The Gold Mine in the Local Church
Keith Hamilton is a 69-year-old member of our local church. After church on Sunday, we made plans to meet up in the next few days to discuss life and Scripture. A couple of nights earlier he sent a text asking, “What are some big topics or needs you’d like to discuss on Wednesday morning?” I took about a day to think about it and responded, “Fatherhood and unity are always good topics.” We settled on fatherhood and made arrangements to meet at The Hub, a favorite local coffee shop, at 7 a.m.
On that Wednesday morning we were greeted by the familiar smoky smell of freshly roasted coffee. We ordered our java, grabbed a hearty breakfast, and sat at a table next to the window. The air conditioning was chilly and the ambient music particularly upbeat. I grabbed my pocket-sized leather notebook, my favorite Pilot G-2 .05 ink pen, and my Bible to learn from this missionary and father of three. We opened with a word of prayer before digging into our breakfast.
After some brief small talk, Keith opened up his iPad, propped it up on a neat little tablet stand, and shifted the screen so I could see it. He had prepared a page of Scripture notes for us to discuss. The notes were focused around two simple and familiar passages. Though I knew them by heart, I wasn’t prepared for how impactful these verses would be that morning. Keith said, “The first two passages that came to mind for the topic of fatherhood were Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21. Here are some of the word study notes I came up with. Sorry I didn’t quite have time to get to the application points yet.”
At that moment, I was astonished that Mr. Hamilton, a man who also teaches Bible classes online, took time out of his busy schedule, full of responsibilities, to prepare a Bible study to help me grow as a father. He didn’t opt for his own opinions. He also didn’t choose a good book from his shelf. Instead, he humbly opened God’s Word to help me. Keith modeled the discipleship I have so earnestly desired.
A Lesson in Failure and Success
In contrast to the brisk air in the room, my time with Keith was warm. Though I’d read and preached those fatherhood passages numerous times, they were a fresh and welcome word from this seasoned saint. He weaved his own stories of successes, failures, and lessons learned from his own experience of fatherhood on the mission field, the times when ministry and work separated him from his family. He didn’t mince words either. I listened as Keith said, “In that season, I failed.” He didn’t dress his failures with excuses about his calling or the necessary sacrifices he needed to make for the cause of the gospel. He was honest. Painfully honest. I needed to hear that.
He shared specific memories from the early 90s when his kids, like me, were just toddlers running around. In those times, he prioritized his family, and the memories still linger some thirty years later. Even in the seasons he parented with relative success and fatherly love, he told me how he sometimes still provoked his children to anger and how apologizing to children points them to the gospel we want them to believe. He spoke of reorienting his life after he got swept away in the sea of busyness and ministry. His anchor wasn’t self-hatred or self-pity; it was the gospel. He sought the Lord’s grace and forgiveness, and then he walked in obedience to the Scriptures. I needed to hear that, too.
God Made This Possible through the Local Church
I took copious notes and we worked together to develop ten application points from the two passages he shared with me. They’re written in my notebook, but I hope they’ll soon be etched on my heart.
This encounter gave me a much deeper appreciation for Mr. Hamilton and the local church we attend. I’ve listened to countless sermons and podcasts on parenting. My digital and physical bookshelves house several of the best Christian parenting books ever published. I’ve lamented my fatherhood struggles to thirty-somethings with four kids who are in the middle of parenthood struggles with me. Yet learning from a man who has walked with the Lord longer than I’ve been alive moved me deeply.
“Seeing the pain in Keith’s eyes when he spoke of his failures shifted my thoughts to 2060 when I could be having a similar conversation with a young father in my shoes.”
Seeing the pain in Keith’s eyes when he spoke of his failures shifted my thoughts to 2060 when I could be having a similar conversation with a young father in my shoes. I have time to adjust my travel plans before I continue down a similar path. Perhaps I will share with him how a coffee shop meeting changed the way I thought about parenting.
God made this opportunity possible through the local church. I see Keith singing with his wife week after week during corporate worship. I hear him share his thoughts during the Wednesday night seminar. I watch him intentionally build relationships and cultivate friendships on Sundays after the service. In fact, I first met Keith after a breezy 40-degree outdoor worship service during the pandemic. He stayed around to talk to my wife and me rather than bolting for his warm car.
Who Are the Godly Saints in Your Local Church?
I share this coffee shop moment to remind you of something special about the local church. God has uniquely gifted and placed members like Keith Hamilton in my local church for extraordinary Bible conversations. Instead of my favorite author or internet pastor, God used a man in my local church to exhort and encourage me to be a more gospel-centered father.
“Though you can mine the depths of the minds of great authors in their books, your local church is a gold mine.”
Men, who are the Keith Hamiltons in your church? Women, who are the godly women you’ve wanted to connect with? It’s time to initiate the conversation. Perhaps God is equipping you to be the Keith Hamilton someone needs in their life. Whether you read your daily devotions in Hebrew or you can barely read the Bible in English, you have been gifted to be a gift to your local church (1 Cor. 12:7).
God has uniquely gifted the local church to help the people of God reach the nations for God. Though you can mine the depths of the minds of great authors in their books, your local church is a gold mine. Though online pastors drop gems in their sermons week after week, your local church is a gold mine. Though your favorite podcast can prove to be a treasure trove of biblical knowledge, your local church is a gold mine.
Don’t exhaust yourself digging all over the place for biblical wisdom if you haven’t bent down to pick up the gold God placed in your local church.
Chrys Jones (@chrys_jones) is a husband and father of four. He is a pastoral resident at Grace Church in Danville, KY, and he writes regularly at dwellwithchrist.com. Chrys is also a Christian Hip-Hop artist and producer for Christcentric.