Change and Continuity

Change is all around us, all the time. Summer’s heat gives way to autumn’s cool. Sunny days give way to winter rains. Yesterday’s youth group members are today’s college students, or they are two states away starting careers. Members of the Christian Home Makers class who camped out together with their swirling clusters of
children are now wrestling with medical issues and limited mobility.

When I became your senior pastor two and a half years ago, the church was struggling to put to rest several years of unsettling changes in leadership and the attendant discomfort. For some, the long, stable pastorate of Ron Johnson seemed a distant memory (yet there were challenges then, too); for others, whose long memories encompassed the eras of other leaders– Harnish, Wilson, Nastari– it seemed like only yesterday.

Even in my short tenure, there have been a number of deaths of beloved members, whose surviving spouses, children and grandchildren have had to adjust to new realities in their lives going forward. Some active members have found job realities pushing them to other places. Staff members have made transitions – Kenny Schroeder, Grace Kim, John Kendall, Ricardo Perez, and now Abraham Bates (see accompanying article).

Yet in the sometimes disorienting flow of our life events, there are some sustaining continuities. First Baptist Church of Portland has continued to praise, represent and serve its Lord for 154 years – across the generations through depressions, recessions, wars and cold wars – longer than Oregon statehood. But our faith is not in an institution. We worship a sovereign Creator God, who brings us into being and sustains us through this earthly life and beyond, and who works for good through our best intentions, our most noble acts and our worst blunders (Romans 8:28). We live our lives chastened by the awesome reality of Calvary’s Cross and bathed in the light that shines forth from an empty tomb.

Jesus lives, and He is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). He is our fixed reference point when change and uncertainty swirl around us. But Christ is not an inert reference point like a stone geological marker placed in a field. He is alive and present and speaks to us through His Spirit, with words of comfort and counsel for right now. Lord, give us grace to listen and to hear You.

Dr. David L. Wheeler

Pastor Abraham Bates Resigns

Pastor Abraham Bates, who has filled the newly configured position of Minister of Christian Education and Discipleship at First Baptist Church since January, 2008, has announced his resignation, effective August 20, 2009.

In this position he worked to improve our Christian Education ministry for children and youth, redesigning and rearranging our teaching spaces, recruiting and deploying new volunteers, and engaging directly with our youth in a ministry of teaching and discipleship.

Most recently he organized and directed an experience of hands-on ministry in the city for our youth, in conjunction with the leaders and members of two other youth groups. Our young people have responded eagerly to his leadership.

Abraham and Nancy are responding to God’s call on their lives for a ministry of church planting. We wish God’s richest blessings for them and for Abigail and Ethan as they follow His leading.