This past weekend we celebrated Hunter Newton’s ordination into gospel ministry.
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Audio Transcript
Good morning, Lake Wisconsin Church. Welcome on this brisk cold morning. I had 31 below in Wausau yesterday morning and 24 below this morning. My car wasn’t real happy this morning, but we made it. I picked up a friend, Jed Haas from Woodlands and Plover.
It is so great, Hunter, to celebrate with you today. There’s a lot of people that love you that are here today and I’m just one of those participants from the district office. My name is Rob Wise and I’m on staff, been on staff for 22 years. And I got to tell you, this young whippersnapper, when he came into our district, I was pretty excited and we wanted to find a spot for him. And when the Lord brought him to Lake Wisconsin, man, I was just so excited.
And Robert, to have him with you alongside of you. What a blessing. Just to see how you’ve cared, mentored him and want the best for him too. And so it’s exciting. So this morning, what are we here for?
Today we’re here to acknowledge Hunter Newton and his call to ministry. We also want to celebrate the completion of his master’s degree in Biblical Studies. Thank you for encouraging Hunter as a congregation through your financial assistance toward his degree. That means a lot, especially in the role I’m in as a district. When churches can help like that, it means a lot and it really helps them be in a good place.
We also are here to celebrate his ordination. Hunter Newton’s ordination in the Evangelical Free Church of America. A service of ordination is a recognized is recognition by a local church of the calling and gifts of a pastor and their congregation in the Evangelical Free Church. Anybody have a guess how many congregations we have roughly? If you don’t know, it’s about 1600 total congregations.
And these churches have all submitted to an ordination process that follows a theological study of the major and minor doctrines of the Statement of Faith for the Evangelical Free Church of America. The word ordination, anyway, anybody have a guess what it means? It means a conferring holy orders on someone. That’s a big deal, Hunter. And so we want to do that today.
Pastor Hunter Newton had to write a 4:40 page paper covering all 10 articles of the Statement of Faith and current issues pertaining to the ministry in the local church. He had to support and prove his positions by using scriptural references and examples in his paper. He then went through a careful doctrinal oral examination by the Deebombs group. What does that mean? It’s the District Board of Ministerial Standing, a group of ordained pastors.
They grilled you didn’t they? A little bit. Hunter, you did well. And I was, I was actually on a zoom call because I couldn’t be in person. But I listened and I’m like, yeah, go Hunter, go.
And he really did well at defending his faith and really through scripture, understanding the scriptures. Well, coach, thanks Robert, for helping with it. I’m sure you were a part of that too. Anyway, they recommended Hunter to be ordained to the national D bombs group. You guys know what that is now?
District board of ministerial standing of the efca. So nationally. And so then the group at the national level, they read through these papers, they look over the minutes and the goal is that they will then approve you to be ordained, Hunter. And they did, which is great news. I have your certificate with me.
I do, I promise. And this is why we’re here today. We’re here to celebrate Hunter Newton’s ordination. This special once in a lifetime service signifies a setting apart, a consecration to full time pursuit of ministry in the church of Jesus Christ. Let me just read one verse out of First Peter, chapter five, verse two.
It says this. And Hunter, I want to specifically say this to you. Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them not because you must, but because you’re willing as God wants you to be. Not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve. Congratulations, Hunter.
And that’s why we’re here today to celebrate his ordination.
My name is Robert Denison. I’m the senior pastor here. I am extremely blessed to have Hunter on staff as all of our church knows. And if I say too much, I’ll get emotional. We all love him very much.
I love him very dearly. He’s a wonderful young man. He’s getting a little older though. He’s got some gray hair there, I think.
You know the word pastor means shepherd. And a shepherd is useless unless he has what? A flock. So scripture refers to the congregation that the pastor works with as his flock. So today I have a charge to you as the flock.
And if you’re not part of Hunter’s flock in the future, hopefully you’re under a pastor somewhere. And this would also apply to you. I have five points. How many minutes I got, Hunter? I wrote it all out so I don’t get too much off track.
