Christmas!

Kendall and I had a great time for Christmas! We were in Wilmington, NC with my parents and grandparents. During the Christmas week we took some time to spend with my family at the house, and we also took a day trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. For the guys this primarily meant day trip to Bass Pro. The women of the family went shopping at some other places in the area, but I still can't fathom why you would want to leave a Bass Pro Shop :)? For those of you who don't know, I'm an outdoors guy. I enjoy doing anything outside, such as camping, fishing, hunting, etc., so I love a trip to the Bass Pro especially with my dad. We finished the trip with dinner (at the Bass Pro restaurant, which is actually very nice) and a Christmas musical.

We didn't go many places other than Myrtle Beach for Christmas, but mainly stayed at the house eating too many Christmas cookies. We were able to get a lot of rest before getting back to meeting with people to raise our needed financial support to move to CA. Please pray for us as we get back into the swing of calling and meeting with people after the holidays. We are still hoping to be moving to CA by the end of January and we are working very hard to achieve that goal. Please pray specifically that we will be able to get meetings scheduled with people and that the Lord will continue to connect us with people who will be our ministry partners. We greatly appreciate all of you who are supporting us and praying for us regularly. Without you we could not do what we are doing. We are thankful also to the Lord for His grace and how we have continued to see Him provide for us throughout this time of our lives!

What steps will you take to finish strong?

This question was asked of me during my ordination council interrogation. I was asked what steps I am taking to insure that I will be in ministry when I retire. Ever since I was asked that question I continue to think about it. What steps am I taking to continue to walk with the Lord, so that I will not fall away and have to leave the ministry?

I thought about this again today as I was reading my Bible. On my reading plan I am currently reading through 2 Chronicles. I am somewhat of a history buff so I like reading some of these Old Testament books, but I have noticed a recurring theme over the past few kings. In chapters 24-26 we meet Joash, Amaziah, and Uzziah. In each of their bios (at the beginning of each chp.) we find that each of these kings "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord..." However, we also find that they did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord their entire lives, which ultimately led to their demise. Each of these kings started off strong leading the people rightly and following the ways of the Lord, but they ended up failing and facing punishment from God for their sin. Joash and Amaziah both went after and worshipped other gods, and Uzziah fell because of his pride.

Jumping forward to todays times we see a similar trend in our churches in America. Pastors start off strong in their ministries with a zeal for seeing people come to know Jesus and walk with him, but as time goes on they fall away. I have been told that 60-80% of the people who were at Seminary with me will probably not retire from ministry. This is an unofficial statistic but it is alarming to think that so many lose that zeal they had for the Lord, especially those who were leaders.

I don't know any kind of a "7 Step Process to Staying in Ministry" book or manual that is available, nor do I think that one can be written because maintaining your walk with Jesus is not something that can be processed or put into a system. I believe that the way a person sets themselves up to finish strong is to daily seek the Lord everyday of their lives. This may seem cliche, but its true! We can't approach the Christian life as a checklist where we force ourselves to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit comes from knowing Jesus, and it is fruit that comes out of our lives naturally as we walk with him.

There are still spiritual disciplines that we must practice, but we must do them out of our love for Jesus and not out of a legalistic religious duty. This is a fine line and can be hard. I encourage all believers to read your Bible's daily, spend time in prayer, memorize Scripture, have accountability from others who are walking with Jesus, and be involved in the ministry of a local church. These are essential, but when doing these ask the Lord to teach you what it means to love him with all your heart, soul, and mind. I would also encourage you to think about the question posed to me, "How will you finish strong, so that you never fall away from the Lord all of your days?"

Ordination

While we were in Fort Worth for graduation our (Kendall and I) home church (The Cross Baptist Church) wanted to take part in ordaining me to the ministry as a way of sending us out to go work at South Bay Church. Ordination in a Baptist church is simply setting a man apart for the work of the ministry. When a church ordains a man they are in essence saying, "We recognize this man's call to ministry and he has demonstrated the character of a minister as found in the Scriptures." The qualifications of a minister can be found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7.

