I want to thank you with all my heart for your generous support for Mark Buckley Ministries. You have supported me in my ministry to pastors and leaders which continues to bear good fruit. I’ve had the opportunity to travel from Phoenix to California, Maryland, The Canary Islands, and Ecuador this past year. My focus has always been to encourage leaders and share with them the wisdom and grace the Lord has given me over the past forty-eight years of ministry.
My transition to this ministry focus after being a senior pastor from 1976-2017 has been different than I had anticipated. Even though I continue to preach, teach, counsel, write, lead men’s groups, oversee pastors, and lead a pastor’s network, emotionally I often feel like I’m on a vacation. Every year when I left Living Streams on vacation, I would stop worrying about our church for several weeks. Occasionally I would get phone calls about a crisis back home, but for the most part I was able to leave the ministry in the hands of leaders who did an excellent job while I was away.
If you had asked me a few years ago how much pressure I felt being a senior pastor, I would have told you I loved my job and it didn’t seem like too much pressure most of the time. It wasn’t until six months after our transition was final that I really began to feel like a weight had come off me. Part of the reason I felt relief came from seeing Living Streams was prospering under the leadership of David Stockton and his team. The church has grown in grace and numbers over this past year and a half.
The other part of the reason I have felt such relief is that I’m able to focus more on the ministry I feel called to fulfill. I believe God’s kingdom expands best when church leaders are healthy. If leaders are healthy, then their congregations will have the best opportunity to prosper. Your support has enabled me to focus on helping leaders and know my family will be provided for at the same time.
A few of the churches that call me to preach have thousands of people and give generous honorariums. Other churches which call me for ministry are filled with poor people who love the Lord. My ministry covers my costs when I go to them. I feel drawn to serve ministries that are poor. I love their faith. They have few pretensions. I can be myself and tell stories of God’s goodness and grace when I preach to them. I think these opportunities does as much good for me as it does for them.
Because you believe in the Lord and support me, I am free to go where the Lord calls me to go. I’m not always sure what my next assignment from the Lord will be. So, I try to prepare myself in the Word and prayer every day, so I’m ready to respond with wisdom and grace when the text comes, the phone rings, the email arrives, or the Holy Spirit prompts me.
I hope you will continue to prepare yourself to serve the Lord. I thank God for you and pray that you will have a surprising amount of grace and peace in your heart and soul.