Wow! I didn’t ever remember reading about Paul going to Phoenix before! I realized that the King James Version says “Phenice.” I grabbed my New King James Version concordance and discovered that was the only listing for Phoenix in the New King James Bible. Not only was it the same spelling as Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, but also I came across that passage right then—not three weeks before or two months later, but right when I was asking the Lord if it was His will for us to move to the Phoenix area. A few more confirmations came in, and Lynn and I were fully convinced that the Lord was opening a new door for us to walk through, an “opening toward the southwest” (Acts 27:12).
11
“When you’re willing to serve the servants, that’s when heavenly promotion comes.”
I WAS WALKING WITH PASTOR DAVE AFTER A POWERFUL FRIDAY EVENING service, escorting him back to his nearby apartment in the Worldwide Plaza on 50th Street and Eighth Avenue. Dr. Michael Brown, who was our most regular guest speaker at Times Square Church, had just shared with us his heart’s cry for true revival to come to our land. If there ever was an example in our day of a minister of the Gospel receiving the mantle of another, it’s Michael Brown walking in Leonard Ravenhill’s preaching and writing anointing. I was so deeply stirred by his message that night. As we walked down 51st Street together, I noticed people’s reactions to Pastor Dave. They respectfully said, “Hi, Pastor Dave” if they knew who he was. Even if they didn’t recognize him, they still nodded their heads in respect as though he were the CEO of a global corporation. There was something in the way he carried himself. He had on a cool-looking leather jacket. As a matter of fact, come to think of it, he always was immaculately dressed—never showy, but never shoddy.
I mentioned to him how much the service blessed me. I don’t recall if it was from a song or in the sermon, but something had been said about the life of Joseph from the Book of Genesis. Apparently, Pastor Dave was still contemplating it because he said to me, “Charles, just like with Joseph, when you’re willing to serve the servants, that’s when heavenly promotion comes. Joseph gladly ministered to Pharaoh’s servants in that awful prison, and before he knew it, he was in charge of all of Egypt. God will bless you tremendously if He can trust you.” How much of that was directed personally to me and how much was a sermon he was working on I’ll never know. The next thing he said, however, was definitely for me.
“Don’t get caught up in the numbers game, always striving for a bigger and better ministry. So many young pastors are consumed with packing the people in, but that kind of striving never ends. Bigger is not always better. Be content with what God gives you. I can picture Joseph in that Egyptian prison, finding deep contentment in whatever God allowed him to face and wherever he found himself.”
“Pastor Dave, so often when you preach about biblical characters, it’s as though you were right there, observing it as an eyewitness. You really bring Bible stories to life!”
“Charles, a sanctified imagination is one of the mightiest weapons in the hands of God. If you want your sermons to be riveting, become addicted to reading, not to watching television. And do what Michael Brown did tonight. Put a lot of Scriptures in your messages. It’s almost impossible to put too many Scriptures in a sermon. It’s the power of God’s Word that breaks hardened hearts. Allow conviction to go deep into people’s hearts before you pull the scalpel out. Scripture-filled, convicting sermons are like successful heart surgeries: they save lives.”
We stopped at the corner of Eighth Avenue and patiently waited for the traffic light to change. “Pastor Dave, have you ever noticed that a green traffic light is actually many small green light bulbs all clumped closely together in a circle? It’s kind of like that when the Lord leads us in a new direction. For instance, I wouldn’t have met with the guy from Arizona unless we both were in Philadelphia at exactly the same time. I then found out that Lynn feels peace about moving. That’s really amazing given that she’s such a New Yorker. And then I ran across in my daily Bible reading that Paul was heading toward Phoenix!”
Pastor Dave suddenly interjected, “Are you sure you want to leave, Charles? No one knows this yet, but Pastor Bob will be leaving soon, and you’ll have many more opportunities to preach if you stay. You have the honor of thousands of people here.”
“I don’t care about the honor of man,” I respectfully replied. “I thought you didn’t either, Pastor Dave.”
