Last month I visited a young man who graduated from Bible school last year. During his final year at school he was mentored by the pastor of a nearby newly planted church. While being mentored he also served as his mentor’s assistant. Sadly in July the pastor was removed from ministry for having an affair. He has since left his wife for the other woman who is pregnant with his baby. 

The young man I visited is now pastoring this church and trying to keep it going. The church has a vibrant ministry among the homeless, drug addicts, prostitutes and runaways. It is located in a great location for this type of ministry. They are wealthy in relationships with people of all walks of life and businesses, including grocery stores, coffee shops, food pantries and bakeries which donate food and drinks to the church. The church provides a free lunch seven days a week along with an optional Bible study. Many people attend it. Their Sunday worship service, followed by a free meal, continues. For now. Due to the church’s monthly operating costs, and the previous pastor’s mismanagement of church funds, they may not be able to remain open. We are praying for funds to continue ministry in the same location, however, we are praying more so for God’s will to be clearly known. We want what He wants. This is a heavy load on the shoulders of my young pastor friend.

During my visit at the church, which was during a noisy lunchtime packed with people enjoying a hot meal, we talked about the church’s situation and future. My friend also shared his burdens. During a pause in our conversation I said to him, while looking him in the eyes, “Brother stay the course. That is my message for you today. Don’t quit. By God’s persevering grace, stay the course.” He lowered his head and with misty eyes responded “Thank you. I needed to hear that because I have an important meeting in a couple hours about the future of the church.” We closed our sharing time with heartfelt prayer trusting the Lord for his and the church’s future.

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary “stay the course” means “to keep going strongly to the end of a race or contest. To pursue a difficult task or activity to the end.” The book of James, in the New Testament, is my favorite book of the Bible because it is practical and “on the street” as I describe it. James 1:2-4 says “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.” This is a call to understand suffering, trials, tests and persecution from the vantage point of confidence in God’s sovereignty. They can only be considered as pure joy when we realize that they are designed by our heavenly Father for a good purpose. They are tests of our faith given in order to develop our perseverance. In turn perseverance produces mature Christlike character in us (Romans 5:3). 

John Wooden, the famous former basketball coach at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and a follower of Jesus Christ said “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” 

Brethren in Christ, when it comes to growing in Him and maturing in ministry to others, there are no shortcuts or other ways to develop godly character than what James tells us. My word to us today is “By God’s persevering grace, let’s stay the course. It is always too soon to quit.”