By Pastor Devlyn Brooks
God’s time. … Not our time.
You’d think after the circuitous and long road it took for me to answer my call as a pastor, I would have this important faith lesson burned into my consciousness. But this month, I found myself shaking my head, and muttering to myself, “God’s time, Devlyn. Not yours.”
As I’m sure you know by now, three weeks ago my world was turned upside down when I was invited to take the reins as director of Churches United, a large, faith-based nonprofit organization in Fargo-Moorhead that operates a shelter for the homeless, a very busy food pantry and a transitional housing apartment building that helps move people into permanent house.
Just when I was adjusting to having been laid off from a 30-year career in the newspaper industry … BOOM … in the blink of an eye, one day I woke up as the new interim CEO of Churches United.
God’s time, Devlyn. Not yours.
The first three weeks have been fast and furious. It’s probably not a secret to you that the organization is in a bit of a financial pickle, and we’re fighting hard to keep the doors open for the hundreds of people we house and the thousands of people we feed.
The greater Fargo-Moorhead region has rallied to help keep the doors open for our first few months, but we are not out of the woods yet. We still have to find a long-term funding source that makes our operation sustainable. There are thousands of people counting on us to do so.
I share this because I know you may be wondering about how this is going to work. How can I still be an effective pastor here at Faith Lutheran, which has been so gracious to me for the past eight years, and also operate Churches United?
The simple and honest answer is: We’ll figure it out together … one day at a time.
I’ve been lucky so far that my duties here and at Churches United have dovetailed nicely. In fact, I have shared with many that this new role allows me greater freedom to be a pastor, and a more conducive opportunity to live into my pastoral call, far more so than my previous profession in the media.
In fact, this new role has helped me feel more like I am fully living into being a pastor more than ever. In this new role, I truly get the opportunity to live into Jesus’ message of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and housing those without shelter.
And for me, the most rewarding part is that I’m getting to do it in conjunction with my Faith Family here at Faith Lutheran. Thank you to all of you for your support and encouragement in this role over the past month.
Oh, I know, there will come times when I -- or you, frankly -- will feel the friction between my two roles. There will arise conflicts between where I need to place my attention. But I’m asking for your grace and your trust that I hope I have earned over the last eight years to know where I am pastorally called to in the moment.
I truly believe that the Holy Spirit has called me and Faith Lutheran into this moment to serve our greater kingdom. After all, we are asked to do “on earth as it is in heaven.” I believe that because of your support, we can together serve in a mighty way to shine Christ’s light by serving our neighbors in need at Churches United.
Please know that Faith Lutheran means no less to me now than it did in July. And I honestly do believe that the complement of work here and Churches United will make me just that much more skilled of a pastor. I believe everyone benefits.
Faith Family, thank you for your continued support in this new role. I am grateful! I couldn’t do it without your blessing!
Now, I have just one more request: Please keep me, the shelter staff and its guests in your prayers. We need them! … We have a long, uphill climb back to financial stability in our organization. And we need all of the prayer warriors we can muster! Thank you!
Blessings to you this September, Faith Family! ... See you in church!
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