Jim Stephens
In the mid and late 80’s Jean and I lived in Kingston, Jamaica. We had moved to Jamaica in the early 80’s to pastor a church planted by missionaries in the market town of Linstead in St Catherine parish. We set Jamaican leadership in the church in 1985 and moved to Kingston to work with a Jamaican Ministry called Whole Life Ministries to begin a Bible Training Centre to provide interdenominational lay leadership training. There was nothing like that available in the country at the time.
We joined the Jamaica Association of Full Gospel Churches, a fellowship organization that included pastors and leaders from over thirty denominations and groups of churches. The primary contact point was a monthly pastors meeting for fellowship, mutual support and encouragement, and occasional joint outreach meetings, projects, and joint statements to press and government about issues affecting the churches.
Jean and I stood out a bit because we were the only white members of the group! Jean became the Secretary Treasurer and while I didn’t hold an office, I spoke devotionally in the meetings, spoke into issues at hand, and ministered in a significant number of the member churches on weekends.
I remember a time when one of our member pastors, Herro Blair, who pastored the largest Pentecostal Church in Jamaica at the time, was under attack in the national press over some issue. We had discussed the things that were being said about him and prayed for him for wisdom and courage to handle it wisely and well. As we prayed, I had a mental picture of Herro walking up a hill along a residential street in Kingston. As he walked along, dogs came running to the gates of their yards barking fiercely at him. Some of the dogs got out into the street and ran after him, yapping and barking, but not physically attacking him. He picked up some rocks from the street and turned to throw them at the dogs to drive them back. Then I heard, “Don’t stop to stone the Devil’s dogs!”
After the prayer time finished, I shared this with Pastor Blair along with the thought that if you stop to throw rocks at all the barking dogs along the way, you’ll never get where you’re going.
This experience came back to me as I’ve been thinking about those early days in Kingston after our move from Linstead. I remember talking with my friend Steve Mickel about this experience. We were talking about how to respond to accusations and critics both from inside and outside the church. It’s hard to know what needs to be corrected and what needs to be ignored!
Here’s a couple of other things I came across as I was thinking about this:
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- Nehemiah 6:1-14 Tells of Nehemiah’s response when his opponents tried to distract him from the work he had been given. In verse 3 Nehemiah said, “I am doing a great work! I cannot stop to come and meet with you!”
- “Do not flinch because the lion roars; do not stop to stone the devil’s dogs; do not fool away your time chasing the devil’s rabbits. Do your work. Let liars lie, let sectarians quarrel, let critics malign, let enemies accuse, let the devil do his worst; but see to it nothing hinders you from fulfilling with joy the work God has given you.”
- “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” – Winston Churchill.
I thought some of my readers might be facing challenges and criticisms and distractions these days, and the message still rings true! We’ll never get where we’re headed if we stop to stone the devil’s dogs!
As always, I’d love to hear from you… You can reply to the email or comment on the blog page!
Another Jamaica story next week!
Grace to you, Jim Stephens