, I am grateful to God for the challenges of shepherding OBC members.

In all these seasons of ministry, there have also been individuals, families, and situations that have provided more challenge than others. In the life of church who brings the full counsel of God to a full palette of personalities and struggles with sin, there will always be counseling, discipline (formative and correction), and need for reconciliation. Indeed, to be a son of God is to be a peace-maker (Matt. 5:9), and to be a mature peace-maker means encountering situations that require new measures of wisdom. Thankfully, God always gives wisdom to those who ask, and in this, the Lord is glorified by a church and its elders who are always reliant on God’s help.

In fact, James himself brings together trials and wisdom, when he says,

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1:2–5)

For the last ten years, the Lord has answered prayer as the elders have sought to counsel and correct any number of situations. This not to say that all such oversight has been well-received. There are many sad stories of repentance rejected and church discipline pursued. But there are other stories of families repaired and grace received. Such is church life—the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

In fact, as Psalm 55 reminds us (see above), there are often times when precious friends in the church become enemies—if not enemies of the gospel, then enemies to the church. And because elders don’t go around divulging all the details of situations, or focus on defending themselves, the church does not always know why certain things happen the way they do. In those moment, the church must look to the Word of God and evaluate what is known by what Scripture says. Likewise, elders whose ministry of the Word offends, will have to entrust ourselves to God. Sometimes vindication comes quickly, sometimes it is much longer in coming. But in all situations, when all kinds of trials afflict us, we can count it all joy.

And that is what I am doing here. I am profoundly grateful to God for his calling on my life, and for granting me the chance to be accused in his service. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:10–12).

While I grieve over the ways that friends have become enemies, I am rejoicing in the Lord and praying for enemies to become friends once again. And I am grateful to God for those who have learned together what it means to be the church of God at 3700 Old Bridge Road.

Ninth, I am grateful to God for the members of our church who have kept covenant.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul begins by addressing the “church of God that is in Corinth” (v. 2). Incredibly, he assigns to a local church, the one “that is in Corinth,” the title “church of God.” Indeed, in all places where the people of God gather to lift up holy hands in worship (Mal. 1:11; 1 Tim. 2:8), the Lord is in their midst. And in their midst, they become a covenant people.

Over the last year, and really for the last nine years, our church moved from being a church of individuals who shared common affinities to a church that is learning how to be a covenant people. Indeed, the idea of a church covenant was not present in the founding of OBC and for almost thirty years, our church has lived without such a stated commitment. Seeing the need for such a covenant and the weakness of not having a covenant, we spent all of 2023 teaching to that end. And this teaching came after sermon series through 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, 1 Timothy, and Titus—books steeped in biblical ecclesiology.

In short, the last decade our church has aimed to be a family of believers centered on the gospel and this means we have sought to become our brothers keepers. Not surprisingly, adding a church covenant was sometimes misunderstood and even opposed. But for those who have stayed at OBC, God has grown them as members of the covenant, and children of God who delight to love, serve, and protect their brothers and sisters in Christ. For all of this—the growing pains and the resulting growth—I am grateful to God for the members at OBC and the way they continue to care for one another and grow together in Christ.

As the Lord has begun a good work in our members, I believe and pray he will continue to bring that work to completion in the way and in time he desires. It is no small thing to love one another (John 13:34–35), to swear to your own hurt (Ps. 15:4), and to maintain the fellowship that is found in Christ (1 John 1:5–10). It requires the shed blood of Christ, the power of the Spirit, and the present work of God. But in truth, that is what God promises to his people, as they keep covenant with him and one another by the power of the Spirit. For all of this, I am grateful to God.

Finally, I am grateful to God for the gift of writing and for people who will read what I write, even when they disagree.

Going back to May 2008, I have written something about almost everything I have preached, taught, or contemplated. My mind thinks through writing. If no one read it, I would still write it, because writing is how I process all of life. That said, at the risk of too much an autobiography, I am always encouraged when people read what I write, even when they loathe it or lambast me for it. Even more, when turbulence hits the church, I have always processed that through prayer, biblical meditation, and writing!

Of course, such writing will not be appreciated by all. But the Lord alone is my judge (1 Cor. 4:4). Because I am writing for the sake of truth, and have been since May 2008, those who reject my arguments may reject my point of view on its merits, or they may think I am wrongly pointing at them, but actually I am simply taking life as it comes and attempting to bring it before the Lord with biblical theology.

For those who take my words as a personal attacks, I assure you, they’re not. Events in life prompt my words, but such writing is always meant to expound Scripture and spur others on towards Christ. When I want to identify someone, I will name names. Unless, like the Prophets and Apostles, I try my hand at allegory (Judges 9) or symbolic writing (1 Cor. 15:32; 1 Pet. 5:13). In any case, my burden is to exposit the truth, as much as I can muster. And hence, I write.

And in this way, as people read my writing and share it with others, it validates the ministry of writing that God has given me. And so, I am thankful for those who read what I write, and I pray that it may continue to build up the church and persuade those who are currently in error, even as the errors I currently hold (but do not yet see) will be worked out in time.

In truth, the Lord is a consuming fire and he will, as he has, continue to sanctify me, as I write. And I pray it may have the same result for you. Reading (and writing) makes us slow down and think about what we believe and why. And in what I write, I am seeking to proclaim Christ from all the Scriptures to make disciples from all nations. That is why I write. And so, I give thanks to God for those who read and those whose writing prompts me to write more.

Ten Is Enough For Now

I could keep going. For there are countless ways that God’s mercies have been shown in my life, the life of the elders, and the life of our church over the last ten years and before. And I am thankful for this unexpected chance to revisit some of these hard and happy providences.

What a glorious thing it is to look back at the history of God’s works—works ordained by God before the foundation of the world (Eph. 2:10)—and to see how God has overcome sin, changed lives, moved families, granted repentance, produced change, matured saints, redirected sinners, and purified his bride. These are the works that God produces in a people who still sin, struggle, stumble, and separate. And thus, to see them we must focus on them, because they are usually clouded by other remaining sins and sorrows.

Indeed, as Christians with a rear-view mirror before us, we have choice to make. We can either focus on all the blemishes found in the history of God’s church, or we can see how our Lord, the Sovereign Sanctifier, has begun to remove those blemishes and to make his bride radiant and ready for the final day.

Truly, the history of every church is marked by sin. And any church that takes discipleship and discipline seriously will have a list of names and events that could be used against it. Yet, let us not take up the mantle of the accuser. For this is the way of Satan, not the way of the saints. As I close then, I pray that all who might read this would consider how to think about the past.

Do we use it as a megaphone to accuse? Or, by God’s grace, might we see the past as the sovereign outworking of God’s decree and a testimony to his mercies. Wonderfully, God’s grace is new every day and in the rear view mirror, we can see the wideness of his mercies. Let us choose this day, who we will serve and what truth we will disseminate. For soon we will all stand before the Ancient of Days, and he will bring to light all of our days. Therefore, while we are living out those days, let us do so with gratitude for all the ways we see God at work and let us help others to see that grace too.

Soli Deo Gloria, ds

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

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