“I don’t care about it for me, but I care about it for them. You can’t lead people into the rich things of God if they don’t honor you. It takes years to build a life of honor and just a few minutes of folly to lose it.”
“Pastor Dave, there are so many indications that the Lord is opening this new door for me. But if you don’t feel good about it… that would definitely be a red flag, a big red flag—like a red light bulb within a green traffic light. I’d have to reconsider the whole thing if you don’t feel peace about it.”
“I feel peace,” Pastor Dave slowly replied. “I’ll just…miss you.”
“I’ll never stop backing you up in prayer, Pastor Dave. No matter where I am, I’ll still be a Daniel Nash to you. I love you, Pastor Dave.”
“Me too,” he replied.
We hugged, and he quickly walked past the concierge’s desk. I turned and headed toward my car.
The following day, I arrived at my office on the 38th floor of the skyscraper across the street from Times Square Church. I slowly packed up my last belongings, feeling emotionally numb.
Barbara, Pastor Dave’s secretary, called me through the intercom. “Pastor Charles?”
“Yes, Barbara?”
“Pastor Dave would like to see you in his office for a moment.”
“OK. Be right there.”
As I walked down the long hallway, I saw him standing outside his office with an envelope in his hand. He would usually invite me in, where we would sit down and talk. But not today. It was as though he didn’t want to talk too long, lest the goodbyes become too traumatic for either of us. After all, we had said our goodbyes last night. I noticed that he had dark circles under his eyes, as though he hadn’t slept a wink the night before. The tiredness on his countenance was such that I opened my mouth to ask if he was OK.
He beat me to it and abruptly said, “I’ve had quite a talk with the Lord last night. You’ve worked much harder here than any of us have ever realized, Charles. You’ve done a lot of things behind the scenes that have been unnoticed by everyone, except for the Lord of course.” I hung my head down and took a deep gulp, holding back the welling tears as he continued. “Thanks for all your hard work. Enclosed is a copy of the reference letter I faxed to the pastoral search committee in Arizona and also a gift for you. You’ll find that Phoenix is much warmer than here. You and Lynn will need to buy a whole new wardrobe.” As I took the envelope, he turned and walked down the hall, past the receptionist, and out the front door of the church offices to the elevators.
I slowly walked back to my office thinking, “Is this really happening?” I closed the door behind me and opened the envelope, not even taking time to sit down. Along with the letter, there was a check for ten thousand dollars. The letter said:
Dear Bob and the Search Committee:
I highly recommend Pastor Charles Simpson. He has a strong holiness message, but it is balanced with great love, mercy and compassion. He is truly a man of prayer, and he knows how to hear from God. We are very reluctant to release him, because he has been such a vital part of our ministry in New York. But about a month ago, the Lord told me it was time to release him, because he would be needed by a congregation.
He would need the oversight of some godly men who would treat him with dignity and advise him in a very compassionate manner. He is teachable and would not be dictatorial. He has yet much to learn, but I believe he is ready to take on a full-time pastorate.
His bondservant,
David Wilkerson
No wonder they so quickly voted me in! I sat down in my
chair and put my arms on my desk and my head in my hands. I cried awhile, for various reasons, but mostly because it was final. I was leaving Pastor Dave, my spiritual father. I was leaving Times Square Church, filled with so many dear friends and great memories. The traffic light in front of me turned bright green and the cars behind me were honking. I had to release the brake, press on the gas pedal, and drive on.
12
“Don’t ever be a carbon copy of me.”
BEFORE I LEFT TIMES SQUARE CHURCH, A LADY NAMED PAT FROM THE congregation gave me a word. Pat and her husband Dick were dear friends, hosting me in their New Jersey home multiple times when I was a single pastor in desperate need of a warm meal and rich fellowship. Pat was a bold lover of truth who always spoke her mind with compassion. When she spoke, I listened. I saw her heading toward me during an anointed worship service at Times Square Church. I was walking down the aisle, as I often left my seat to go up to the balcony or to the back to put out spiritual fires: disorderly drunks, demoniacs, or deranged and noisy people who needed prayer or who needed to be gently and firmly escorted out of the building.
