My last Kerusso article will be one of thanks and encouragement. In November 2013 I embarked upon a journey that is now at its end. I am so thankful for this season of life and ministry.
Casey Fabiano
The learning, failing, growing has been irreplaceable for both Leslee and myself. Reflecting back and talking to both Casey Fabiano and Gregg Thompson (former KF children’s Pastors) it seems as though there is a common thread: “different men for different times, but the same great God.”
Anyone who knows Casey (the man I replaced) would tell you we are very different, but we both follow Jesus and serve a great God. Gregg and I have developed a close friendship over the years, but Gregg is very different from Casey and myself. Then there is the new leader, Ben Bagley, who is a soft-spoken, meek man who loves the Lord, His word, and God’s people.
God uses different leaders for different times. Esther was raised up “for such a time as this” (to rescue the Jewish people – Esther 4:14). Nehemiah was a cupbearer (Nehemiah 1:11) who was given favor by the King to go and rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. Jesus was born to deliver a message of redemption to a fallen world and then lay His life down for the sins of the world. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15: 8 that he himself was “born out of due time”. Timing matters in history, timing matters in life, and timing matters in ministry.
Ben Bagley
As I am writing this article I learned that after waiting 12.5 years I am headed to India with the Medical Missions Team in January. I had to renew my passport and visa from August 2017 because both had expired. 2007 wasn’t the right time for me to go, yet I knew God had shown me He was going to send me. God is the “Ancient of Days”, the timeless One; the men He uses just become “ancient history”. We must never focus on the man. We must always worship and give glory to God.
I am so excited for the Bagleys and the new mission God has for them. I recently noticed this beautiful scripture in the gospels: After Jesus heals a deaf and blind man the people say, “He does all things well” (Mark 7:37). How true indeed; Jesus does all things well! He knows what we need and when we need it. How comforting to know that we serve a perfectly-loving God who does not make mistakes, a God who raises up one and puts down another (Psalm 75:7).
My prayer for 2019 is that the Children’s Ministry would be injected with a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit, that God’s word would continue to be pre-eminent in all services, and that God would be mightily glorified in everything the Children’s Ministry does.
Gregg Thompson
2019 has great potential, not because of a different man leading the ministry, but because the man leading the ministry serves the same Great God those before him did, and the time is right for a change. Let me end my final article by saying something I often have in past articles; namely, we are praying for your children, we are praying for your marriages, we are praying for your families. We love you.
Forever thankful,
Pastor Dom (Mr. D ☺)
