Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Giving Honor - Dennis Land

This is the third installment of Giving Honor. The first two guys were Brent Williams, my Youth Pastor in High School, and Scott Wilson, my mentor during College.

Shortly before graduating from Southwestern, I walked into Scott's office and he asked me if I had my resume together. Honestly, I didn't have it. So, he told me to get it together and that he was sending it to three different churches.

One of those churches was First Assembly of God in Nacogdoches. The church now goes by the title of ICON - International Church of Nacogdoches. Shortly after sending out the resumes, I received a call from Dennis Land. After an interview process, he extended an invitation for me to be the Youth Pastor at First Assembly. So, in May of 1995, I loaded up a U-haul and headed to Nacogdoches.

Today, I'm giving honor to Pastor Dennis Land. I want to say a big thanks for giving a young, single Youth Pastor with no full-time experience a chance to minister. It especially means a lot because I was able to be 3 of his 4 boys Youth Pastor. Brad, Nathan and Blake were all in Youth Aflame (that's what we called the Youth Ministry) while I was there. I had great times with this family.

Things I learned from Bro. Land:

1. Having a heart for missions!

2. The importance of spending time in Word and prayer. - Some of my favorite times were the morning staff prayer times. I also remember coming into the sanctuary many times to see Dennis with his Bible open and reading the Word.

3. Seeking a move of God! - Bro. Land was constantly seeking God to move in our church. While I was there, we had multiple revivals with salvations, healings and people filled with the Spirit. Sometimes, they would extend and go over. It was powerful.

4. I also learned a lot about the way the Assemblies of God structure works. He is the Presbyter for the Section. He used many occassions to show me how things worked and how some church difficulties could be prevented. It is the valuable lessons that I'm still drawing from today.

I have great memories from my 4 and 1/2 years on staff with Pastor Land. He invested in me by sharing books with me, taking me to conferences and speaking into my life. I'll always think fondly of my time there.

Thanks Pastor Land for believing in me! I love you!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Moving thoughts of your gratitude, passion and inspiration, thanks for sharing.