Out of a thankful heart, honor grows. Therefore, we pause once a year with great joy to thank God and honor Him for the gift we have in Pastor Kevin and Renee Berry.
A very significant day is coming up on Sunday, October 13, 2024—it is our Pastor Appreciation Day at Mount Hope Church! It’s a day set aside for our very special church to honor God. It is in our heritage to make this day unique and celebratory.
What is this day about and who is to be appreciated? That’s a good question. It actually honors God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God works His designs through His creation, which we are all a part of. He unfolds His will and leads His people into His ways. So, the way that we learn God’s way of honor is by expressing it to those He has created and placed in a position of leadership. Subsequently, to honor God is to recognize His gift, our Pastor and his wife.
It was he who gave gifts to people; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. He did this to prepare all God’s people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ’s full stature. (Ephesians. 4:11-13 Good News Translation)
What Pastor Appreciation Day is not about is a time of recognizing Pastor Kevin and Renee’s talents and feats at Mount Hope Church. We could certainly make a celebration of their accomplishments, but that would make this day like how the world sets up their heroes. Sure, our Pastor and his wife are brave, loving, warm, kind, and solid. But that wouldn’t be our first concern, because God’s honor goes much deeper than that which is based purely on performance.
Let’s consider how Christian honor operates. This church is like a meadow. It is filled with all kinds of sheep with all kinds of personalities, colors, ages, and dreams from God. The sheep in the meadow experience unimaginable joys, pains, blessings, hurts, and happiness. It is God who bestows His anointing over this wide and varied flock. God expects to bring His sheep into greater grace, mercy, and provision that will be safe and purely beneficial. Therefore, God arranges for the sheep to be protected from wolves, thieves, and storms. Jesus gave us this Pastor, for this time in this meadow. The Good Shepherd is faithful by who He has appointed as Pastor.
On Sunday, October 13, we pause and give God glory and praise for His design and His provision over us! It goes to God, first and foremost, in appreciation for His will and ways, honoring the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with thankfulness and faith in His guidance for us. Then we put action to our honor of God by blessing the Pastor. That may be a gift, that may be a heartfelt letter, that may be praying for Pastor Kevin and Renee for abundant blessings, faithfully. It is as unto God on Pastor’s behalf.