The first point is that pastors are a gift from God. The charge to you is cherish them greatly. You know, the first mention of pastor is in the book of Ephesians. And when we study God’s word, we think about what we call the principle of first occurrence. And that’s when God mentions something for the first time.
We really need to pay particular attention to that text. And as I read Ephesians 4, 4 12, what you’re going to hear is that the first mention of pastor says that they are a gift from God. The one who descended, talking about Jesus is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens to fill all things. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry and to build up the body of Christ. You know, the appreciation that we have for a gift is magnified by the relationship that we have to the giver.
And I brought two recent examples.
One was a card that I got for my birthday from some grandkids. If you saw this in Target, you probably wouldn’t pick it up. You probably wouldn’t pay anything for it. But to me, because of my relationship with my grandchildren, this is very what? It’s priceless.
This past summer, my two year old grandson stuck this in my pocket and when I realized what he’d done, I pulled it out and I said, here, you know, take it back. And he took it from me and put it back in my pocket. He’s only two, he wasn’t talking much. But this little thing that you probably wouldn’t pick up at Target or pay anything for is very precious to me because of my what my relationship with my grandson.
Pastors are a gift from God and he’s given us the most precious gifts that we can have. We need to cherish greatly what God has given to us because of our relationship that we have with him. The second point is that pastors are a target of Satan. You need to protect them and you need to pray for them. We read in 1st Timothy 5:19.
Don’t accept an accusation against an elder unless it is supported by two or three witnesses. You know, Satan has a bull’s eye on every Christian’s back, but I would say he has a bullseye on the back and the front of every pastor. It’s his goal to do as much harm as possible. To tempt, to discourage, to disparage and to destroy every pastor. And sadly, Satan’s greatest accomplices in his works of destruction are often church members.
My encouragement is to you don’t listen to gossip about your pastor or assume the worst when you hear something negative about him. More than likely there are circumstances that just aren’t apparent or maybe something hasn’t been shared. Appropriately, the person upset with your pastor may even have improper motivations. My encouragement to you is protect your pastor by encouraging the upset person to go and talk to him. And more importantly than that, pray regularly for your pastor’s spiritual protection.
Ecclesiastes 10:20 warns us, do not speak evil of leaders, even in private. Point number three Pastors have a tough job. The encouragement is give them recognition for their hard work and let them know that you love them. In first Thessalonians 5, 12 and 13 I read, now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. How do you show your love?
Show care. Tell them that you love them. Ask them about their needs, write notes, give Reese’s peanut butter cups, preferably the egg shaped ones at Easter. And that’s very particular to hunter.
And provide practical help whenever you can. Pastors have a tough job. Give them frequent recognition for their hard work. Let them know that you love them. Fourth thing is, you probably won’t laugh at this, but pastors need to eat.
Oh good, you didn’t laugh. Some pastors eat too much. The point here is you need to remunerate them generously to add recognition. Remunerate. In case you don’t know that word, it means you pay them for what they’re doing.
You support them. In First Timothy 5, 17, 18, we read the elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. So we have elders in our church, but those that specifically are preaching and teaching are to have double honor. It goes on to say, for the Scripture says, do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain, and the worker is worthy of his wages. Now, I’ve heard some people say double honor means to show them extra appreciation and to highly esteem them.
But if you look at the context here, it doesn’t support that. An ox does not benefit from you showing them appreciation and showering compliments on them. The ox is benefited when you let them what? When you let them eat.
And if you have someone who works with you at the end of the day or the week of the month, a thank you is not enough. They need to have their wages in either in order to survive. Pastors need to eat. It’s not just food. They have needs like everybody else.
You need to remunerate them generously. Number five Pastors can be sad, they can be discouraged, and they can be grieved. Scripture says to submit to them willingly. You know when you deal with people there will always be disappointment. And when you deal with a large number of people on a regular basis, there is in increased opportunity for disappointment.
