Ironing Board Preacher

I remember very clearly my call from God to vocational ministry but  there were  earlier indications that God had his hand on my life. I remember having “church” in our living room making my sister and her baby dolls be the “congregation.” I also remember sometime later using the ironing board as a pulpit when no one was around and preaching sermons from Rex Humbard’s monthly magazine. This was probably a decade before I formally began my Bible College education. 

As these obscure memories came to mind recently, I began to think of how God knew His plans for me long before I did and how he directed my paths through circumstances and mentors who spoke into my life. I wasn’t a perfect preacher boy during that decade but God had His hand on my life and led people to impact my life. I remember a Sunday School teacher who took me fishing and spent most of the time patiently untangling fishing lines that we students kept messing up.  His love for people made an impact on the way I would love and care for the people God would later entrust to my pastoral care. There was a Lutheran pastor who stressed to me to pursue theological education to be grounded in the Word of God and Biblical doctrine. My family became involved in organizing Rex Humbard’s TV rallies in our local area. We either had them in our home or went to a restaurant before the rallies. I remember sitting next to Rex and him pouring into my life. I remember attending VBS at a church at the request of a friend for something to do that summer. The pastor’s wife taught the class I was almost too old for. Mrs. Ellenberger cared and showed me how to accept the awkward kid who God entrusted to her, so the Ironing Board Preacher would embrace awkward kids and adults that God entrusted to his pastoral care. That church became my home church. A pastoral change occurred and the new pastor did so much to guide me and to give me opportunities to serve in preparation. Pastor Junker without a doubt had the most influence over my ministry preparation. I will always be grateful for his mentoring. 

There were certainly others I could mention but the point of this blogpost is to show that God has a plan for all of us. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways and acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.”(Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV). “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” (Psalms 37:4-5 NKJV)

God has His hand on your life. Our desires will be fulfilled if we truly yield to God. He’ll use circumstances and people to help make it happen. That Ironing Board Preacher has the blessing of doing it for real for the rest of his life.