Pastoral Residents
Pastoral Residents Staff ( 8 / 31 / 2016 ) Adam Anderson , Lee Bergakker , Nam Kim , Zach Kolkman , Llenski Llorens , Tom Olsson , Marco Salazar
Adam Anderson For me , the courage to obey had to do with waiting on God and literally stopping my ambitious pursuit of ministry . The stopping allowed God to show me corrupt motives . Finding what the role of ambition is and then applying it to the agenda that God provides has been the result .
The result of living by faith has taken on a different definition in this last year . Planning for the future , planning for ministry and operating within the teams that God has me on , have all contributed to defining and producing patience in me .
This residency has given me the privilege to slow my life down to the pace I believe the Lord wants me to live at in this season . The amount of time for prayer and writing and reading and study has given me wisdom and perspective I was lacking because of impatience and impulsiveness .
marco salazar In April of this year we my wife and I began to ask the question , what would it look like to plant a church on the east side of the state ? After much prayer , we felt God strongly speak to us from Matthew 9:36-37 . As we held on to those verses we began taking small steps towards
34 the goal of planting a church . Soon after we began connecting and seeking out other church planters and ministry leaders . Doors began opening and God continued to affirm this calling . In the midst of all of our fears and anxieties , God has given us the courage to obey Him . His Spirit has empowered us for every task so far and He repeatedly reminds us of His promises found in Scripture . As we embark on this journey , uncertain of the future , we are certain that God is with us and that He is indeed faithful !
Zach Kolkman Any time the Lord speaks it takes courage to respond . The residency has opened the possibility and freedom for me to wait on the Lord speaking not only on frequent items , like week to week assignments , but also on larger scale items like lifelong commitments . Most of the courage to obey I see has been a response to acknowledging the Lord has spoken and we must respond .
Lenski Llorens Courage and living by faith are not things that trouble us much when things are going right . When the family is healthy , the career is on track , the bank account is holding or growing . It is in times of trouble or when we are asked to humble ourselves that those words and what they entail become more challenging .
Over the last year the Lord has asked me to step down from a pastoral position at another church , He has opened the door for me to return to Calvary and finish my residency and has called us to pray about the possibility of a future church plant in the NW Grand Rapids area . Stepping away from my pastoral role was hard and humbling . But the beauty of being obedient , of courageously trusting in Him is that He is faithful . He is quick to forgive and willing to restore . As tough as the transitions and changes have been this year , I am now back among people and a church family that we love and have been given the opportunity to not only join in the ministry here at Calvary but to also pray and explore possible future ministry .
God has used Joel 2:12-13 mightily during this time . The words “ even now …” remind me that we are never too far , never too broken , never too distant from God that He won ’ t welcome us back . My family and I are excited to be a part of what God is doing here at Calvary , with Grace Beyond and we are excited for what He has in store for us through our time here .