After lunch today, we hung out with a guy named Bill Clem, the campus pastor at Imago Dei Church. I walked in to this room not knowing who we were even meeting, and then I prettt much sat down and he started talking. I pretty much had no idea what was happening, and as Connor can attest, we were all pretty much zoning out at first because we were so tired. After a little bit, I began to realize that Bill was actually one of the wisest and yet most humble men I’d ever encountered, and I couldn’t help but lean in. He had some wonderful advice about church planting, discipling, and plenty of other things, but the main thing that stuck out to me was his attitude and character. He was in his mid sixties, but he had so much enthusiasm for his calling to kingdom work, you’d think he was fresh out of Bible college! He was so full of wisdom, I literally recorded the last 25 minutes of our conversation. Here are just a few examples of his wisdom and expertise:
“Be careful not to make an idol out of ministry.”
“All sins, no matter the magnitude, put Christ on the cross.”
“Our job is to be a faithful, Godly presence. Our job is not to change the culture.”
One thing he said that really made an impact on me was about the growth of an individual church. Imago Dei is about 18 years old, a “teenage” church, where Sam and Quinton’s church (see Tuesday part one) is barely a week old, a “baby” church. Bill made an interesting point about being content and finding joy in whatever stage of life your church is in. There are things his teenage church can’t do anymore because they’re not a baby, but there also things it can do since it’s a bit more mature. The leadership at Imago Dei can either live in the past, live for the future, or enjoy and grow in the present. Bill makes a intentional choice to pick the third option. Today was full of learning and fun, and again, it is amazing to se the different parts of the body of Christ working together on perfect unity. (1 Corinthians 12:14-27)
“Be careful not to make an idol out of ministry.”
“All sins, no matter the magnitude, put Christ on the cross.”
“Our job is to be a faithful, Godly presence. Our job is not to change the culture.”
One thing he said that really made an impact on me was about the growth of an individual church. Imago Dei is about 18 years old, a “teenage” church, where Sam and Quinton’s church (see Tuesday part one) is barely a week old, a “baby” church. Bill made an interesting point about being content and finding joy in whatever stage of life your church is in. There are things his teenage church can’t do anymore because they’re not a baby, but there also things it can do since it’s a bit more mature. The leadership at Imago Dei can either live in the past, live for the future, or enjoy and grow in the present. Bill makes a intentional choice to pick the third option. Today was full of learning and fun, and again, it is amazing to se the different parts of the body of Christ working together on perfect unity. (1 Corinthians 12:14-27)
