President's Letter November 2010
I am haunted by the words of a life management guru, Steven Covey, “Anything less than a conscious decision for the important is an unconscious decision for the unimportant.”
We who have dedicated our lives to the ministry of serving our Lord Jesus and leading the church must at times stop and ask the hard questions: Am I living by the clock or the compass? Have I lost my bearings? Am I operating by the tyranny of the urgent and hence missing the important?
There are many important issues in life. One of the most important ones for FGA is that we need to make sure we are intentionally discipling or mentoring young men and women in the faith and in grace theology.
As I saw at the FGA national conference last month, there are many of us who - shall we say - are showing our age. Fortunately there were some who were of a new generation, of a younger ilk. We must make sure we are spending time and training up younger pastors and lay leaders to make sure they are well versed in grace theology. As I watched and listened to Charles Ryrie speak to us at the FGA banquet, it reminded me of the time he invested in me to guide me in grace theology. And so it is my turn to make sure I invest in others who will invest in others. This sounds similar to the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 2:2 does it not? Let me challenge you to evaluate your plan, or if you have not made one let me exhort you to make it your goal under the leadership of the Holy Spirit to find and invest in the young men who will carry on for you and more importantly for HIM. As the Greek proverb goes, "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."
Let me invite you to take a look through the rest of the new FGA web site and see some of the new articles and resource material. If you have some ministry news that others in the free grace movement need to know please email me so I can see how it can be best delivered to the FGA family.
Also, check out our new FGA blog and face book features. John Correia has brought FGA technological-communication into the 21st century. Bless you John.
Please pray with us:
- That the Lord will lead and bless the grace based Bible colleges and seminaries to remain loyal to the word and their commitment to Grace Theology.
- That the Lord will lead the pastoral training ministries overseas so as to raise up a new generation of pastors committed to Grace Theology.
- That the Lord would lead you to mentor younger men and women in the faith and to make it your intention to train them in Grace Theology.
- That the Lord will provide the resources we need to continue the ministry of FGA. I would ask you to consider a financial gift through our online option on our website or through the mail to our home office.
Finally, let us not forget --- “Things that matter least must never come about at the expense of things that matter most.” Goethe
Serving him with you
Until He comes for us,
Fred Chay, Ph.D.
President, FGA