Sermon from February 24, 2008
Winter is passing. Spring comes in less than four weeks. For more than a year we have said that construction on Phase III would begin in the spring of 2008. We are almost there. We thought originally that construction would begin right after Easter. That will not happen. 

The architect’s construction drawings have taken longer than expected. That in turn postponed bids and contracts. More seriously, the use of Concord High School has become an unwise option. Rental costs are now approaching $100,000 and will almost certainly go higher. The school district will not sign a contract with BVBC, and it will not guarantee that BVBC would have access to the school every Sunday that we need it.

Lanny Weaver, who chairs the Building Committee, has explored options with the YMCA, Pilot School, and the Jewish Community Center. As the result of a chance conversation with a BVBC member, the owner of McCrery’s Funeral Home learned of our need and offered use of their large auditorium for $1.00 a year.

The Board of Deacons has decided that it would be good to keep the BVBC congregation close to our campus here. They will be prepared to give details of the plan next Sunday. Those plans will call for BVBC to use all of these neighboring institutions during Phase III construction, including worship at McCrery’s.

Because board and pastoral staff can see how to make this work, I can tell you that we are now on a timeline to start construction on Monday, May 5, ten weeks from tomorrow. It falls to me to set the stage today for this giant step in BVBC’s life together. 

I have sought guidance from the Bible for about what I have to say. For a year and a half we have called our capital campaign Following the Pillar of Fire, Step by Step. It gives us a word picture for this entire project. So, I found it natural to look at that part of the Bible for guidance in how to understand our experience as a church.

Encouragement from the Past
Is it okay to use the Bible this way? I believe it is okay, provided I try to use it the way the apostles of the Church used it. Let me give you an example of their use from the writings of the Apostle Paul. Look at how the Apostle Paul encouraged this kind of use in Romans 15:4. He had just quoted Psalm 69:9, and he justified using the Old Testament like that in verse four: For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

The Bible is not just a book of old stories. God has embedded in those stories His wisdom, which we can discover and use to illuminate the conditions and decisions of our present lives. Using the Bible in this way does something good to us. Verse four says it gives us endurance and encouragement, and endurance and encouragement awaken and sustain hope in us, as we face our present challenges.

This use of biblical stories doesn’t excuse us from asking hard questions about our particular conditions and decisions and seeking good answers to those questions. I would not be saying to you today what is on my heart, if I did not know better people than me had asked and answered many such questions.

This use of biblical stories does not protect us from adversity. That is why I set as BVBC’s theme for 2008 “Into the Valley of the Giants.” I don’t know exactly when we entered that valley, but the giants got my attention right after the first of the year, when I realized how relentlessly events were unfolding that would culminate in the beginning of Phase III this spring.

I chose that figure of speech from the giants in the Promised Land that once caused Israel’s failure of nerve and led to Israel’s long wandering in the wilderness. Numbers 13:33 reports their description of those giants: “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Verse 31 reports the majority conclusion: But the men who had gone up with him (Caleb) said, “We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they didn’t try. The result was forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Today, we pick up the action forty years later, when Israel was on the verge of entering the Promised Land. The book of Joshua tells this story and offers four moments in Israel’s experience that are pertinent to our experience. Turn first to Joshua 1:2.

Verse two puts these words into the mouth of God, who said to Joshua: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them – to the Israelites.”

Moses is dead; it’s time to act. The people could be excused for thinking, “Moses is dead; it’s time to pull back. Moses led us out of Egypt. Moses led us through forty years in the wilderness. Moses interceded with God for us. Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Moses is the only leader we’ve ever known. Don’t you think we should let things settle down until a new leader has established his credibility with the people?”

Apparently not! Am I the only one who sees this as relevant to our loss of staff at this crucial time in our project? The loss of capable, trusted leadership always hits hard, but the loss of a leader did not outweigh God’s will for the people of Israel, and neither does it outweigh what the staff and board sense is God’s will for BVBC.

The sense of God’s will gave urgency for what happened next in verse eleven. “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.’”

Three days wasn’t much time, was it? Well, no, but forty years and three days were probably enough time. They were as ready as they would ever be. There comes a time when people just need to act. That’s where we are. More preparation won’t really prepare us any better, and the giants in the land won’t be getting any smaller. Let’s go!

But let’s go with the awareness that we didn’t get here on our own steam, and we won’t have success in the future on our own steam. Look at Joshua 3:10-11: This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you.

You may know about the Ark of the Covenant only what you learned from Harrison Ford in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” The Ark of the Covenant was the most sacred object in ancient Israel. It contained the Ten Commandments, manna from their wanderings, and Aaron’s rod. The God of Israel made His home on earth above the ark.

Taking the ark with them into the crossing of the Jordan was Israel’s way of acknowledging God’s presence as the power that would give their efforts success. The counterpart to the ark in our experience is the prayers of the church, which have marked this entire undertaking throughout the past four and a half years and will continue.

