Everybody Counts

In the early days of Living Streams Church, we held a service every year on Thanksgiving morning. After singing a few songs we would open the mic so our members could give testimonies.  Thirty years ago, Mike Hanson came up to the front to speak at one of these services.

“I’m thankful for our children’s workers. You never know the destiny these children have. Right now, we may have a Michael Jordan, or some future superstar in our nursery. I appreciate the way our workers take care of the children, because they are the future of the church.”

I was thinking about this testimony while I was listening to Banning Liebscher’s Pastor’s Podcast recently. Banning quoted something he had learned from Chad Veach and mentioned he liked Chad’s podcast.

I looked up Chad on Chat GTP and Wikipedia. He is the founding pastor of Zoe Church in Los Angeles, which has thousands of members. He is an author and influencer who is linked to Justin Bieber, the Kardashians and Chris Pratt.

I remember being in Chad’s home on Whidbey Island, Washington when he was a boy. I was preaching at his dad David’s Foursquare Church. I wasn’t interested in Chad that day because I was focused on his dad. I wonder how many times I missed having a relationship with a future leader because I couldn’t appreciate the value of the young guys around me.

I read a Roy’s Report recently about fractured relationships in a large Arizona church. The article was written by Daniel Silliman. When Daniel was a boy, his dad was a pastor in the Church of the Open Door in Petaluma. The article was about a pastor who grew up at Living Streams. I haven’t seen either of them in many years.

My point is that the leaders of the future are the young people around us now.

In the mid 1970’s I went with friends to hear a young evangelist speak in an auditorium on the UC Berkley campus. There were about 500 people in the audience. The evangelist took the stage after several worship songs. I had heard him speak several times. He was usually inspiring, but this night was different.
He paced back and forth across the stage. “Where is everybody tonight?” he kept asking.

He was upset by the small turnout. I felt like standing up, waving from the audience and yelling, “Hey man, don’t worry about who isn’t here. I’m here and I’m going to remember what you say tonight!”

The only thing I remember from his message was his frustration. However, I did take away an important lesson that night. Never underestimate the significance of the people you are speaking to.

I wish I could say I learned that lesson once and for all, but many life lessons have to be learned over and over before we incorporate them.

Ten years later, I waited in our living room in Phoenix for our congregation to show up for our Sunday morning service. I had been praying and preparing my message for this service all week. Living Streams had been meeting in our house for the last month. Each Sunday our service felt like it was make or break for our future as a church.

Kristina and our kids had cleaned up the house. Ten o’clock came and went and nobody had shown up. I walked out to the front yard and looked down the street. Nobody seemed to be on the way to join us. I went back inside and sat down in the living room. As discouragement settled over me, the front door opened and three young boys came running in, followed by an older man.

Peter, Jonathan and David Stockton had arrived with their grandpa, Glen Stockton, who wasn’t following the Lord himself. He was watching his grandkids that weekend while their parents were out of town. A few minutes later, another man arrived. He had come to our very first service, as well. He was emotionally unstable, but I was glad he returned.

Nobody else showed up for that Sunday service.

Kristina bravely led us in a couple of songs. We had prayer and communion. Then I preached my sermon. It was the smallest Sunday morning service in the forty-two year history of Living Streams, yet it was not insignificant.

Nine-year-old Matthew Buckley was there. Matthew led many of his friends to Christ before he went to be with the Lord eight years later. Six-year-old Philip Buckley was there and he is a man of God with a great family who is a leader of men. Kelly Buckley was four, and Kathryn Buckley was eight months old. Today they are both women of God who are full of love and make us proud parents.

Peter Stockton was eleven, and he became a gifted medical doctor and then a missionary along with his wife and four daughters. Jonathan Stockton was nine. He became a missionary for years before becoming a full-time pastor serving in Hawaii and now California. David Stockton was seven. He became a gifted Bible teacher and a missionary as well. He took the senior pastor position at Living Streams in 2016 and has been leading the church on a continued fruitful journey ever since.

And grandpa Glen Stockton spent the last twenty years of his life sharing Jesus with everyone he met.
I had the privilege of impacting the lives of these folks, but I didn’t appreciate the significance of the opportunity at the time. I often longed for a bigger assignment. I remember this on the occasions when they are too busy to pick up the phone when I call.

There is a reason Jesus prayed all night before selecting twelve men to be his apostles. He wanted to invest his time and teaching in those who would fulfill his mission. Yet it’s hard to determine who to invest your life in because spiritual potential, character and God’s calling in others are not easy to discern.
May God enlighten our eyes and enable our hearts to sense the significance of the people he brings into our lives, whether young or old, rich or poor, slim or extra-large.

Potential world-changers are near us all; but, they need the Word, the Spirit and the love of Christ we can impart to them to become what God intended them to be.