“Charles,” she said to me, as she grabbed my arm and whispered into my ear, “you are an Elisha to this Elijah.” She looked up at Pastor Dave on the stage. She repeated, “He’s Eli-jah, and you’re Eli-sha.”
Even before they met, God already established that Elisha would be Elijah’s successor.24 Regarding successors, however, Pastor Carter Conlon is doing an awesome job as senior pastor of Times Square Church, Gary Wilkerson is carrying on World Challenge and Please Pass the Bread, and Don Wilkerson is continuing to help guide the vision and implementation of Teen Challenge. Maybe the mantles of some prophets are so large they must be divided into pieces before being distributed! So what was I to do with a word like that? As a son to a father, I did my best to serve and help Pastor Dave, but I knew I was not called to literally walk in his shoes and his amazing calling. And yet, something in the way Pat gave me that word caused me to take it to the Lord in prayer and diligently study First and Second Kings all over again. Perhaps there was something in that word the Lord wanted me to grasp.
Elijah will always stand out as greater, mightier, and more powerful than almost all the Old Testament prophets, including Elisha. Elijah was unequaled—so much more famous than Elisha, and rightly so. Elijah was the model of what a prophet should be: sold out, dedicated, a true trailblazer. Elisha and many others after him walked on the trail Elijah blazed. I like to ask this Bible trivia question to my students: “Who in the Scriptures raised the dead, multiplied food, and taught that we are to overcome the hatred of our enemies by showing love? And it’s someone other than Jesus, someone in the Old Testament.” I usually stump all the students to whom I ask this question. That’s how overlooked Elisha still is; he’s still an unsung hero. He never reached the fame of his mentor. Elisha had to see something in order to receive a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, and he saw it—the heavenly chariot taking his master up into glory.25 And from then on, the reality of the heavenly realm gave him the ability to conquer a particular fear that had plagued Elijah. The difference between these two men can be seen in how each of them handled being surrounded by hostile enemies. The episode with Elijah:
Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. So he went up to him; and there he was, sitting on the top of a hill. And he spoke to him: “Man of God, the king has said, ‘Come down!’” So Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty (2 Kings 1:9-10).
Could it be that Elijah was ministering in that particular moment out of a spirit of fear instead of the Spirit of God? I know it seems disrespectful to even consider such a thing, but if we’re not willing to see a prophet’s shortcomings, we’ll be prone to repeat them. When Jesus’s disciples asked Him if they too could call down fire on those who rejected Christ, just like Elijah did to his enemies, Jesus rebuked them, saying, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them” (Luke 9:56).
When Elijah was about to toast the third group of fifty, the captain pleaded with him. His lengthy speech stopped Elijah long enough so that he could finally hear the Lord speak to his anxious heart, saying, “Do not be afraid of him” (2 Kings 1:15).
Again, he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and pleaded with him, and said to him: “Man of God, please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight. Look, fire has come down from heaven and burned up the first two captains of fifties with their fifties. But let my life now be precious in your sight.” And the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king (2 Kings 1:13-15).
If Elijah had been speaking out of fear, then why did God back him up and send the fire down upon those poor men? It’s because when Old Testament prophets spoke, God always backed up their words; otherwise they would have been labeled as false prophets.26 However, some of Elijah’s responses were out of his own fear, rather than from the Spirit of God. And Elisha’s double portion, contingent upon seeing the heavenly hosts, enabled him to minister out of love instead of fear toward the hostile enemies who one day surrounded him:
Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:14-17).
