march 2023 featured Article (Copy)

Introducing Bob Smith

Rev. Bob Smith is a recently retired Missionary Church pastor who has served on the General Oversight Council since 2021. Before retiring, Bob ministered at Harvester Missionary Church (Fort Wayne) for more than ten years — first as worship pastor and administrative pastor and then as the lead pastor. Prior to his ministry at Harvester, he was the founding director of the Fort Wayne School of Urban Ministry, a ministry committed to providing biblical training for laypeople. He has also taught at Crossroads Bible College, Grace College, Cedarville College, and Moody Bible Institute. Pastor Bob has served as a missionary and has pastored several congregations during his 40-plus years of ministry. He and Belinda, his wife of 43 years, have three adult children and eight grandchildren.

This World Is Not My Home

I used to work for a company that’s daily commute had me passing a housing development that was inundated with Canada geese, not Canadian geese. Several times a year I would find these geese walking across the road becoming a general public nuisance. There would also be times when I would find that these guys had gotten themselves hit by a car. This also concerned me because the Canada geese are an endangered species, and killing them is against the law. This got me thinking about Canada geese and why they were not going back to Canada. After all, they’re not called American geese or Illinois geese.

The truth of the matter is that the Canada goose is supposed to be a migratory bird that summered in northern North America and flew south when cold weather arrived. But over the years many of these geese have altered this pattern and have gotten comfortable with our housing developments, public parks, and golf courses and have decided not to return to the north. We now have a growing population of nonmigratory “urban geese.”

So where am I going with this? 

For the believer, this world is not our home. Jesus sends us into this world, and as we go throughout the world we are to “make disciples” from every racial and cultural group (John 20:21, Mark 16:15, and Matthew 28:10). We are to see ourselves as resident alien priests (1 Peter 2:11) and ambassadors for the kingdom of God (2 Corinthians 5:20). 

Jesus commands His disciples to travel light as they go out proclaiming the gospel in order to stay focused on their mission (Luke 10:4ff). The Apostle Paul wrote, “Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them” (2 Timothy 2:4, NLT). We are not to get comfortable or entangled in the affairs of this present world or culture; we need to remain on mission for the Master.