We Dare Not Disappoint Them!

When I read the letters and listen to the personal appeals of church members, a great burden rests on my heart.

Robert H. Pierson is president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

 

WE WERE having "community worship" to close the Sabbath at Pitcairn Place, where some of us live near Washington. Along with General Conference, Columbia Union College, and other workers present there were two or three lay members who were visiting friends among our group.

One of these godly laymen was praying.

"Dear Lord," he said, "we thank Thee for our church leaders—these men and women of God whom Thou hast placed in positions of responsibility to teach us the right way and to lead us in right paths. We thank Thee for our pastors in our churches who are preparing us for the testing time of trouble just ahead—men who are helping us get ready for the coming of Jesus."

This dear saint of God then went on to express confidence that the ministry of his church would never lead the members in a wrong way, but that under God's blessing they would soon be led into the kingdom of heaven. By the time he had finished praying I confess I felt something moist trickling down my cheeks. I felt very humble.

There is no question about it—thousands upon thousands of our dear people are depending upon us as ministers and leaders. There may be some who are critical, but the great majority are with us and are trusting us to lead them aright—into the kingdom.

These saints—most of them—are well acquainted with God's Word and the Spirit of Prophecy writings. They know what is ahead a time of trouble, times of testing before the coming of Jesus. They are counting on us to prepare them for these trying days, as well as to help them meet their day-by-day trials and temptations.

When I read the letters they write to us and listen to their plaintive personal appeals, when the earnest prayers of our church members fall upon my ears, when expressions of love and confidence are heard, a great burden rests upon my heart. A tremendous sense of responsibility possesses me, a great, over whelming desire to measure up—a desire not to disappoint these dear men and women of God.

We must not betray this confidence. We must not disappoint our people. We must not cause a single one of them to lose his or her way!

Our people need help. Our people want help. Our people must have help. They are looking to us as ministers and leaders to provide this help in our preaching, in our visitation, in our discussion groups, in our Sabbath school classes. They have confidence that we will not fail them. They believe that as leaders we will so manage the affairs of their church that we will make first things first, and the first thing is their salvation.

God is calling for repentance—among us personally as his workers and corporately as a church. The hour is too late for us to preside as baby-sitters for a sleeping church. He invites us to bestir ourselves from our lukewarm condition. He is calling us individually to a recommitment of all that we have and are to Christ and His last-day message.

He challenges us to permit the fires of the first love to be rekindled in our hearts and to light some fires in our pulpits. Away with any tame, lifeless discourses. On our knees let us plead for the fire of God to fall upon us, that we will be used to exhort men and women to repentance and righteousness—to victorious Christian living. We are to feed, not fool, the flock. God calls us to a new commitment to the Christ-centered, Bible-based Advent message that has made us a people of the Book.

Fellow leaders, our people are looking to us; they have confidence in us. They are trusting us to lead them forward into the kingdom. We dare not, we must not, disappoint them!

Robert H. Pierson is president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

December 1977

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