Ten Reasons Not to Go to Montreal

Well I have I could take up my whole 2 and a half hour sermon here, just thanking people. I mean I could just I could just do that. I could just I could just thank individuals and thank families. So you know that there are some individuals that I want to thank that have enabled us to be here today, on our way to Montreal, on our way to make this mission program a reality. I I want to thank Harold Weaver, for starters, because he was the first person I called.

We had a telephone conversation. And I want to thank him for having the vision. Whenever you have an idea, it doesn't happen, it doesn't come to fruition until a second person says, oh, I see it. I see it too. I see what you see.

And he saw what I saw. And through his enthusiasm and his encouragement, he was able to convey that vision to the other elders and then eventually to the church, which enabled us to be part of your mission program. So Harold, I want to thank you so much for for that initial vision. And of course the elders, all of the elders who have joined hands and said, Yes, we will, we will do this. We will initiate a mission work in Montreal and we'll do it in the middle of the year.

We won't do it at the beginning of the year, we'll do it in the middle of the year. Let's really go against convention. So I want to thank all the elders for for that. And then there's a our kind of our mission team that is located here. There's Kim Wall who takes care of our prayer network and and soon you'll see communications about the work coming from him on the on the website and maybe in the bulletin and so on and so forth.

And Alan Arnold who takes care of the bookkeeping and, you know, costs money to do missions. And so he's taking care of all the finances. And Bob Chilton, who's the elder representative, so to speak, who will be following our work, and he'll be the guy I'll call when we have a doctrinal issue. Is it doctrine or is it opinion? You know, I'll call him up and get his his feedback on that.

And then, of course, there's Dave and Judy Roberts, who flew out to California. If you want to if you want to get a reaction out of Dave, ask him how the the budget truck ran from California to here. Just ask him that question and then stand back about 10 feet. You know, have you ever had the experience, you bring somebody from work home to your family to meet your family? You know what I'm talking about?

You're saying, boy, I hope uncle George doesn't do this, or you know, my brother doesn't say one of his lame jokes because I'm bringing one of my family, one of my one of my workmates home. You know how you know how you're Well I brought one of my family from Choctaw to California. Dave and Judy Roberts. And I was so proud of him and so proud of Judy. I said to Lee's, Dave acts like an elder should act.

He was calm, he was respectful, he was dignified. He's he spoke at the Canyons View Church when the elders there commended us to service. He even sang a song at the potluck. They had a karaoke and they said, they they kind of dragged him up on stage, and boy were they surprised. Boy were they surprised when they heard that beautiful voice come out.

And so he acquitted himself, he and Judy acquitted themselves very well. We are very proud to have him as as our elder and, of course, our our our Christian lifelong lifelong Frank. Of course, from here on in and then, of course, there's driving the truck. He and Judy drove the truck from here to from California to here. And then from here to Montreal, Alan Arnold is taking over the truck driving duties and driving it up to Montreal, and I still haven't figured out how to explain Alan to the brothers in Montreal.

That part, you know, will need to will need something special. And then of course, I've had a chance to talk to you or communicate with you since we had the special offering, to make possible the move. You know, it costs money. You can't believe how much it costs to move 35 100 miles from one city to another city and hotels and food and the truck, and there's so many details to take care of. And, Lise and I want to thank each one of you personally for your generosity, your kindness, the openness of your heart in contributing to that.

And I know, you know, right after the tornado, sure, yeah, we got extra money where, you know, our house is destroyed. We've got plenty of money to send the guy to Montreal, but you came through in a in a very formidable fashion. And we want to thank everyone here for your prayers and your contribution and your love and your and your kindness in enabling us to do this. And it's really not just enabling us to do this. It's enabling the gospel to go to Montreal and to be preached.

I mean that's that's what it is. What a wild ride that we have had in the last few months since I was here. Ever since we decided that we were called to preach the gospel in Montreal, Canada, we've had so many emotions, so many experiences as a result of this choice. And just before I go on, Bob, I'm gonna I'm getting feedback up here. Could you just turn me down just a little bit, please?

Thanks. Of course every time you you see things with the eyes of faith, every time you discern God's will clearly, followed immediately afterward with self doubt and second guessing. You ever see that? You're at the top of the mountain, you see it, it's clear. And then once you've seen it and it's clear, all of a sudden all the doubting comes.

