There is a televison show called Seventh Heaven. It is about a pastor's family. I don't watch it, because it focuses more about the fortunes of a family whose husband and father happens to be a pastor than it focuses on the impact of being a pastor. I wish some literary genius would write a book of fiction that captured the realities of being a suburban, evangelical pastor. I think there is a story there that hasn't been told.

I know that I have been doing ministry a lot of years, and I go to work everyday with more enthusiasm than ever before. No two days are the same. I never feel sure that I am going to be able to handle all I face each day. And sometimes I go home absolutely exhausted by the range and intensity of my agenda for the day.

Here is a sampling of that range and intensity. Forgive me if I bore you. I promise this is going somewhere besides personal indulgence. Every Monday, I start by staring at four blank sheets of paper that I hope to fill by day's end with a sermon that does justice to the Word of God and to the spiritual needs of people I love best in all the world. I am usually working one month to six months ahead on sermons. The indispensable reading I do for sermons and teaching usually takes place between 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. and on weekends.

There are stated meetings that I attend. Every Tuesday morning, I meet with the entire office staff for about 45 minutes of singing, prayer, and office issues; and then I meet with the other eight Ministry Team Leaders for about two hours to discuss everything from doctrinal issues and pastor care to why the 10:00 worship hour went till 11:05. Once a month I spend 3-4 hours with the board of deacons in prayer and administrative oversight of the BVBC's life. I serve 2-3 times a month with a group of people to explore the possibilities of building a new sanctuary. At least once a month I meet with one or more pastors, priests, or rabbis that are not part of BVBC.

I respon to 100-150 e-mails every week. I talk every day with people by phone. I write references for people applying to private schools, college or grad school or a new job or ministry. I meet with indviduals for breakfast, lunch or, occasionally, dinner. I pray with people all the time: in my office, on the phone, at the hospital, in my home, here on Sunday, at a place of business, one on one, and in small groups.

And there are the personal crises. A father, whose college freshman son has committed suicide, wants to know if I can help him understand God's love. Couples going through rocky times want to know if I can help them sort things out or refer them to experts who can. I invest a minimum of ten hours in every couple that gets married here. I am there when you bury a loved one. When the call comes to meet someone at the hospital emergency room at midnight, I'll be there.

And at the same time the ordinary things go on at home. I pay the bills and put out the dog and do both before it's too late. And in the language of the marriage experts at the University of Denver, Carole and I try to keep fun and sensuality in our marriage.

As I said, I think there is a story there that hasn't been told. But what lies behind all this action? What is the sap that keeps this tree green and flexible? The answer leads to the 20th chapter of Acts. It leads there, because there the Apostle Paul offers spectacular insight into the nature of the pastoral care of the Church.

Of Travel, Tragedy and Triumph
When the uproar in Ephesus, recorded in chapter 19 had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-bye and set out for Macedonia. He traveled through the area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, perhaps in Corinth, where he stayed three months. Because the Jews made a plot against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. With that event his third missionary journey effectively came to an end. It was time to return to Jerusalem.

As a kind of role call of dedicated people of most of whom we know next to nothing, it is appropriate to read verses 4-6. He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. But we sailed from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days. There tragedy and triumph took place.

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he inteded to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. This phenomenon has been with us since the earliest days. In our hyper kinetic culture staying awake is really hard while sitting still.

When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Fortunately, that doesn't happen here. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "He's alive!" Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. Not everyone was as sleepy as Eutychus. The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

Meeting the Ephesian Elders
Verse 13-15 describe the kind of sea voyage that any of us would like to make on a Mediterranean vacation. For our purposes verses 16-17 tell us what we need to know. Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost. From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.

What follows next is one of the great farewell speeches in any language. More to the point, it offers an abiding description of what the heart of every pastor might well aspire to in that age or this age or in any age to come. We begin in verses 18-21 with personal ministry characteristics.

Personal Ministry Characteristics
The first characteristic is being in the public eye. When they (the Ephesian elders) arrived, he (Paul) said to them: "You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. There is something inescapably public about being a pastor, evangelist or apostle. We pastors are publicly to embody, interpret and defend the church's core beliefs and values. There is extensive literature on the vulnerability of beingin the publich eye. It is not optional to the calling.

That is hard on some pastors' wives. But usually she knew what she was signing on for. Their children had no choice. BVBC has always cut staff children a lot of slack. Thank you. Don't expect them to know more or to behave any better than your own.