This is what Hebrews 13:17 says to the flock. Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. One of the difficult parts of being a pastor is to teach people what the Bible says and then see them walk away without obeying it. Because a pastor knows that he will give account to God one day, not only for himself and his family, but also for each and every person in his flock. Congregation members who disobey the God given direction that comes from his word through the pastor and those that are rebellious to biblical instruction can cause sleepless nights, discouragement, sadness and grief.
Remember that that can happen to your pastor. Scripture says to submit to them willingly so that they do their work with joy. Let me read over the five things again. The first one was pastors are a. What was the word?
A gift from God. Cherish them greatly. Pastors are a target of Satan. You need to protect them and pray for them. Pastors have a tough job, so give them frequent recognition for their hard work.
Let them know that you love them and don’t forget the rhesus peanut butter cups.
Pastors need to eat. Remunerate them generously and remember your pastors can be sad, discouraged and grieved. Scripture says to submit to them willingly.
My name is Wyatt Fisher. I’m a pastor. Been a pastor for a number of years. I was had an opportunity to be a pastor where Hunter was in Oshkosh when he was going to school. And one of the things that we notice right away in Hunter’s life is that he was called that there’s a calling of God on his life and you can see that in his life.
And one of the ways in which you see that Hunter is the way that you care about people, you, you naturally shepherd. And it’s just been evidenced as I watched you grow and watched you through this and, and it’s been great to see you and just I just want to thank you as a church because of how well you have cared for him and brought him up and given opportunities to preach and opportunities to minister and to develop him. How awesome that is one of the things that I really have noticed about you as well. Hunter has been the fact of your attributes of specifically of humility and teachability. And I’m just saying this that that really goes a long ways in being a pastor and for success when you are are have a teachable and humble spirit.
And so I appreciate that so much about you.
Now I did tell you earlier I was going to really spill the beans on you, but I’m not going to. I don’t have that much time.
But I wanted to share with you one of the things that I have is going through ministry have been recently watching has been the loss of pastors and to seeing them fall into seeing them struggle. And in first Timothy or second Timothy four, seven, Paul says I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.
That’s what his call was and that’s really what your desire is that God’s called you and he’s called you to finish. And the question is is what does it take to finish and to finish well? And I think we have a tendency as pastors to lose focus.
I was in ministry for 13 years and really felt like God called me out for a season. In that season he placed this passage of scripture on my heart, that this was the passage that I was to live out of. And It’s John, chapter 15. I shared this at your wedding. So if you’re there, yours is a double, you get double.
But I share this because I feel like it has had such an impact on my life. And I want to read it to you and then just talk about a few things. In John, chapter 15, verses 4 through 8, it says, abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers. And the branches and the branches are gathered, thrown into fire and burned. If you abide in Me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.
By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
As you look at this passage, this word abide consistently comes across that word. The idea behind it is that we are the branches, he is divine, and we are to be connected to Him. That’s what that word basically is stating. And with if I were to Say anything to you as a pastor going forward would be like how you do whatever it takes to stay connected with the Lord is what you have to do. Your personal walk with Jesus is extremely important.
I mean, I can’t say that enough, but I mean, that would be true for all of us. I mean, this is a true statement across the board. Like, but as a pastor, if you’re pouring out, you have to be receiving, right? You have to be giving. And, and for the rest of them that are here that hear you on a regular basis, and they, if you’re not pouring in, if you’re not receiving from the Lord, neither are they.
And so it’s really important. I come from the up, all right? And we, we burned with wood. I don’t know if you guys burned with, but if you burn with wood, you understand there’s that you have to tend the fire. That means you have to keep adding wood, right?
And one, as I was, as I was young in my faith, and one thing that stuck in my mind was that the untended fire will quickly go cold.
And so that’s true for you as you are ministering for him. Tend your fire spiritually.
Secondly, fruit is a direct result of abiding, meaning without God, without connection to God. You can do. There’s something in here, it says nothing, right? That passage, it says you can do absolutely nothing. And so your relationship with God and abiding with him results in fruit.