Remember in the Bible, Peter? Peter actually walked on the water. He was walking on the water until when? Until he began to overanalyze what he was doing. All of a sudden he said to himself, I'm walking on the water.

And the minute he overanalyzed it, what happened? He began to sink. Well, going to preach the gospel in Montreal is not the same thing. It's not in the same league as walking on the water. But for Lise and I, it did require a step away from what was safe and what was familiar to a greater walk of faith.

Someone says, what is this costing you? And I'm saying, it's costing me a greater walk of faith. And this first step of faith was immediately greeted with 10 good reasons why we shouldn't do it, and I want to share those very quickly. Don't be afraid of 10 reasons you'll get up for lunch. I trust, you'll need to trust me on that.

Ten reasons not to go to Montreal. I I thought about all of them, and some people gave them to me. The first one, of course, finances. I mean, it's obvious. The first reason not to go was financial.

Some people said to us, you know, this is a bad time for a middle aged guy to leave a secure well paying job in order to go into the mission field where salaries are only offered on a 1 year basis and subject to withdrawal at any time. This is not a good time to do that. The market, the stock market is down. The economy is pulling back. Money is tight, And nobody raises money in the springtime.

You have to do it in the fall if you don't know about raising money for missions. Usually, you gotta start in the fall so that people have a chance to hear what your mission is about, and then they they decided in October, November, and then in January, maybe you'll get into their budget, but you never start raising money in March or February. That's the bad time to do it. A second reason not to go, politics. At the time we made the commitment to go to Montreal, there was a war going on.

France, if you remember, had opposed the United States and its policy, and French people were not too popular in the United States. So what are we proposing? That we go to a French province to do mission work and we ask Americans in a military town to provide the money. Not too swift. Another reason not to go because of interest.

You know, these days American churches, when they do support someone, usually are focused on Eastern Europe or South America or maybe the Middle East. That's the new thing. The Middle East and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. That's a good thing. I mean, the Middle East is opening up.

Let's go. Let's send people out there. But Canada? Canada? French Canada?

No. Who's interested in French Canada? Nobody goes there. Does anybody even live there? Another great discouragement was also the degree of indifference.

It seems that there isn't a great deal of zeal to do new mission efforts. And I look back, you see this this ad here. Some of you may have seen this or not. If you get the Christian Chronicle, the newspaper, This ad was a quarter page. We didn't cheap out on this.

Not a little not a little, you know, little box ad. One quarter of 1 page on the right hand side perfectly placed, okay, in the Christian Chronicle newspaper requesting people to become part of my prayer and support network. Now you need to understand that the Christian Chronicle is the most widely read and distributed periodical in our brotherhood. It reaches 100 of thousands of people all over the world. If you want to get your message to the entire Church of Christ brotherhood all over the world, there's only one printed vehicle to do it in, and it's in the Christian Chronicle.

My total number of contacts from this 1 quarter page ad was 0. 0. 0. Not a single phone call. Not a single email.

Not a single request to pray for this work. 0. Quarter page ad, worldwide publication. Think about that. Think about after you put this in the paper, if he's not starting to have second thoughts about what you're proposing to do.

A significant factor, another one, was also the weather. I mean, it's 10 to 25 degrees below 0 in the wintertime People save their money, their entire life, so they can move from Montreal to San Diego, not the other way around. For this reason alone, our family, when we told our family we were coming back, they said, are you guys nuts? We're trying to, you know, kind of finish up and retire and save money so we can get out of here and go to Florida or go to North Carolina or San Diego if, you know, if we can do it and you're coming back here. What are you guys?

Crazy? And then, of course, another challenge to this thing was the housing market. The Montreal housing market, believe it or not, is nuts. You can't find a house. Just finding one to rent was extremely extremely difficult.

There was nothing. One other discouraging factor was the number of workers available. The only other English speaking preacher in Montreal, his name is Chris Blackwell, left in July, in June, the end of June to go to Ontario, an English speaking person. There's only one left in Montreal, and he left. He's gone.

This will leave only one full time preacher, that's me, for 2 English congregations serving an English population in Montreal of 1,000,000 speaking people in a city of 3 and one half million. There are more people in the city of Montreal than there are people in the state of Oklahoma. Just to give you a thought. And in that city and in that province, province of 7,000,000 people, there's only one English speaking preacher. A key issue for us was location.

