Ordination Testimony

Joy and I just returned from District Assembly where I (Eric) was ordained as an Elder in the Nazarene Church. I was blessed to have Joy kneeling with me and Pastor Ryan Fasani praying a blessing over me. I was asked to write a brief, one page, testimony for the ordination service this past Wednesday night. It was not used during the service, so I thought I would post it here for anyone interested. Enjoy!

Ordination Testimony

Eric Paul

April 8, 2015

I received a call to ministry at a young age. My grandparents were Missionaries on a Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. Grandpa was a giant in the community, not only standing taller than most, but respected as one who had, for years, given himself away wholeheartedly to the people and community who desperately needed life and hope. It's amazing the kind of work that can be done when you step out of the way for the sake of another. He died when I was ten years old. A month later, my call to be a missionary was confirmed and I was baptized. 

While the direction of my life was known, I had no clue how this story would be told; where I would serve or even in what role. Pastor? Missionary? Teacher? Something altogether different? While in school I became convinced that God's call is always a call to discipleship first. Like Peter at the water's edge, Jesus calls and because it is Jesus and no one else, I follow. All of life is directed toward this person and is formed by that life. The life of a disciple is a life on the way to discovering the Kingdom of God all around us. To walk and pray Heaven on earth. And Jesus' path seemed to always point toward the edge of society, to the fringes, to the poor and powerless, to those abused, left-out, and forgotten. Jesus' life tells us that the Kingdom of God is found there and with those people. And so, I understood a part of my call would be a constant seeking of the Kingdom of God on the margins. 

Phineas Bresee understood this downward movement of the disciple when he said, "Our church is a missionary church. It knows no difference between home and foreign fields- for all fields are near." And when I read these words from our founder Bresee, I knew that there still might be a place for me within the Nazarene Church: "The Gospel comes to a multitude without money and without price, and the poorest of the poor are entitled to a front seat at the Church of the Nazarene." 

Christ's love meets us all uniquely. I struggled with the church for many years, even as a Pastoral Ministry major at Olivet. In a way, all pastors should. There's a marked difference between what God desires for us to be and do and the modern state of the church. I walked through church doors, looked around, and didn't see Jesus. When I saw the church, I couldn't tell the difference between Christians and the rest of the world. It seemed self serving, existing for its own sake rather than for God's mission in world. We were just as violent, power hungry, and greedy; only we hid under an umbrella of grace while not allowing that grace to teach us a different way. 

And yet, Christ's love would meet me. It would meet me in the steadfast commitment of my wife, who ironically was on staff at a church. And soon after, Christ's love would meet in the face of the poor of Nashville, who I witnessed struggle for life and yet taught me so much about faith and dependence. Christ's nonviolent love met me in the streets of Palestine, where I saw Palestinian Christians opposing racism and violence in midst of state oppression. And in all these places, there was a steadfast commitment to the church. It seems to me that God created the church to be different, to be holy, to show the world a different way to live altogether. And then I realized that Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of God doesn't make sense without a people who gather around that message. And it's these people, the gathered we call the church, who are participating to bring about something entirely and utterly new to our communities. And I want to be a part of that newness.

Ordination is my commitment to the pursuit of the Kingdom of God through the Church of the Nazarene. It is the answering to a call, and it is not everyone's call. But it is mine. So, I'm thrilled that my story has brought me to this moment, and under the recognition and affirmation of my calling and gifts in and for the community. So, I ask for your continued prayers and support as we all learn to give ourselves away to those around us.