Pastor Adam Parker

“Remember the  wondrous works that he has done” (Psalm 105:5).

One year ago today, I was installed as Pastor of Evergreen PCA. It was an absolutely beautiful summer night. Due to COVID concerns, we elected to hold my installation service outdoors on the “patio pulpit” on the backside of the church. Members brought pop up tents and folding chairs. I was dressed in my typical dress shirt, necktie, and black vest – my permanent uniform that I have no plans to abandon any time soon.

Rev. Alan Carter had spent the previous year ministering to Evergreen with energy, with joy, and with faithful insight, and I was so glad to hear him preach during the installation service. I know Evergreen was glad to hear him again, because he served so faithfully and so well in the interim before my arrival. David Hopkins gave the charge to the congregation, and even now I am filled with gladness for his years of love and service to Evergreen as well. I was grateful to have other elders from the area present for the service, and to have them be a part of the service.

The questions that a pastor is asked when being installed are among the weightiest that a person can answer – the only thing that compares, really, is wedding vows. “Do you promise to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths of the Gospel and the purity and peace and unity of the Church, whatever persecution or opposition may arise unto you on that account?” The only way to honestly answer that question is in humble reliance upon Jesus Christ. What a fearful thing to say yes to these things, apart from the grace of God.

You as a congregation were asked questions as well: “Do you promise to receive the word of truth from his mouth with meekness and love?” “Do you promise to assist his endeavors?” “Do you promise to encourage him in his labors?”

I look back on that night, and if it were physically possible even now I would go back to you all as a time traveler from the future and say to you all, “You will keep this promise. You will be good to me. You will assist me. I won’t feel alone. You’ll receive the word with meekness and love. You will keep this promise.”

It’s only been a year, but it’s hard not to romanticize that beautiful evening just a bit. It’s tempting, because from my perspective this has been a good year – a great year, actually. It might be the happiest I’ve ever been, and the happiest I’ve ever seen my family. We fit here, and this is our proper home. My wife told me the other day, “If you die, I plan to stay here. I think this is my forever home.”

When we made the decision to leave Mississippi, we didn’t know at the time that we were coming to a place in such tumult. We couldn’t have guessed wild fires would come so close and drive us inside. I did not anticipate that more than a year after lockdowns began that even after the ubiquity of vaccines the government would still deem it necessary to mandate masks and other restrictions.

In the time since I’ve come, there have been incredible hardships. It took nearly a year for me to be in a service that finally felt like we might all actually be here (just a few weeks ago). Some I met in person for the very first time near the end of my first year as pastor – how hard and strange pastoring during this time has been. What a strange time to even try to get to know church members so that we don’t feel like strangers to one another.

The Lord has been good to us. In the midst of hardships, it has been a good year.

In my weakness and unfaithfulness I also didn’t anticipate the good things that have happened. I should have expected that the preaching of God’s word would yield fruit, but when I think of the many new families that have joined this church and immediately found themselves right at home, I am filled with gratitude to the Lord. I don’t know what I expected; I should have expected the Lord to do anything, including growing the congregation generously. I didn’t anticipate the glad and ready way that God’s word would be received by this church. I think of the many Sundays after church where people at the door enthusiastically want to discuss the things of God. I think of the times I look into the church after service and see a man putting his hand on someone’s shoulder and praying for them right then and there; of someone in a hard season hearing an encouraging word off to the side from a friend and fellow church member. I think of the families looking for stability and Gospel promises to be set forth who have found them at this special place that God has put here for weary travelers.

I think of our new Christian Education program and it’s director, Matthew. I think of he and his wife making the decision to travel all the way across the country to be a part of this church and to serve it well. I think of the little children and adults who will be schooled in the faith and equipped to live in a hostile culture, all because of this new program in our church which didn’t exist before. I think of all those who serve in this new ministry and I am grateful.

I think of the session meetings that are taken up with important and substantive issues, and I am thankful. I think of the deacons who allow the elders to be elders instead of board members, and I am grateful. I think of all the good that God has allowed me to be a part of in the course of only one year, and I am grateful. I think of what the coming year must have in store, and I am grateful in advance.

I am asking the Lord to help me look forward to the future with the sort of sanctified optimism that I should have had upon my arrival, such that a year from now we will be able to say with the prophet, “We will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure” (Is. 25:1).