twenty fathoms
Yesterday was dreary and a bit lonely here in Montana. I lumbered from the Team Yeshua mission house over to an empty meeting hall in accordance with Eastern Time and set up my iPad and little Starlink satellite. You see, exactly 20 years ago yesterday was a Wednesday night. There was a small gathering that night in Catawba County, and one of the individuals involved had just dropped me, Jamie, and little Bethany off at the airport. We flew to Ladakh for the very first time and didn’t return home for more than a year.
At that gathering, a handful of believers decided to move forward with the planting of a local church and with the express purpose of doing things “decently and in order” (I Corinthians 14:40) and getting back to the SIMPLICITY (II Corinthians 11:3) and GODLY SINCERITY (II Corinthians 1:12) of the local New Testament Church. They covenanted together on September 6, 2006 … and here we are by the abundant grace of our Lord Jesus Christ twenty years later. A group of our young people just returned home from an entire summer of Great Commission missions at a literal end of the earth. Three of our young men are headed back down to Peru in October to water some of those seeds. One of our beloved elders is preaching and teaching through I John 3, line by line. Back in 2006, we started with the Book of Acts line upon line and precept upon precept, and have gone through every New Testament epistle thus, including Revelation, with only the remainder of I John, II John, III John, and Jude to go. It has been a journey, but perhaps not one to be measured in time.
For some reason, the opening phrase of Acts 27:28 caught my attention this morning as I reflected upon yesterday’s special time of commemoration, one in which I was able to tune in from Montana and interact:
“And sounded, and found it TWENTY FATHOMS.”
An Alexandrian ship’s crew was sounding the depth ahead of an incredible work of God: an entire ship of people, every single man, miraculously preserved alive and well after a terrible shipwreck AND doors of opportunity for the Gospel opened on an obscure heathen isle.
Historically, aFATHOM was determined by the full reach of a man’s outstretched arms, typically fingertip to fingertip. At sea, it measured depth: dropping a weighted line into the deep to sound the waters below.
We live in turbulent times, tempests of cultural rot and spiritual decay. Ought the local churches in America to be measuring themselves in terms of budgeted programs or REACH? In terms of time or DEPTH? In terms of our Lord’s GREAT COMMISSION (definitely not a good suggestion), a year on a calendar is not reckoning of time but of REACH. It’s not a counting, but a SOUNDING. And every single one of these past 20 year has proven one more fathom of line paid out into the deep.
A fathom is quite literally what a man can encompass with both arms spread wide. And it ought to be the posture of a local church obedient to our Lord’s Great Commission: refusing to fold hands in spiritual slumber or pull them inward in selfish ease (For the record, New Testament Christian Fellowship never once closed its doors during the Covid drama nor refrained in the name of “health and safety” from doing the work of the Great Commission. To God be the glory).
Since that obscure Wednesday night in September of 2006, and by the abundant grace of Almighty God with much help (like the help Moses received when his arms got tired), our little church’s arms have remained outstretched, sounding the deep: one arm stretching to hold fast the plain truth and final authority of the Word of God in all matters of faith—line upon line and precept upon precept—and the other stretching to carry His Gospel to the ends of the earth: from the high places of Ladakh and Nepal to the distant altiplano of Peru, and many places in between, both at home and abroad (giving, not just our money, but our own selves and our young people — II Corinthians 8:5).
Twenty years is not a trophy to set on a shelf, my friends. And in my rejoicing, I dare not suggest it so. It is simply a SOUNDING. Twenty fathoms down, and we find the bottom solid: the Word of God has held fast and Christ the Head has preserved every one of our souls committed to His charge. The tempest outside is fierce, and the darkness of this world is deep, but TWENTY FATHOMS can only mean we are nearing the Shore.
Until that day breaks, let us not be found resting on past journeys but sounding them to find strength for the Great Commission work ahead.
Twenty years of local church ministry is by no means a finish line. It is a sounding until the ship is safely home.
Yesterday started out slow and lonely, but it proved special. A young missionary family, navigating their own Great Commission hardships and temporarily residing next door, joined me. We tuned into the special service back home, as did Carter and Bethany from Peru. I made use of the 100-year old German piano in that meeting hall to share an offertory with the folks in North Carolina. We heard encouraging testimony and were edified by sound exegetical preaching from I John 3. We remembered and gave thanks for the testimony of one of our faithful shepherds who went home to be with the Lord three years ago. He was there and took the reins of leadership that Wednesday night in 2006. And finally, we shared the Lord’s Table in remembrance of what He did for us.
You see, long before we ever thought about stretching out our hands “decently and in order” in faithful obedience to the Great Commission twenty years ago, Christ stretched His wide upon the cross, purchasing His Church with His own blood. That Cross and His Resurrection is the Anchor that holds and the line that sounds when the storms of our age rage the hardest. And by the way, that was GOD who shed His blood and purchased His Church, not a mere prophet, a “created” son, or some brother of Lucifer. Read Acts 20:28.
After the service, I was blessed to fellowship with fellow missionaries and to be edified by testimony from another field in another far corner. Yesterday evening, I met up with a Jewish friend of mine here in Missoula. We talked of a family hardship burdening his soul, of the rising antisemitism in America, of the difference between a Catholic and a Christian, of the difference between manmade religion and the Bible, the Word of God, and of the Bible’s overwhelming theme from Genesis to Revelation—THE MESSIAH OF ISRAEL, WHO IS ALSO A LIGHT TO THE GENTILES. I hugged his neck on the downtown sidewalk and then lumbered off to find some dinner. I sat over a big bowl of yellow curry ramen alone, but not lonely. Fond memories of TWENTY FATHOMS kept me company late into the night.
Thank you for your prayers. I have a long journey to South Dakota and back later this week. I’m heading over to give testimony to a local church that has supported our work for many years. They, too, are celebrating twenty years (i.e. twenty fathoms) since their founding. I remember that well, and I remember the evangelism training sessions I conducted in a little building out there in the dead of a prairie winter at their behest. I believe it was in their first year.
I then have to buzz back here to Missoula, picking up Carter and Bethany from the airport in Bozeman along the way. We have 2 days to gear up and then will be driving to you Palmer, Alaska. Up there is another little local church fellowship with its own fathoms of God’s faithfulness, provision, and grace. This little congregation, made up mostly of Native Alaskans, supports our work and has a burden for remembering the Jewish people when it comes to the work of the Great Commission. It has been a while since I have seen these brethren and am excited to go share with them some of the work that Lord did in and through our efforts with Team Yeshua.
I’m weary from all the travel but remain motivated and would much appreciate some prayer. Amidst the joys of yesterday, I threw my back out and am pretty much out of commission. I need a healing touch before this weekend. Thank you in Jesus’ Name.
