TGC’s Ordinary Pastors Project seeks to find wisdom and honor in faithfulness, demonstrated in varied contexts. Learn more from the introduction by Matt B. Redmond. If you’d like to honor and encourage the ordinary pastor who shaped you, tell us about him in about 500 words and include a photo, or record a video testimonial of five minutes or less and send the link to [email protected]. This submission comes from Chris Dendy.
One of the first things that my pastor, Steve Hussung, taught me when I became the college minister was to have death in mind from the beginning. As an energetic seminarian I thought I would spend a lifetime expositionally teaching whomever the Lord would bring my way. But as my pastor so profoundly pointed out, if I planned on taking years to walk through some of the more dense books, the opportunities and years begin to evaporate. I could conceivably have only one opportunity to teach on any particular text.
Steve decided long ago that he would plant himself at Rich Pond Baptist Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and stay here as long as the Lord willed—this in itself is a valuable testimony for a young minister. We live in a time where preachers, and for that matter churches, have an unspoken shelf life so that when either of the two become stale you trade them out for a new flavor; but not Steve. While he may be a man of vision, his passion for that vision has never usurped his love for the church. Pastor Steve is a pastor-leader.
Steve’s perspective is eloquently balanced by his propensity towards forgetfulness. While he may be thinking about how to end well, he cannot remember where his keys are, nor to put the coffee pot under the spout when making his wife’s coffee. On more than one occasion I have had to take some of his belongings back to him, because he had become so engrossed in his thoughts that he forgotten that he had left anything behind. However, one thing that he most assuredly never forgets is a good theology book. Whether it is memorizing Scripture, working his way through a theology book, or sharing insights gleaned from mediation on Scripture, he has modeled for his people what it means to be a serious disciple. Pastor Steve is a pastor-theologian.
Steve has slowly led his congregation to embrace healthy church practices: meaningful membership, biblical church discipline, and a plurality of elders. It has nearly taken eight years for the congregation to embrace all of these ideals, and we still are not entirely there yet. For some it has been a painstakingly slow process; for others it has gone at break-neck speed. In the midst of it all one thing that has remained resolute is Steve’s patient shepherding. He places upon himself a demanding counseling schedule. Seeing difficulties and confrontation as an opportunity for the gospel to be extolled, he would rather take the extra counseling obligations upon himself, than to refer them to others—even with stubborn, prideful, and ignorant individuals such as myself. Pastor Steve is a pastor-shepherd.
In a word, Steve is an example of Christ, except for the forgetfulness . . . that is all Steve. And he is one who will remain largely unknown to the rest of the world. But for the privileged few at Rich Pond Baptist Church he is our pastor, and he would agree that few things matter more.
Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?
In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.