In 1 Timothy 5:22, Paul tells Timothy not to be hasty in laying hands on someone. This is the act of ordaining or setting them apart for ministry. What you find is that a church sets apart a man for the ministry and they place their hands on him and pray over him that God will keep him from sin and use him to declare the Good News of Jesus Christ. But, Paul says not to do this too hastily because you do not want to appoint someone who is not mature in their faith, has an improper understanding of the Scriptures, or someone who is not living a life above reproach (with integrity) for Jesus.

Therefore, the ordination process begins by doing life together. Kendall and I were members of The Cross Baptist Church for over a year and a half. We did ministry with the people there and we did life together. They knew both Kendall and I and they were able to see the evidence of God's call on my life, as well as they were able to see my character demonstrated over this period of time. Many of the people at The Cross I have actually known for several years through our relationship at the Seminary.

Before the ordination there is also an ordination council that a man meets with. This council is made up of other ordained men from the church. I met with the ordination council from our church prior to my ordination so that they could ask me questions about my personal walk with Jesus, my theology, etc. This is one more step to insure that a church is not appointing / ordaining someone too hastily.

The final step in the ordination process is going before the church body. I shared my testimony and call to ministry with our church and they were given the opportunity to ask questions of me. Following that time the church then laid hands on me and prayed over me.

I am now Rev. David Hibiske, but more than a title I have been charged by my church and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to take the Good News of Jesus to a lost and dying world. I have been charged to not stain or bring reproach upon the name of Jesus by my actions and words. It is not about a title. It is all about bringing glory to God by loving him and pointing others to Jesus so that they may have a relationship with the very God that created them, but this is also the charge that is given to all of us as believers. This is not a spectator sport! We are all called to be participants in the work of the Lord. That is not full-time vocational ministry for every person, and we may not all do the same things because God has given us all different gifts but we should all be actively living to love God and point others to him.

Seminary Graduation

Kendall and I recently traveled to Fort Worth, TX for our graduation from Southwestern Seminary, which took place on Dec 11th. Kendall actually graduated in May but she was able to delay walking so that we could both participate in the same ceremony. However, we didn't get to sit together and there were about 110 people between the two of us. It feels great to finally have my diploma in hand and know that my Master's degree is complete!

We also had a great time with our family here in Fort Worth. My parents and grandparents were both able to make it for graduation, and Kendall's mom and Aunt were also able to come.

Thanksgiving

Kendall and I spent Thanksgiving in Clanton, AL with her family. It has been a great time for seeing family and taking a few days to slow down and get some much needed rest. We will hit the road again this Wednesday (12/2) and resume our support raising travels. We will head back to Charleston, SC for a few days before going to Wilmington, NC, where we will then fly to Fort Worth, TX for our graduation from Southwestern Seminary.

Running a Race!

Support raising almost feels like you're running a race. The starting line for Kendall and I began in Fort Worth, TX once we put everything we own in storage and hit the road. The finish line, San Jose, CA! In between the start and the finish there are many miles traveled, phone calls, emails, prayers, meetings, dinners, etc.

During this time Kendall and I have been focusing on Paul's words in 1 Corinthtians 9:24. Paul says, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such as a way as to get the prize!" This verse has had an impact on us for the time being because we want to accomplish the goal of raising our support so that we can begin serving at South Bay Church as soon as possible. But, we don't want this verse to simply be a temporary description of the way that we live our lives. Our desire is that we are always found to be running in such a way as to get the prize. We want to run full out for Jesus and work with all of our might to make an impact for His kingdom. We have been encouraged at the Lord's provision so far in our journey and we pray that He continues to bless our efforts and provide for our needs. Thank you to so many of you who are partnering with us in this journey! We appreciate you and love you so much. Please continue to pray for us that the Lord would provide for our needs and we would be able to move to CA the beginning of the year. Thanks!

My First Blog...

This is the first time that I have ever written a blog. I am starting this as a way to keep people informed as Kendall and I travel to gather a support team so that we can begin our ministry at South Bay Church in San Jose, CA. The past few weeks have been an exciting and interesting time. We have so many stories already and we have only been traveling for a few weeks. I hope that you will keep checking back. I will try to keep this updated with our status and I will also be recording various thoughts from time to time.