It’s official: I’m not really a young guy anymore. It doesn’t bother me at all, but this reality is accompanied with an awareness that I am living on the back-nine of my life on earth. In the last two years there has been a growing desire and commitment in my heart to set the table for those who will be coming behind me. I think of my daughter, my son, my future grandchildren, all the small children and infants in the church family whom I serve… I am compelled within to deeply consider them as I seek to finish my race well. I am a Christian, therefore I will not play it safe during the second half of my life.
The Father is leading me to narrow my ministry focus to those things for which He has suitably equipped me. It is ironic that He thrust me into the pastorate, because my natural gifting is not really fit for being a pastor. Our home church is blessed because we have two Lead Pastors – myself and Dustin Pennington. Dustin is uber-gifted with people skills, and is such a blessing to the people at as he serves to come alongside them. He and I work together, with others, to provide a comprehensive care, leadership, vision and direction for the flock. Dustin is not me. I am not Dustin. We do not wish to be the other guy. We really aren’t that much alike, but we share the same heart for Jesus and His people. Dustin is good at things that I am not. The converse is true about the things which God has made me capable – Dustin has not been given those same skills. Ultimately, we both recognize that he is the functional shepherd of this house, while I am the functional messenger. He prays and plans and networks people for ministry. I pray, listen and communicate the heart of the Father for what He is doing and will do in our midst. If you ask Dustin or me how this working, you will find us both smiling and truthfully declaring that we could never foresee ourselves going back to the singular pastor model of church leadership. We need one another, and our church family needs us both.
“Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak’” – 2nd Corinthians 4:13
Like the Apostle Paul, I was born to communicate what I believe. God made me a mouth in the Body of Christ, and I am committed to being that mouth with all that He has placed within me. Once upon a time, I worked hard at being something other than a Kingdom communicator. Now I am convinced that I should pour my days into this one thing: communicating truth in a spirit of love. In the context of me being the primary messenger for New Bridge (and the lone messenger for Transforming Truth), I want to announce that we are officially launching a new arm of ministry from under the Transforming Truth banner. The Ricochet is a new venue through which we will communicate different layers of things that we see happening in the Kingdom. While Transforming Truth continues to broadcast full sermons through our multiple media streams, The Ricochet will be a 30-minute program that will use the format of a talk-show with me serving as the host. In addition to the occasional teaching devotion that I will serve up, there will be a primary focus on welcoming guests onto our studio-set, engaging them about what they witness the Lord doing in the Kingdom, and then to listen to them sharing their own stories. I already have a list of over thirty guests that I will be inviting to be on the show. Some of them will be recognizable faces in the Kingdom, some you will meet for the first time. The goal is to bounce thoughts, ideas and even debatable issues off each other in order to gain a fuller grasp of different points of views concerning what is happening in our world. This bouncing of ideas (hence, the name The Ricochet!) will help to reinforce that our call to unity as believers does not equal a command for uniformity as believers. We will be intentionally facilitating the breaking down of man’s religious walls and simultaneously seeking to plant unity in the Spirit, with validation for those whose callings differ from our own. I am believing that many will be blessed and helped through this new endeavor.
As we begin filming the first episodes of The Ricochet today, please be patient as we determine just how and when these episodes of the program will be broadcast. Eventually, they will be streamed live on one of our Facebook platforms. For now, please look for announcements in this blog, on our Twitter page @TransTruth, the new Twitter page @TTRicochet and the Transforming Truth Facebook page. As always, the Transforming Truth app is your one-shop-stop for everything we put forth from under the Transforming Truth banner. Download your free TT app wherever you receive your other mobile apps.
A special thanks to those of you who helped to fund the launch of the Ricochet – you were essential in making this vision a reality. We hope you will be satisfied that your contribution was a worthwhile investment!
Blessings,
Jeff
Look forward to this new venue here in Idaho. Sounds like some good ‘food for thought’ will be discussed!!
Please, subscribe me via email to the RICOCHET talk show format.
Thanks a lot
God bless you all.
Yea buddy…looking forward to this!
Vince, we just got done filming the first two episodes. Huge learning curve for me, compared to the types of stuff we have filmed before. It will be a smaller-scale start but will eventually get into full swing. Thanks for your help, bro!