Prayer, like the Ark of the Covenant, makes God’s presence and our dependence on Him real in our experience. When we get through seemingly impossible situations, prayer reminds us that God has been at work there. As I’ll show you, we have had many times like that in the past two years. I suspect we will have others.

Joshua 4:4-6 says: So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

When this building comes tumbling down, I hope we will take from the wreckage materials that we can use to set up as a sign, so that in the future we can tell thousands of people the story behind this time in BVBC’s life.

The Giants We Face
BVBC has crossed an undefended border into the Valley of the Giants. Unless we retreat, we will engage giants on many fronts. What are the giants we face? I’d like to warn you about four very large ones.

The first is Impatience. The interim difficulties we will face during construction will at times be hard. Some of you gulped, when you heard about McCrery’s. Some people go to another church where their comfort is undisturbed. Some might not go to any church, a grievous loss. Most will stay but grumble and complain, not at something we can change, but at the inconveniences and the little difficulties that make us impatient.

I don’t want to minimize the inconveniences. If our experience to this point is any guide, it is safe to say that just when we think we have adjusted to some especially irritating inconvenience, another even more irritating inconvenience will emerge. But we can defeat the giant, Impatience.

The second giant is Uncertainty. For example, the loss of two staff members and the senior pastor secretary has at times been daunting and destabilizing. Can we find people as competent and compassionate to replace the staff we have lost?

I encourage you to remember that the death of Moses, instead of signaling the nation to pull back, actually seemed to be the sign that they were to proceed with the invasion of the Promised Land. We can defeat the giant, Uncertainty.

The third giant is Fear. Have you ever thought to yourself, “This project is too expensive and too risky in good economic times, but in a bear market we’re asking for trouble?” If you have thought that, you should know that you are not alone.

A lot of people have already encountered this giant and grappled with it. They have done business plans and talked to banks and contractors and architect to keep the church out of financial danger. People have sharply challenged their thinking, so that they had to rethink their conclusions. They have been able to hold their own in battles with this giant. There will be more battles, and more prayer will be needed for God’s protection and for their good judgment. But we can defeat the giant, Fear.

The fourth giant is the one that concerns me most. It is the giant, Blurred Vision. BVBC could forget her calling. We could justify the criticism that all BVBC cares about is becoming a big church, or having a new sanctuary.

Let me speak just for a moment only for myself. I have done everything I can to stay focused on what God has put BVBC in this community to do. After a certain point I excused myself from the Building Committee. Their work is indispensable, and I excused myself, not to escape the hard work they do, but in order to stay focused on the preaching of the gospel and the building up of the church. 

I know we can defeat this last giant. God confirmed it during a remarkable 15 days in December. During those 15 days, I sat and prayed with the dying, as five BVBC households experienced death during the Christmas season. In one eight day period I preached 16 times, including seven different preparations for Christmas Eve, Sundays, two funerals and two weddings. Phase III serves our vision; it is not our vision.

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
So, where stands the senior pastor of BVBC? Four daunting moments during the past two years have redefined my life. First was the original price tag for Phase III. I remember well George Yu said the building he had in mind would cost $11 million. 

I gave up on the project at that moment. It was the Board of Deacons’ faith that taught me not to give up. They had no idea how we could do the project, but they trusted God to show us how to do the impossible. My faith grew.

The second daunting moment came, when ISS consultants told me that I had to be the one, who would ask the church to give millions of dollars to make Phase III possible. Over five months in 2006 I met one on one and with large groups of you and asked you to give to Phase III. It was humbling. I was criticized for doing it. I learned as I went, which meant that I was too soon old and too late smart. Doing it changed me, gave me a new sense of authority and new courage.

The third daunting moment came, when Michelle Keil walked into my office on Sunday evening, November 5, 2006, and told me the church had pledged $3.2 million. To say that I was disappointed is an understatement. I was defeated. After all that work and only $3.2 million! I gave up on the project again! It was Pastor Bill Parsons’ faith that taught me not to give up. He reminded me gently that it wasn’t the end of the story; and in fact today the pledge is closer to $4.3 million with the prospect of more.

The fourth daunting moment came went Pastor Bill Heider told me his plans to leave staff and plant a new church. Soon after that came Jollie Wilcox’s retirement announcement. Finally came Jean Bluder’s death on Christmas Eve. 

For the fourth time I wondered if the project could go forward. I had many long days and short nights from September through December. By a process that I can no longer recall, I have come to realize what the children of Israel realized at the death of Moses. The loss of capable, trusted leadership always hits hard, but the loss of a leader does not outweigh the will of God for BVBC to go forward with this project. 

Here’s where I am today. I am fully engaged. I am aware of risk. We can face it. I am committed to this project and to giving BVBC the pastoral leadership it needs to go forward with this project. Phase III is not for us; it is for the thousands of people, who will come here in the next 30 years of the life of this church. I’m in. How about you? Let’s pray, give, engage the giants, think, debate, hope, trust, and love.