The Fruit of the Spirit
By John Brunton --
I am very thankful that Wayne and the preaching guild decided to teach on the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 in preparation for our receiving Jay Gjurgevich as our new Lead Pastor. It’s one of those passages that I thought was familiar but, as usual, I have discovered that there are always new insights to be gleaned from God’s Word. Thank you, Preaching Guild, for your commitment to preaching God’s Word and for being Jesus centered!
The reason for my thankfulness is not based on concerns about the “acts of the flesh” as outlined in Galatians 5:19-21 being prevalent in our faith community as they apparently were in the churches around Galatia. Rather, it’s a good reminder that the flesh always wages war against the Spirit and transitions like we are about to encounter can cause us to take our eyes off Jesus and instead focus on circumstances. Wayne has been a faithful servant who has elevated our love for Jesus over the past 7 – 8 years and I am sure that there are many, like myself, who will be grieving the loss of his frequency in the pulpit. The preaching guild was wise in anticipating that a change in Lead Pastor could cause division and discord and they have once again, under Wayne’s mentorship, chosen Scripture to remind us that this is Jesus’ church and not Wayne’s or Jay’s church.
Tuesday night in the Elder meeting, we went around and shared what each of us was anticipating and excited about for the future of GPBC. One thing that was shared was that we felt, under Wayne’s guidance, we were poised for God to do something “God-sized” in and through our faith community. Our prayer is that this will result in being and sharing Christ even more both out into the greater Portland community as well as around the globe. We wait with great anticipation for the next chapter in the life of our faith community believing that God has led Jay and Katie to us after much prayer, long and multiple interviews, checking of references, etc. We also reminded ourselves that in the excitement and anticipation, we must not forget to express to Wayne how much we love him and appreciate so much how he leads us directly to Jesus every Sunday.