You never know. You just never know. You never know how our faithful God is working through our lives and ministry. Maybe it’s best we don’t know so that we aren’t tempted to take credit where credit isn’t due! But as time passes, it is helpful and encouraging.
Hearing the latest chapter in this decades-long ministry story a few weeks ago blew me away as I thought about God’s kindness, mercy, faithfulness, and grace. I think it will blow you away too. It’s a little story about God’s big way of working providentially through that which we might think is insignificant, and that which we might even count as failure. It’s worth sharing today as it’s the sixth anniversary of my father’s leaving this earth and going into the presence of Jesus Christ.
First, some 56-year-old context. Bear with me here as it all makes the story that much better! This is how God works. . . and it usually takes hindsight to see it. . . maybe almost 6 decades.
In the summer of 1970, my family moved. We had been living in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania where my 38-year-old dad had been the Pastor at the St. Mark’s Reformed Episcopal Church. In what was a completely unexpected development to me and my two younger brothers, we learned in June of that year that we would be moving 15 minutes away (seemed like a world away at the time!) to Maple Glen, where my dad was going to become the pastor at a 12-year-old mainline Presbyterian Church. Why would he do that? Well, that was my dad. . . always looking for fields in which to plant seeds of the Gospel.
The church we moved to was not large. At the time, it functioned in many ways as a social club for the members. And as far as I can remember, the true Gospel had not been preached to that point. . . at least not in the way it was about to be preached. In hindsight, it may have been that at the time, very few people in the church were actually faithful followers of Jesus Christ. The place was ripe for the Gospel. Dad entered into this move with a determination to faithfully preach the Gospel while trusting God’s Spirit to change hearts. If you knew my Dad, this was not at all a surprising move on his part.
We moved at the end of July, just one month before I started my freshman year at a new high school. Truth be told, I was missing the friends I had left, I was a bit nervous about starting all over, but there was some excitement and expectation I felt as well. I don’t think the boxes were yet unpacked when Dad announced that since I was going to be in high school and there were quite a few teenagers at the church, that “We need to start a youth group.” You might find it hard to believe, but local church youth ministries were a new thing back at that time, so this was a bit revolutionary. All he had to do was find somebody to launch and lead that youth group. He hopped in his car, drove across the Delaware River to Princeton, New Jersey, and proceeded to look for a young Gospel-loving Princeton Seminary student who might be willing to come and lead our youth group over the course of the next year as part of their weekend field education experience.
Next thing we know, a young Tennessee boy named Phil Douglass was arriving at our house every Saturday afternoon to spend about 36 hours with me and my teenage peers. Phil spent time with us, leading a Saturday night Bible Study followed by skating or bowling, teaching us on Sunday mornings, and launching our Sunday night youth group meetings. It was rag tag mix of high school kids. . . some athletes, some scholars, and some just knuckleheads! I’m not sure our group and its chemistry made it too easy on Phil. Maybe we hadn’t show it well during the course of the year, but we cried when June rolled around and it was time for Phil to leave us. We loved him.
What most didn’t know was that upon leaving, Phil was a bit upset as well. At the time, my Dad confided in me that Phil had told him that he didn’t know if his time with us had really amounted to anything. In other words, he left with little or no evidence in his mind of ministry success or spiritual growth in our group. I, for one, disagreed. Phil had certainly impacted me. I suspected that he had impacted others as well. In God’s grace, I’ve been able to keep up with Phil over the years, and I’ve been sure to let him know that one big reason why I went into youth ministry and am doing what I’m doing now, is because of him. If nothing else, I trust that the investment of my Dad in Phil and Phil in me has paid some dividends for the advance of the Gospel.
But the story of Phil’s influence doesn’t stop there. . .