Neither English speaking congregations have their own meeting places. In Montreal, most people use mass transit, so location is very important. Here we, you know, here we say, well, you know, it's kind of, you know, which which church are we going to go to? You know, we're going to go here, we're going to go to Jones, we're going to go to Choctaw, we're going to go to Nacoma Park. Woah, you know, 15 minute drive, 10 minute drive, I don't know.

We need to clip a few minutes off our drive time. In Montreal, 1 and a half hours on the bus and on the subway to get to church, 1 and a half hours on the bus and on the subway to get home. So when you're setting up a congregation, where you set it up is very important and the 2 English congregations are meeting in halls. One other thing too was maturity. Another reason not to go, You wanna go somewhere you got something to work with.

I mean, there are no elders. You know, I said to someone, if you complain about your elders nobody here ever complained about the elders. Right? I've taken names of the ones who are laughing, Harold. All I have to say to you is go be a part of a church that doesn't have any, and then you will never complain ever again.

In Montreal, there are no elders, no deacons, no ministry system, no office, no secretaries, no coordinators, no financial resources other than the very small, and they counted in 100 of dollars, offered each week. And whatever work fund I bring, that's what we got to work with. It would be starting from scratch or very close to it. And finally there was the question of influence. And I need to explain these pictures, you know, they're a little, those of you sitting far off, it's a little difficult.

On the left here is a kind of a wide shot of the Canyon View campus. Okay? And on the on the left, rather, and on the right is one of the church buildings that is owned by the brethren in Montreal. You see the difference? You see, going from being the pulpit minister in a large urban center working for a good sized church, going from that to becoming a missionary in a foreign field represents a significant loss of personal influence in the congregation and in the brotherhood.

And I'm not saying I'm not proud to admit this because what I'm saying to you now, this is very fleshly. It's very worldly. You know, it's it's based in pride more than in the spirit, but it's true. I have to just say it because it's true. In ministry careers, okay, if you're going to judge things, pulpit ministers rate at the top for influence in the congregation and what they're asked to do in the brotherhood.

You know the pulpit ministers, they're the guys that manage the staff and set the agenda. They have primary teaching positions. They're asked to write for periodicals and speak at lectureships and retreats. In addition to this, they are usually at the top of the ministry pay scale. I mean, it's just the way it is.

Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but it is. Missionaries, on the other hand, feel blessed just to hang on to their support from year to year. Becoming a missionary jeopardizes one's financial security as well as eliminates his chances for any type of speaking engagements at any brotherhood event. When was the last time you saw a missionary as the headline speaker at any lectureship? You haven't seen it because it just doesn't happen.

They don't invite missionaries to do workshops. They don't invite missionaries to be keynote speakers at Pepperdine or OC or all these people. And I know I know it shouldn't be important that, you know, it shouldn't be important, but it is. Because you know what? Even preachers feel something about their careers.

Believe it or not, even preachers want to succeed. Wanna kind of move up. I know that this seems very fleshly, very worldly, but ministers think about their careers too, and going from pulpit minister to missionary is not usually seen as a great career move. And believe me, my preaching friends said, what are you doing? So these were the kind of things some people were saying to us, some of the thoughts that were floating around in our minds trying to deflate our enthusiasm and maybe even provide, you know, a backdoor to get out of going.

In addition to these thoughts, however, there was one clear and concise set of words that continued to support our choice to go and help us keep our eyes on the hearts and hearts focused on our goal. And they were in Matthew 28. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And lo, I'm with I'm with you always, even to the end of the age.

As I thought about Jesus's words in Matthew, I saw his command override all 10 of these objections. For Lee's and for me, Matthew 28 was not only a verse of scripture, but it was the encouragement that we needed in confronting our doubts and doubters with the biblical response to the reservations about our plan. Believe it or not, even people filled with the Holy Spirit said, I don't think you should go. But we thought about this passage of scripture. For example, go therefore meant that Mazzalongo the preacher needed to go therefore.

I mean, it's even in my name, Mazzalongo. How can you miss it? You know, trends and mission work come and go but the need to evangelize every nation remains for each generation. I'm only I am one of only 3 preachers born and trained in Quebec. The other 2 were baptized by me.

