I
won’t soon forget the conversation I had with him. Standing outside by the resort pool with my
wife attending Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale’s annual Married Couple’s Retreat,
we took the opportunity to catch up with some friends from our former
church. Both of us Florida natives, my
wife and I had just recently moved to the mountains of North Carolina to start
a new chapter in our lives. Prior to our
move, the checklist of “essentials” was pretty slim: Employment, School &
Church (in no particular order). Within
no time, we had covered two-thirds of these necessities and were still on the
lookout for #3. However, what we thought
would easily be a slam dunk in the heart of the Bible Belt proved to be more
difficult than it seemed. All we had to
do was find a new church. How hard could
it be? It didn’t have to be a clone of
Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale. It
didn’t need to be as big or have as many ministries. Just a new home where my and my family’s walk
with Jesus could continue to thrive. But
we were having a difficult time finding it.
So
I set out to do what any God-loving leader of his family would do. Pray Fast
Recruit a pastor to plant a great church in my area.
Doug
was a perfect choice. He was a great
teacher, had an awesome family and was seemingly primed to take the next step
in ministry leadership and plant his own vision somewhere throughout the country. Why not ask him? I mean, who doesn’t want to move to the
mountains these days? “Hey Doug. Take a look at this. Everyone’s doing it. Take a hit of that
Appalachian Air. Feels good, huh?” Well,
that’s not exactly how it went. I don’t
think I sounded to him like a travel agent/drug dealer but that might as well
have been what I said because he didn’t take the bait.
Shot
down.
My
wife and I spent some time in conversation with him, and in that conversation
we mentioned that we were desperate for a good Bible teaching church in
Asheville. “We need a great pastor who
gets how to do ministry well…. Someone like you, perhaps?” While Doug’s response was humble, he was
clear that it was not on his radar.
“My
wife would like the mountains, but I’m a Florida boy.”
“Sounds
great, but I like the chaos of the big city.”
“I’m
so happy with the work I’m doing here.”
Blah,
blah, blah.
Can
you believe this guy? I could have
offered him keys to the Biltmore Estate and Billy Graham’s home phone number
and he would have turned me down. Your
loss, Pastor Doug!
So
what does he end up doing for the past 10 years or so? Exactly what he had been doing. Wait,
what? Yep. The man who was helping build one of South
Florida’s most successful foster care ministries kept doing that – his
job. Didn’t he get the memo? Doesn’t he know that once you earn the title
of associate Pastor that you’re supposed to plan your next step? You’ve got to get the prayer calendar, mark
the moving date and pray about where God is leading you to be the main man. It’s all in the Bible (somewhere). And I’m certain that the calendar states that
you have to move at least 3 states away from where you are (read: North
Carolina). Well, somehow he read that to
mean “Go down the street”, “Go next door”, or simply “Go do your job” – which
is what he did. Kept his head down and
focused on the mission God had given him, which was to provide a safe, loving
home for every foster care child in Broward County.
Well,
he at least wrote a book, right? Nope.
He’s
got an inspirational blog? Wrong again.
He
tweets inspirational sayings? No.
He
tweets sarcastic sayings? Not that I’m aware of.
Well
how the heck is this guy ever going to make a name for himself?
Which
is exactly the point. I don’t think he
ever cared to. Which makes his taking
the lead in one of America’s largest churches all the more amazing and
inspirational. In a day and age when
self-promotion is everything, Pastor Doug never sought to be more known than
the God he serves. In a time when I’m
certain many young pastors would salivate at such a job opening, I am
hard-pressed to imagine him pushing his way to the front of the pack. Because, while I don’t know much about
leading a foster care organization, there is one thing I’m sure of: Each day is
a reminder of a problem that you’re working to solve. Every day is another family whose life you
have to work to help make right. Every
day you lay eyes on another child caught up in a system of difficulty and
desperation. It’s not exactly a role
that lends itself to a lot of ministerial fist-bumps.
And
yet, looking back on the foster care situation in Broward County over the last
10+ years, you see evidence not of a dent, but of an asteroid strike:
That
is what the scientific community likes to refer to as
OhMyGoodnessWhatHappenedHere!
But
I’m not sure if any of you would ever know this. Because until there is no bar on the right
side of that graph, I don’t think Pastor Doug would ever feel satisfied. That’s just the kind of leader he is (my
words, not his).
So
while the body of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale moves into a new chapter, I
have nothing but confidence in who has taken the reins. If Pastor Bob was the celebrity pastor, then
Pastor Doug is the anti-celebrity pastor.
I’d make a better witty cultural reference to him but that would be
doing him a grave disservice. Because
while many a pastor would love to be seen and heard more, Doug is the guy
you’ll want to follow. In all honesty, I
can’t think of a better or more humble leader to stand behind.
But
if you’re not thoroughly blessed by Doug’s leadership, teaching & humility,
my offer to the mountains still stands.