Now, this is where it gets really, really good. On a Saturday afternoon just about four weeks ago, I attended the funeral of a friend, Jeff Okamoto, who had gone to be with the Lord in February. I can confidently say that Jeff “went to be with the Lord” because of the bold testimony of his faith and life. And at that funeral, it was mentioned that Jeff, who was two years ahead of me in high school and part of that first youth group in Maple Glen, came to know the Lord under the ministry of that part-time youth pastor, Phil Douglass! That’s influence. . . but there’s more. . .
When my Dad first showed up at that church back in 1970, Jeff’s family had been there for some time. According to Jeff’s three siblings, nobody in the family was a believer. Under the ministry of Phil, Jeff came to know Jesus Christ. That was spoken about at the funeral by Jeff’s brother and my classmate Wayne, who then added more to the story. Jeff was the first domino in the family to fall into the arms of Grace. . . then came his siblings and folks thanks to Jeff’s passion and witness for the Lord, one by one!
After the service, I chatted with Jeff’s siblings, who were such a big part of my own growing up and who I hadn’t seen for some time. What I heard started to connect the dots, reminding me in powerful ways about our calling to simply be faithful and long-suffering in ministry. . . proclaiming the Gospel and the life-giving power of the Cross.
Recounting these dots and how they got connected gets me excited. . .
-1970 – My dad accepts a call to the church and is led by God to go to a seminary that was drifting theologically to find a biblically orthodox student to come serve on weekends. Little did my dad know how God would use that trip!
-1970-1971 – Phil Douglass is the man. . . and after spending roughly nine months with our group, he leaves feeling like little or nothing was really accomplished. Little did Phil Douglass know how God has used his faithful presence and testimony to the Gospel in our midst!
-1970-1971 – Jeff Okamoto comes to faith after listening to and being with Phil. . . starts to grow. . . and begins over the next few years to influence his family for the Gospel. . . and each week as they sit in worship and attend youth group their high school years, they sit under the faithful preaching of the Word of God. Little did they know what God was doing in their lives! Jeff goes on to college and med school, then becomes a deeply committed Christian psychiatrist, literally ministering to thousands throughou the course of his career.
-1971 – 1977 – Jeff’s younger siblings experience faithful youth ministry under the guidance of additional seminary students secured by my dad to come and minister week to week. Little did they know what God was doing in their lives!
And now I go back to something Jeff’s brother and my friend Wayne sent to me last week as they know that I am still in touch with Phil Douglass, who is now a retired Covenant Theological Seminary professor. . .
Wayne writes, “Please extend our personal thanks to Phil Douglass! Please let him know, that even if the only thing that came of that time from 1970 to 1971 is that Jeff came to know Jesus, his impact was felt throughout our family—beginning with me, then Joan, then Barb, and ultimately our dad. In many ways, our ministries—Ollie’s and my time with Cru, and my ministry as a pastor, the hundreds if not thousands of students that Joan has impacted through her decades of teaching and administrating in Christians schools, and the hundreds if not thousands of people that Barb (medical doctor and surgeon) has impacted through her time on the mission field and her time mentoring countless med students, and in addition– the people who Ollie and my children have impacted (Hannah’s married to a pastor, Christin and her husband are very active in their church, Justin & Thabata are in Brazil serving on the mission field)—all of that fruit can be traced back to Phil Douglass’ impact on our brother Jeff! Perhaps like Ruth’s decision to follow Naomi back to Judea—Ruth never could have imagined the impact of that decision—that she would not only be the great-grandmother of David, but also be in the lineage of the Messiah, the Savior of the world!—so too, those brief months that Phil spent at our church had a much greater impact than he realized!— For which Barb, Joan, Christina (Jeff’s wife), and I will be eternally grateful!”
Youthworkers. . . you never know! You never know! Preach the Word. . . and trust God to bring the harvest! With Wayne and his family, I am grateful for the way God used my Dad, Phil, and host of others in so many lives through their humble and faithful obedience.
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. But as for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 timothy 4:1-5)
Here’s an interview I did with Phil back in 2021. . . which I revisted this morning. So helpful for me to hear. . .