My claim to fame is that I was the first Quebec born preacher. Let me put it another way. I was the 1st preacher born in Quebec and trained. The first one. All the others were missionaries from other countries.

And the other 2 that now exist were men that I baptized and that I trained. I could go preach anywhere in the world if I wanted to, but the place I need to be and the place that needs me the most is Montreal because there are so few who are willing and so few that are able to do this work. So when I read Matthew 28, the part referring to nation that I see as my responsibility is Montreal. I don't just see generic nation, I see actual people. I see streets, I see street signs.

I see street signs. I see street signs. I see street signs. I'm very I'm very much, you know, like Paul the Apostle in one way. Between the time that Paul was called and converted on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9 and the scene in Acts 13 where he and Barnabas are sent off from Antioch to preach the gospel between the time of his calling and the time of ascending, did you realize that 14 years goes by there?

I mean, it's only a couple of chapters, so you think he's called on the road to Damascus and then he turns around and he goes off and plants churches. But if you study the chronologically, if you study his life, 14 years. Road to Damascus, Antioch, 14 years. During this time, Paul was being prepared by God and the brethren in many ways to take on his ultimate mission of preaching to the Gentiles. 14 years later, finally, the spirit says, you know, take Paul and Barnabas for a special work and they laid hands on him and they sent them off 14 years after his call.

Well, like Paul, I began preaching in 1979, just a few years after my conversion at 8 at age 30. I've spent the last 24 years in preparation for this mission. Getting a college education, getting training in missions, gaining experience in church planting and building and organization and ministry development in larger churches as well as developing a network of supporters here in the United States and in Canada. Some people originally thought that I was going home to Canada to enjoy some sort of semi retirement. Oh, you're gonna go home, relax, you're gonna be with your family?

No. No. You see, God has put this burden of the gospel for this great city on my heart, and after a long apprenticeship, I believe I'm finally ready to launch out on the ministry I believe God originally called and trained me for after all these years. I believe he is sending me because I am finally ready to go. You know, sometimes there's a need to go, but the person's not ready.

Well, 24 years later, I think I'm finally ready to go. Jesus's command overrides all the reasons not to go in another important way, and that is that all nations desperately need the gospel. You see, Montreal needs the gospel as badly as Russia needs it or Eastern Europe or South America or even the good old USA. While I was in Montreal recently, a couple of months ago, there were 4 headlines that appeared in the local paper on consecutive days. The first one talked about Islamic religion, that it was making major inroads in reaching Montrealers.

Do you realize that there are more Muslims in Montreal than Christians? Think about that. There are more Muslims than Christians. Another headline was that Montreal had become a major hub for the production and distribution of pornography on the East Coast. Another headline, a recent census showed that over 83% of the people in Montreal still claim to be Roman Catholics.

83%. And another headline, I saw that Canada had passed legislation that would legalize the use of marijuana, making Montreal a major center for production and sale and distribution of this drug because it's an island in the in the Saint Lawrence Seaway. It's a port city. And then, I don't have a slide for this, Bob, so you'll have to hold this one, Another headline that I just saw the other day, Canadian parliament just passed a law legalizing marriages between homosexuals. Now these are some of the trends and influences shaping the hearts and the minds of Montrealers.

The only antidote to these things is not more political action or debate. The only answer to these trends is the life changing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. My vision, therefore, is to reestablish a faithful New Testament church in the heart of this city reaching out to the over 1,000,000 English speaking people. Now, there are 3 other French congregations, they work with the French.

I will work with the English. I figure 1 preacher, a 1000000 people, yeah, it's pretty good. One Church of Christ peep preacher, 1,000,000 people. Yeah. That's the right ratio, I think.

I also have several main goals to support this vision. My first goal is to call out the many Christians who have fallen away because of discouragement or neglect over the years and invite them back into fellowship and service as we reestablish the church and begin once again a regular worship service at a central location. Another goal is to establish a small group bible study network throughout the city for the purpose of teaching and fellowship and service. Another goal is to begin teaching and training the local leaders in all the churches in order to establish biblical leadership in all the congregations, both French and English. Another goal is to sow the seed of the gospel through various media, through the computer and CDs, tapes, advertising, so we can look forward to a harvest.

