Mark Clifton arrived in Birmingham on a stormy night to talk to pastors and other ministry leaders about the storms of life.
“You pastors are in a storm, headed into one or coming out of one … this is just the way life is. Jesus said to ‘take up your cross daily’ and serving Him is a tough assignment.”
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Clifton, executive director of replant for the North American Mission Board, was keynote speaker at “Recover, Renew, Rejoice,” sponsored by Birmingham Metro Baptist Association.
Clifton noted he had been a pastor since 1978 and both his father and great-grandfather were pastors.
“I came through the church growth movement in the 80s and a lot of good came from this,” he recalled during the April 28 event. “But one bad thing was the impression that if your church grew large, you’re a winner, and the rest of us were losers.
“Sometimes God calls us to leave what’s comfortable and go to a hard and difficult place. Only eternity will reveal the worth of what we do in our churches.”
Clifton spoke from Mark 4 about Jesus calming the sea, explaining that He needed to leave the crowds to rest. While the disciples had seen storms before, this time they thought they might perish.
Rest amid the storm
“We will encounter storms even when we’re obediently traveling with Jesus,” Clifton asserted.
“But Jesus could sleep because He had total trust in God’s providence. He knew that nothing would abort God’s plan for Him at that moment. And you can sleep during the storm, too,” Clifton continued, “with the assurance that Jesus knows more about your church than you do. John said [in Revelation that] He has ‘eyes of fire’ and sees everything, so nothing surprises Him.”
Clifton noted that other smaller boats were accompanying the disciples’ boat.
“I think these little boats could be those around us who see our trust in Jesus during the storm, and it’s an opportunity to point people to Him.
“I want my grandchildren to love the Lord and serve His church, and they’re the ‘little boats’ around me,” Clifton said. “But if all they hear is my complaining about my church and the people who don’t bear the burden, instead of hearing me talk about the joy of the Lord, I’m a poor witness to them. Grandparents should be mindful to rejoice in the Lord.”
‘We must have a song’
Clifton acknowledged that some storms are greater than our ability to navigate and there’s no way to meet them without preparation. He suggested four ways:
“I think we must have a song,” he said.
“There’s something about music that touches the soul and gives comfort. We’ve all seen dementia patients who hear Scripture, but their mouths begin to move and they try to sing familiar hymns they’ve known all their lives. Good songs strengthen and minister to us.
“Second, have a Scripture,” Clifton said. “I love 2 Corinthians 1:9 where Paul wrote, ‘Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.’ Struggles point us to the power of God and remind us not to be prideful but trusting.”
‘We all need a friend’
A third preparation is to have a friend.
“We all need a friend we can go to for counsel and prayer,” Clifton said. “The pastorate can be lonely, and we need someone we trust to confide in when the burdens are heavy.”
Finally, Clifton suggested pastors practice spiritual discipline.
“Every day we must find time to read His Word and pray, and this practice must continue when the storms come,” Clifton said. “The wind and waves still obey His voice. We will hear His voice in the storm when we hear it every day in the discipline of devotion.”
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