The Pastor’s Perspective
By the Rev. Daniel W. Bellavia
March 2008

As the snow falls outside my office window it is hard to think that spring is right around the corner. Soon the snow will melt away into rain and the earth will once again be renewed. Trees and flowers will bud and bloom and the grass will once again grow green. The beauty of the seasons is that we will not have to work to see any of this happen. Trees naturally bud and bloom. Grass naturally awakens and grows. Perennials naturally grow and flower. It is part of the cycle. If these things do not happen, then it is a sign that something has gone terribly wrong.

The truth is, it is in our nature to grow. Young children lose their baby teeth and wait in expectation as their adult teeth erupt to take their rightful place. Children grow and mature throughout their lives, and when their growth is stunted it is correctly recognized as a sign of a problem. The same can be true of the Church. Just like in the human organism, growth is also the natural state of the Church. If we do what Churches do, and are healthy, we will grow… and if our growth is stunted, then there is likely reason for concern.

Jesus spoke about the growth of the gospel when he told the parable of the sower and the seeds. In the parable (you can find it in Matthew 13) Jesus relates the common experience of sowing seeds. Since sowing seeds is not nearly as common as it used to be, let me explain what it entails. Growing up in rural Western New York provided me with some first hand knowledge of this subject. When I was a youngster my father would periodically expand our lawn into what was previously farm fields. This was when the family was growing and he had children to help in mowing the lawn (in recent years the grassy regions have been wisely and intentionally reduced). My father would plow under the old crop, till the soil, and then I and my brothers would be dispatched into the dirt and mud to scatter seeds on the ground. I would go out with a pouch or bucket filled with seeds, and simply use my hands to throw the seeds around. I did my best to make sure that they were evenly spread, but the simple truth was that I just walked the land tossing grass seed hither and yon. Where the seeds fell was where they stayed. Some would land on the asphalt of the street, some would land on rocks, some would grow and other did not. The testimony to growth was that the land would soon be green with grass, but some areas would never quite take. And later that summer or fall, I would be dispatched to try it again, and scatter some more seed in those difficult areas.

Grass will easily grow if the conditions are right. Often however, the conditions are not good. It may rain too much or not at all, either flooding away the seed, or choking the life from it before it ever has a chance to grow. Crabgrass may overcome it or birds might eat it where it fell. Isn’t it interesting that this was how Jesus chose to explain the growth of the gospel in the lives of people? Doesn’t it seem awfully random and terribly uncontrollable?

The answer to the above question is, of course, yes. I experienced the uncontrollable nature of growth as I grew up in a family of four boys. My younger brother Rand, though three years younger than I, was always at least my equal in stature. As a teenager, due to my small stature and delayed development, I was often assumed to be the younger brother. There was nothing I could do to grow quicker or bigger. I was healthy and fit, so my size was not a matter of a deficit. It was simply who I was. Over time I learned that though I would never be the tallest in my class I could make my mark in other ways. Though I couldn’t always be what I wanted to be, I would put my energy into being the best ME that I could be.

This is a lesson that the modern Church must embrace if it is going to survive. We need to realize that we can’t choose our circumstances, but we can and must cultivate an atmosphere of health in our community. We must recognize our DNA and strive to become the best First Baptist Church that we can become. We must allow other churches their own success, and never compare their gifts and blessings to our own. We should avoid trying to become like someone else, since they are…well, someone else. It is not our responsibility to be like someone else. It is, however, our responsibility to utilize our own inherent gifts and talents in order to achieve all that God has in store for us.

Now how do we do this? We first need to explore our own DNA, to see who we are and what our unique possibilities our. This will demand that we truly explore our history and consider our present day gifts and talents. We must ask how we are positioned from our past and our present to share the gospel of Jesus Christ today.

We then need to undergo the equivalent of a thorough physical. We must engage in a period of prayer and reflection and seek to discover if there is any impediment to our health that is stunting our growth. This demands a commitment to God the Father that we might honestly evaluate our devotion and service to God here in the Greater Toledo area. Are we truly open to new comers? Are we prepared to share the gospel of Jesus Christ? Are we open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our presence? Are we willing to do the things necessary to become healthy?

Think about it in purely physical terms. Imagine your doctor told you that unless you lost fifty pounds you would be dead in a year. What would you do? Would you strive to lose the weight or would you continue to live the same unhealthy lifestyle that put you in danger? If we discover that we are not healthy in any given area, then we must devote ourselves to work toward health so that we can be blessed and live to bless others.

Many people mistakenly think that going through the process of self-examination and spiritual development means that we put evangelism and “sowing gospel seeds” on hold. Nothing could be further from the truth. That would be like saying that we will begin jogging once we have gotten in shape. It is the very process of exercise that brings us to health. In the same way it is only by sowing our gospel seeds that we can grow to health as a Church. Remember the plan. Sow the seeds. Scatter them everywhere. Share God’s love with reckless abandon. Do it today.

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar used to speak of people delaying their success by waiting until “they get around to it.” You may have said it before to delay the new improvement in your house or the taking the next step in your relationships. You’ll eventually get around to it. Right? Well most people never get around to it. So Zig invented a simply little device. It was a disc shaped pin with the letters TUIT written on it. Get it, he was giving you a “round tuit.”

Don’t wait until tomorrow to begin this process. Don’t put it off any longer. You have your “round tuit.”

Now let’s start growing.
Rev. Daniel W. Bellavia