A second characteristic is humility. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. It usually takes us pastors a while to learn this. We come out of grad school bloated with knowledge and anemic in wisdom. Waiting in our first ministry is part of God's answer to our hubris. Impossible people, impossible situations, impossible aspirations, and impossible schedules become tools in the hand of God to teach us humility and tears.

A third characteristic is the faithful use of God's Word in the lives of people. You know that I have no hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in prepentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

Here is how I describe how I take up that apostolic calling on myself. I declare the whole counsel of God through exposition of key biblical books and themes. Over time I make known to you, the congregation I love and will rejoice in at the Second Coming of Christ, all the major themes that God has revealed to us in His precious Word.

Deepest Movtives
This is what you see: a vulnerable public life, a slow walk to humility, and the preaching and teaching of the wrod of God. In verses 22-24 the aposstle takes us underground into the secret motives of those who stand in solidarity with the apostles. I'll read all three, but verse 24 hits pay dirt.

And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of teestifying to the gospel of God's grace.

May I say to you up front that I hardly know myself in this matter, but it seems to me that in spite of myself something like verse 24 is going on in my soul. Let me show you how it worked at a couple of crisis points. From June 1, 1988, to January 1, 1994, my experience felt like Jonah in the belly of the fish. Here are two examples.

In Portland, OR, I had about a five mile commute to work. During rush hour, it would take 15-20 minutes to make the trip. In the darkest days of my experience there, as I traveled to and fro to work, I understood for the first time in my life why guys stop at a bar for happy hour: they think it will make the pain go away.

I never did either because I had a great wife and a safe home to go to, and although I never said the words, I think 24 really captures the deepest thing in my soul. I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

Before returning to BVBC in 1991 I was out of work for 12 1/2 months and without income of any kind for 7 1/2 of those months. People have occasionally asked me, "Did you ever think about bagging the idea of being a pastor again?" The simple answer is, "No." And if anyone asks why, the best I can say is that something greater than myself had hard-wired into my unprincipled self the core conviction that I had to finish the race and complete the task Christ gave me. I can't look into their hearts, but out of Christian love and a lengthening experience together, I can say that the pastors of this church give themselves to this congregation out of that same core conviction.

Care of the Church
And we give ourselves to you for two purposes: spiritual provision and protection. Verses 25-27 speak to spiritual provision. Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. FOr I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. I have already talked about declaring the whole counsel of God through exposition of key biblical books and themes. I would add one more thing. When it comes to the Word of God that provides spiritual sustenance, none of us has ever had a new though. We may be clever or dull in the way we present it, but the message we have to present was handed down to us, and we are charged with handing it on intact to the next generation of pastors.

Verses 28-31 speak to the need for spiritual protection. Listen to the commands in verse 28 & 31. First in verse 28, keep watch over yourselves and all the flock. Be shepherds of the church of God. Then in verse 31, So be on your guard! And look at the motives Paul gives for protecting the Church.

The Holy Spirit has made you overseers of the Church. Don't violate that trust the Spirit has given you.

He bought the Church with his own blood. The Church isn't mine. I didn't pay the price to establish it. The Owner of the Vineyard has entrusted me (and others) with His dearly purchased people. Don't blow it.

Savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. There is evil in this world that wants to destroy the Church. Protect Christ's people from it.

Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. We expect opposition outside the Chruch. Sometimes it comes from within, and the attack is always against the truth of our faith and unity.

Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Be apostolic. Care for the Church in a manner that is worthy of faithful pastors that have gone before you.

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
The rest of chapter 20 consists of Paul's personal and tearful farewell with the Ephesian elders. Verse 37 is is especially meaningful. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. By all accounts the Apostle Paul was a tough customer. I hope you will balance statements about his harshness with the tender scene between Paul and the Church elders on that Adriatic beach.

Verse 32: Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Ministry at BVBC is not about how busy we pastors may be. It is about how well you, the people of God, are build up in our most holy faith in Jesus Christ. We are moving in the right direction. Last August, I asked the 7:00 p.m. congregation to write their conclusions to the statement, "I dream of a church that..." Their responses fill 11 typed pages and captured the passion Christ has put into your hearts. I close with one of them.

"Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful things You are doing inside and outside of these walls. Lord, thank You for the wonderful things You are doing inside and outside of the walls of my heart. You are my Lord. You are my Father. Please help us to stay together. Help us to love one another with Your love. Thank you, Father."