Are you gonna do? How are you gonna we're only 1. We're so small. We're a dozen people. What are we gonna do?

How are we gonna build a church? And you know what my answer to them was? We're gonna start sowing the seed because if you don't sow the seed, you never get a harvest. If you just sit there ringing your hands, Oh, we're so small. We can't do it.

We're so afraid. You know what? You won't do anything. But today, with the technology that we have, with the internet and and all kinds of things, we can get the word out. And if we get the word out, God will enable us to have a harvest in.

That's what I'm gonna do. And one other goal is that I will provide a link between US churches that want to send workers and groups to do mission work and support our efforts to Montreal. In the past, there was never a person there, you know, a local person, to help American churches send missions and groups and youth groups and so on and so forth over to work in the city. Well, I'll be that contact person. Montreal is the 2nd largest French speaking city in the world after Paris.

It is the center for commerce, the arts, and religion for the entire province of 7a half 1000000 people. What Rome was to the Roman Empire, Montreal is to French Canada. The gospel planted there will naturally cover the entire province. Well, one final reason why Jesus' words eclipse any reason or any excuse not to go, Jesus will be going with us. That's his promise.

You know, in verse 20, Jesus makes a personal promise to be with those who overcome any objections and actually go. Now I don't know, maybe the Lord knew that in every generation, there would always be ten reasons not to go somewhere and preach the gospel. Maybe he made this promise to all future missionaries so that they would not be alone in going against the grain, in going against timing, against conventional wisdom, against money restraints, against convenience and security, and every other negative thing that would keep a person from just going. His personal word that he'd see you through somehow and that if you didn't make it back, it would be okay because he would be there with you to bury you when you were dead. You know, in 1977, I believed Jesus when he told me that as bad as I had been, if and I was very, very bad, I could do another sermon on how bad I was.

He said to me in 1977, if I trusted him and was buried in baptism, he would wash away all of my badness. All of it. And I believed him then, and I stepped out in faith to be baptized never to look back at that old and wicked life again. In the same way that I believed him then, I believe him now as Lise and I step out in faith to return to the mission field. We believe that he will lead and support and remain with us every step of the way, not because we're great missionaries, not because we're deserving of anything, because of anything we have done.

No. We're stepping out in faith because he promised to step out with us in this thing, and his promise is good enough to get us to go. You see, we decided we were going long before we had any money. I sent the email to the Canyon View elders saying, I love you but as soon as I find support, I'm going. And I had no support when I made that decision.

All I had was the promise. His promise erases and answers every reason not to go now and forever no matter what happens. So Lise and I want to thank, of course, the elders and the congregation here at Choctaw for allowing God to use you in some way so that he could send us. Thank you for your willing and generous hearts. Thank you for your generous pocketbooks.

Our commitment is to stay true to the lord, true to his word, true to the vision that we have for the work in Montreal. We will keep you informed about our progress, and we will ask you to keep us in your prayers and continue your financial support that together enable us to do this work. In closing, I want to ask each of you to examine your own lives. I want you to examine your own hearts to see what step of faith is the Lord asking you to take. You see, for Lise and I, at this time, our deeper walk of faith with Jesus Christ meant a return to the mission field.

Who knew? I would have never if you would have asked me that a year ago, I would have never thought that was the step of faith. You know, maybe, okay, step of faith, I want you to write a a book. You know, step of faith, you know, I don't know, create a TV thing. Yeah.

I'm ready to take that step of faith, Lord. Step of faith, go work for an even bigger church. You want me to go where, Lord? That was our step of faith. You know, even though not everyone is trained or able to go to the mission field, it doesn't mean that God doesn't call on each of us to do something or other that may require a great change, a great sacrifice, or a great challenge.

Who says that only missionaries have to do great challenges? Who says? Who says? Who says? Instead of continually asking God to improve your health or increase your wealth, why not begin to ask him to show you what your next step of faith, what your next step of spiritual development needs to be?

Maybe we're stressed out and tired and confused because we're so busy getting ahead in the world we've lost sight of the vision of heaven. Maybe we need to shake off the grip and the grime of the world on us and see more clearly how the kingdom of heaven can be perfected in us, not how we can have a perfect life in this temporary world.