These same heavenly beings were what Elisha saw at Elijah’s parting. Seeing them take Elijah away was the one condition to be met in order for him to receive a double portion. As I have ministered to people on their deathbeds, some of them have seen and spoken to the invisible messengers that have come to escort them home. Witnessing things like that tends to remove the fear of dying from your heart! As the pastor in charge of the hospital visitation ministry and the AIDS ministry of a large urban church, I have seen many more deathbed experiences than I ever expected. The one that blessed me the most, however, was when I flew home to Tennessee to be with my dying mom.
My younger sister, Bertie, called and said the doctors were not expecting Mom to live through the night. She had a heart attack, it seemed, and was barely hanging on. All of her twelve kids were in the process of driving to her. When I arrived at the hospital, Linda told me that Mom’s lungs were filling up with liquid, her kidneys had failed, and it wouldn’t be long now. She was in ICU, of course, so they were only allowing one family member to stay with her, alternating every half hour.
“Charles, you want to see her next?”
“Yes.”
“Get ready,” my sister Linda said. “It’s five minutes till 4:00. And also, prepare yourself. Mom says she’s seeing angels in the room with her, but it’s probably just the medication.”
One of my agnostic brothers objected, saying, “Maybe it really is angels!”
When I walked into the room and went over to Mom, I was not even sure if she recognized me. And I heard that dreaded death rattle I’d witnessed so many times in hospitals in New York City. Suddenly, Mom straightened up and stared at something behind and above me. She said, “Why, yes, I do agree that would be the best thing. Yes, I am. That would be fine.” There’s no doubt that Mom was speaking with a being from another world. Mom is a believer, and there was no alarm. It was as though that conversation was prep
ping her for Heaven. “I don’t know,” Mom continued to speak to this being who was invisible to my eyes.
My faith was shooting through the roof. My hospital visitation experience kicked into gear, along with the determination to pray in faith for healing for all who would allow me to do so.
“Mom,” I exclaimed. “Mom!”
“Yes, Charles. What is it, son?”
“Mom, do you want to be healed, or do you want to go home to Heaven?”
“I want to be healed.”
“OK. Let’s pray.” I then commanded, in the authority of Jesus’s name, that her kidneys start working, her lungs clear up, and her heart be healed. Nothing seemed to happen so I finished spending time with her, kissed her goodbye, and left because it was another sibling’s turn. Later that evening, they decided to move Mom to her own room so all the family could gather around her. When one of my sisters asked the nurse why they were not taking the IV up to her room, she gently said she wouldn’t make it through the night so it was totally unnecessary. The next morning, Mom woke up hungry for breakfast! It took a few days, but her kidneys started functioning again and her lungs cleared up. When they tested her heart, they found out that she didn’t have a heart attack after all. Actually, a heart valve had ruptured. After repairing it, she was soon ready to go to rehab, and then back home in a few months.
When I saw my mom (who is not an exaggerator) speaking with an angel, my faith in God soared and I prayed the prayer of faith over her almost effortlessly.27 Elisha knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the chariots and the angels of God would protect him. He had seen them with his very own eyes! He then won his enemies over with love, providing a vast banquet for them. The conclusion of that episode is those people who attacked Elisha did not attack him or Israel again.28
But how does all that apply here? Pastor Dave was the most fearless Christian I’ve ever met. Another word perhaps describes some of his responses, as mentioned in a previous chapter: frustration. Personally, I feel that we (the Body of Christ) dumped so much junk on him that his soul was vexed beyond what it should have been. Am I saying that some of his messages were tainted? God forbid. He was the most untainted person I’ve ever met—untainted as in James’s description that pure religion includes caring for the orphans and widows and keeping oneself unspotted from the world.29 I’m saying he told me not to emulate him to the point that I would copy his frailties and weaknesses. As he told Nicky Cruz one time, “Don’t ever be a carbon copy of me. Instead, be a carbon copy of Jesus.” Even seeing Pastor Dave’s weaknesses up close and firsthand for years, he still was the strongest believer I’ve ever known, by far.
Walking in the Footsteps of David Wilkerson Page 13