How did God prepare you to reach the city?
Who is that guy?
My last question to Ray Vaughn was on how God prepared him for the challenge of reaching a city of 6.5 million.
I can feel rather overwhelmed with a city that’s a large as Houston but I think what’s prepared me is being in Columbia being in a smaller realm and in all honesty the thing that’s prepared me the most is failing. To know I’ve failed enough shows me that I have perseverance at least and can maintain it. Paul commends or validates his work as an apostle, more than any other way, through perseverance. Constantly he is reminding us look I’m not a false apostle because I’ve suffered through hardship, beating, shipwreck, trial, constantly I have the burden of the church. Any false apostle or somebody who’s not really called to this type of work is not going to persevere through those type of things.
The reality of learning to persevere through churches that get started and then flop, learning to persevere through teams that feel like are forming and then they don’t, learning to persevere through being in a city and feeling like you’re the only person who really wants this (even though you’re not but you just haven’t met those people yet) learning to persevere through loneliness, through I have no idea what to do next or through getting to 2nd generation church and then it all flops, or to 3rd generation and wondering how do we get to 4th or 5th generation church? Learning to persevere through hardships with pastors that don’t share your view on church or leadership or baptism.
Learning to persevere has helped me to realize it comes with the territory of trying to get to movement and no place left. By embracing that role and vision and call I need to expect and say yes all these other hardships.
Podcast interviews with Ray Vaughn:
- 050-On the frontline with Ray Vaughn: Columbia, Aug 2013
- 108-Pioneering a City-wide Movement: Houston, Feb 2016
A final thanks to Janet for typing up the transcript of Ray’s interview.
PHOTO: Ray and Sara Vaughn. Not sure who that is on the left. I’m sure he’s not dangerous.
