![\"Griffin\"](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/lt\/eY\/lteY0UoXL8OWE9NJMQ-3LQ\/Griffin.jpg\")
The ministries of the 2,000-member church include the Oakdale Christian Academy and Child Care Center, the Oakdale Community Development Corporation, and the Reconnecting Center, which connects Oakdale to the needs of people in Africa.<\/p>\nBy Stan Friedman<\/p>\n
CHICAGO, IL (January 31, 2008) – On the first day of Darrell Griffin\u2019s internship at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York, pastor Calvin Butts drove the Kenosha, Wisconsin, native around the community.
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\n\u201cWhat do you see?\u201d the pastor asked. Abandoned buildings and difficult people was Griffin\u2019s reply. Butts told him that his vision was too limited.<\/p>\n
If Griffin was to minister to the people of the community, he would have to see the opportunity to reclaim lives and risk believing that God would empower the church for that work. The exchange was one that helped change Griffin\u2019s life. He is now the pastor of Oakdale Covenant Church in Chicago, a congregation noted for its strong outreach to helping the poor in their community and reclaiming the lives of many.<\/p>\n
The ministries of the 2,000-member church include the Oakdale Christian Academy and Child Care Center, the Oakdale Community Development Corporation, and the Reconnecting Center, which connects Oakdale to the needs of people in Africa.<\/p>\n
In his sermon before more than 1,000 pastors Wednesday night at the Evangelical Covenant Church\u2019s Midwinter Pastors Conference, Griffin asked the gathering the same question his mentor once asked him – \u201cWhat do you see?\u201d And then he challenged them to risk seeing beyond the seemingly intractable problems they face.<\/p>\n
Like the young intern, \u201cMost of us only see the problems and not the opportunities,\u201d Griffin said.<\/p>\n
The preacher drew from Numbers 13:26-33, the story of the spies sent by Moses to check out the land that God had promised to them. When \u201cthe research committee\u201d returned with their report, two of the spies \u2013 Caleb and Joshua \u2013 shared positive news, telling of milk and honey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure all of the people in the meeting said, \u2018Amen and praise God,\u2019 \u201d Griffin declared. Then came the report from the other members of the spy team, who acknowledged the milk and honey, followed by the word \u201cbut\u201d as they proceeded to tell of the giants in the land who they described as too powerful to overcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m telling you that no matter what meeting I\u2019m in, no matter how happy I am, no matter how happy I am, there is that word \u2018but,\u2019\u201d Griffin lamented. \u201cThere is that conjunction trying to mess up my function every time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Griffin warned, \u201cI want you to know, beloved, this condition can kill our confidence, zap our creativity if we are not careful, and it can stop us from going into our Promised Land experience.\u201d He added, \u201cIf God told you to do something, you have to go and do it despite the conjunction. You have to learn to function despite the conjunction.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hebrew people lamented that they were better off remaining in Egypt, where life was predictable, although oppressive. \u201cThey were trapped in \u2018the same.\u2019 They had been in the wilderness so long that the wilderness was in them.\u201d<\/p>\n
That wilderness mentality is evident among pastors and churches as well, he continued. The audience laughed when Griffin joked that some people need to join the group \u2018Same Anonymous\u2019 – they need to go to a meeting and say, \u2018Hello, I\u2019m Bob and I\u2019m a same-aholic.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Such people will never risk because they don\u2019t trust the power of God, Griffin said. \u201cDon\u2019t minimize God!\u201d he declared. \u201cWhen we minimize God, we maximize our problems.\u201d The audience, he added, should \u201cnotice that God is nowhere in the report of the research committee sent to Canaan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hebrew people had just been delivered out of slavery from the most powerful nation in the world and were being well fed each day, and yet refused to believe God\u2019s promise that they would dwell in the land, Griffin said. \u201cIf they had just remembered God\u2019s works, they could have avoided this mess. How soon we forget!\u201d<\/p>\n
Griffin also called on the people to not focus on the facts, but focus on the truth. \u201cFacts are what you see, but truth is what God said,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t walk by the facts, but we walk by the truth,\u201d Griffin added. \u201cWe need to go to the facts and tell the facts all about our God.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only way people will experience the truth of God\u2019s power is to follow him into situations where they would have to trust him, Griffin said. \u201cThere is no correspondence course for swimming. You just have to get in the water and get wet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later in the evening, conversations around the hotel involved discussions of lobster because of Griffin\u2019s final illustration. He told of going to a seafood restaurant and looking in an aquarium that included a lobster without its shell.<\/p>\n
He thought, \u201cWe\u2019re supposed to get fresh seafood and that thing looks sick. What\u2019s going on here?\u201d So he asked an employee about the seemingly sick crustacean.<\/p>\n
The employee replied, \u201cIn order for the lobster to grow, it has to shed its shell. If it doesn\u2019t shed its shell, its shell will become its tomb.\u201d<\/p>\n
Griffin joked that he knew a good sermon illustration when he heard one. \u201cThe lobster\u2019s shell protects him from all the predators, but it has to risk his life in order to grow,\u201d Griffin added.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod is allowing you to see some things – it looks kind of distorted,\u201d Griffin said, adding, \u201cWe need to risk our lives to make sure lost people are found and hurting people are healed. Yes, we might get eaten in the process, but if we don\u2019t, our shell will become our tomb. So I pray, that as God has shown you, you will take the risk and possess the land.\u201d<\/p>\n