Reign Down by Walt Kallestad & Shawn-Marie Cole

Author:Walt Kallestad & Shawn-Marie Cole
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2008-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

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CHAPTER 14

EVEN THE PREACHER

All to thee, my precious Savior,

I surrender all.

—JUDSON W. VAN DEVENTER, “I SURRENDER ALL”

The Lord can give. The Lord can take away.

I might be herding sheep next year.

—ELVIS PRESLEY

Jesus calls us to repent. That call to repentance is no respecter of persons. It reaches to those you might think of as obvious candidates and to those not so obvious.

When we think of repenting, most of us think of really bad sins. Not many of us would think of operating a church as being a sin. Even fewer would think it a sin to build and establish a church that had more than ten thousand members, an annual budget in the millions, and hundreds of new attendees each month. Most would think that was a good thing. My dad, Walt Kallestad, thought so, too.

Walt came from humble roots. His father grew up on a farm in Minnesota and learned about hard work very early in life. Then, as an adult, his father sensed a call to ministry. He left his job, went to seminary, and became a pastor. Entrepreneurial faith runs deep in Walt’s family.

After college Walt worked with various youth organizations and as youth director in several churches. Then, after a tragic accident threatened the life of his son, he began to take his relationship with God more seriously. He enrolled in seminary and pursued ordained ministry.

Following seminary Walt was called to a small church in Phoenix, Arizona. He arrived with little in financial assets and soon found the church in the same condition. Still, he worked at the tasks at hand, cultivated relationships, and did his best to do what he thought God would want.

As the church developed, Walt’s competitive nature pushed him to succeed—new plans, a wider reach, a broader audience. With a program designed to attract attendance, the congregation grew. Soon they had expanded beyond the capacity of their building. Yet in spite of the success, Walt wasn’t satisfied. Something about the church wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t articulate it. A disquieted restlessness seemed to brood in his spirit.

With the church building operating at capacity, they decided to move to a new site. With a project in the works, Walt was soon immersed in the details of building, moving, and maintaining the ever-increasing church program. He ignored the unrest in his spirit and plunged headlong into the work at hand.

Growth in numbers continued. Programs expanded. Worship became more elaborate. The church hired professional musicians. Drums and an orchestra appeared on stage. At the same time, church staff grew. They expanded the day care, then added a preschool and an elementary school that will eventually include all twelve grades. Attendance pushed them to add more worship services. The annual budget grew along with everything else. Funding that budget took more and more time and energy.

Then in 2002 Walt had a heart attack. After surgery to restore six blocked arteries, he was forced to slow down. In the quiet of his living room, reclining in an easy chair, Walt was finally able to listen.

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