What you can get wrong in ministry is that busyness produces fruit. More programs produce fruit. And that’s a, that’s a, that can turn you into a burned out pastor. What I’ve really gained from seeing and going through scripture and, and just that whole thought of just if I just abide in him is that the Holy Spirit begins to put stuff on you. He gives you thoughts and he gives you ideas, and, and he gives you resources to accomplish them.
And so I have been, as a result of that, like, okay, Lord, where are you working and how can I join you in what you’re doing? And he will give you thoughts and he’ll give you ideas. And as long as those thoughts are in line with God’s word, go forward with those and pursue those. Because he produces fruit, he bears fruit from that as you are obedient to His Word. And so I think that’s extremely important.
Third, one of the things that, as I stepped out that God taught me in the midst of this John 15 was I thought that my identity was wrapped up in what I was doing for God.
So I was going through activity after activity, thing after thing, program after program. The more busy I was, the more I felt like I was doing what God wanted. But the reality is that God desires your heart. He wants your identity to be that you are his child, you are his son first and foremost.
And that God, as you abide in him and as you walk with him, and as you listen to his spirit and you obey his spirit, he will produce fruit and you will do an amazing work for the rest of your life if you’re willing to stay and that, to not draw your identity out of just being a pastor and having a position, stay in a spirit of humility and, and just connectedness to him. So that really is my charge to you. In second Timothy, Paul gave a charge to Timothy. And I figure if Paul can give it to Timothy, I could give it to you. I feel like this passage of scripture is, is powerful.
It says, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the Word, Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. And as for you, always be sober minded. Endure suffering.
Do the work of evangelists. Fulfill your ministry.
To everyone who’s been a part of today. Yes, and thank you. Thank you. There’s so many here to thank. Of course, our great God.
My wife Piper, still the star of the show even today. My parents Mitch and Amy, my in laws, Brad and Jesse, along with so many extended family and friends. Thank you. Our guest speakers, Rob and Wyatt. Thank you to Kitty and Darla for all their work in making today happen.
We give them a round of applause. Quick.
Thanks to you church family who have been nothing but kind to us during our five years together, and Leah’s three and a half and Piper as well. A few months we have felt like everyone’s favorite children, everyone’s favorite grandchildren and friends. I’d also not be here today if it weren’t for several faithful mentors of mine, some of whom are here and some who could not make it. Men like Jared Matheson, Pastor Wyatt who just spoke, Steven Blater, Andy Barber, Pastor Robert, our late friend Mark Rigg, and Eric Lynon. These faithful men have shown and continue to show me how to follow Jesus and how to love you his people.
Thank you. I would also not be here today if it were not for our mutual listening to the leading of God’s spirit. I’m here to set the record straight on a few things I’ll never forget. When I was sitting in my crew staff member Eric Lynan’s basement and I finished a Zoom interview with Eric Schmidt about possibly coming to Lake Wisconsin, I asked Eric, I said, so is this ever going to become a full time thing? And he said, that’s not the plan.
And so I smiled and nodded and politely continued the interview. And I walked upstairs and Eric asked how. Eric Lyne asked how to go. I said, well, I guess I’m never going to Lake Wisconsin.
I praise God for Eric and then also the rest of the elders and ultimately plenty of you too, for listening to God’s spirit and bringing me here. What a gift. That’s how I would describe this entire process. A gift. A gift from God.
It’s a gift to study His Word. It’s a gift to enjoy His Word. It’s a gift to be given time and space to figure out how to respond to His Word. As Rob Wise mentioned earlier, this is a fairly involved ordeal. But few things have been more edifying in my entire life than being given the chance to figure out why I believe why I believe chapter and verse the whole way through.
It is a privilege to belong to a church and a denomination that stands on the battle cry of where stands it written. In other words, we are a people who want to base everything we say and do off of God’s revealed Word to us. This process has shaped me not just as a pastor, but as a theologian, a husband, and now as a father. As an ordained minister of the Gospel, I look forward to continuing to serve King Jesus and you his people. Please continue to pray for me and my family.
Prayer is and always will be the most important thing you can do for us.
Let me close my response by praising God again with the wonderful words of Ephesians 3:20 through 21. Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we can ask or think according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.