The Rocky Road to Bethlehem - Christianity Today

Jason Meyer never aspired to fill the pulpit previously occupied by John Piper.

In fact, Meyer had many reasons it was a bad idea for him to succeed Piper, one of America's most famous pastors, in the pulpit of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota. Meyer made sure that God knew a few of those reasons: I'm scared. I don't want this. I don't want the pressure. I don't want the comparison.

Yet, here was Piper in Meyer's office, where Meyer was perfectly content serving as a New Testament professor at Bethlehem College and Seminary, posing the question Meyer had dreaded, but sensed was coming:

"We want to see Bethlehem become a relationally charged place … where God meets us not just in the sermons, but in every area of our life together."

"Your name has come up as a candidate, a strong candidate, to succeed me," Piper said. "We just want to know before we go any further, are you interested?"

"Nothing scares me more than that," Meyer said.

"Well, that's not a no," Piper replied.

Meyer, then 36, had struggled with a gnawing sense that God was calling him to lead Bethlehem. The South Dakota native had followed God's direction to Piper's church and Bible Institute through a series of unmistakable, life-changing promptings; over the years doors opened, and his personal and professional life had untangled in the most unexpected ways.

One of his first life-changing turns came shortly after he started college. He felt God move his heart from pursuing a high-income career as an anesthesiologist to seeking a profession that allowed him to serve others more directly.

"I had begun this process in my heart of wanting to be a servant, wanting to minister to people" Meyer said. "And so, I thought, Man, it is hard to minister to somebody when you put them to sleep."

His career choice switched to occupational therapy, but it would not be long before his direction became even more specific: ministry … and succeeding Piper at Bethlehem Baptist.

God's Timing

The call took Jason and his wife Cara by surprise. After several emotional trials and major moves, their life together finally seemed more settled than it had been in years. He was comfortable in his teaching position, loved eager students and digging into the Bible, and called his Bethlehem College and Seminary position his "dream job."

But for weeks he felt those same promptings that brought him to Bethlehem—internal, gut-wrenching feelings he described as "firecracker" explosions—pushing him in an unexpected direction.

And now, John Piper was sitting in his office. As Piper inquired about his candidacy for succession, Meyer confessed his worries about taking on leadership of the ministry but admitted he felt God drawing him in that direction. He questioned how he could follow the well-known pastor and best-selling author's 33-year ministry while minimizing transitional conflicts that accompany any leadership change.

The Church's Internal Issues

There were also some internal challenges to be addressed, issues that rose after Bethlehem, with a growing membership that is now more than 3,000, became a multi-campus church. Overflowing attendance downtown had spurred the 2002 opening of a north campus that began meeting at a college. That fledgling—yet still connected—campus opened a permanent north site in 2005. The following year a third campus opened south of Minneapolis. Each campus is distinct, with unique challenges. Downtown is thoroughly urban; north campus is struggling to house its growing children's ministry, and the south campus, still meeting in a school, is embarking upon a building campaign.

Managing the growing church's diverse needs was increasingly difficult as Piper, who had been candid about his reasons for wanting to step down, shared in a 2012 Q&A regarding his plans.

"I am less competent at leading Bethlehem structurally and organizationally than I used to be," Piper said. "For about 30 years I was usually able to see through the complexities, and formulate feasible and exciting plans—always with the help of incredibly devoted and gifted partners in ministry. This is no longer the case. For two reasons: One is that Bethlehem is more complex than it used to be; and the other is that my energies and abilities for this kind of organizational and structural planning are diminished."

"Jesus is on this road, and it's scary, but it's scarier to be without him."

Bethlehem's growth and the changes it spurred necessitated that the church leadership's focus had to broaden. Over time, small differences had grown to the point that clear resolution was needed. Strengthening leadership and healing some broken relationships were part of the responsibilities Meyer knew would require much of the next pastor's initial focus, and although it made him uncomfortable, God's calling became increasingly obvious.

Meyer's gifts and love of God's Word were gaining the attention of others in the church, especially as he taught a class at the north campus. Many were asking him if he would be interested in leading Bethlehem. Friends playfully bantered with him about it, unaware of the deep conviction that God had placed on his heart.

The Call

Meyer's hesitance was also based on painful losses he experienced since he was a sophomore in college and started becoming serious about his relationship with Christ.

"Everything preceding my call to ministry was a process of God taking things out of my heart that had been idols and forcefully ripping them out of my life," Meyer said.

As a child, Meyer found refuge in sports after his parents' painful but amicable divorce, and many had praised his natural athletic abilities, particularly in basketball. Meyer dreamed of being awarded a college basketball scholarship, but he instead went on a music scholarship, and the sport that had been such a huge part of his life was suddenly gone.

By his sophomore year, the relationship with the girl he always thought he would marry evaporated, leaving him heartbroken. Yet, it was through those losses that Meyer realized he had been putting other pursuits before God, and he repented. "I finally understood all I have is God. And I began to grow by leaps and bounds. My relationship with God became consuming."

His grandpa, a strong Christian, saw the change and told him he thought God was calling him into ministry. Meyer was stunned. "My first impulse was to say that was the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. But because it was my grandpa, I said I'll pray about it." Meyer figured he and God would agree it was an outlandish idea, but it quickly grew into a spiritual burden.

"That was the most miserable time in my life. Any peace I had with God went away. I felt like it was a tug of war. A battle, like a weight on my shoulders I couldn't get off."

The Candidate

Meyer carried the weight into the next Sunday service, where for the first time he could recall, his pastor preached on the disciples' calling.

"I was so tense I had my fingers on the pew in front of me in a vice grip. I remember at that point saying 'I surrender,' and I took my hands off and put them under my legs. I said, 'If this is what you want from me, then I don't understand, but I trust you.'"

I finally understood all I have is God … my relationship with God became consuming."

Meyer calls that a watershed moment "because I started seeing miracles happen after that. Fountains of compassion coming out of nowhere. I began to devour the Bible." Everything else fell away, including his studies that had been leading him toward an occupational therapy degree.

"I couldn't even open my books anymore," he said. "I'd have the best time waking up in the morning and sitting in the Scriptures all day." A boldness to preach manifested "out of nowhere;" and he pursued God's calling toward ministry, directed unmistakably by the "firecrackers" in his spirit.

Over the years, he pursued ministry, earned bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, and met and married his wife, Cara. The couple endured a heart-wrenching adoption path that started with one set of brothers from Ethiopia but ended with another. "God showed us we had to be put on the broken road first, so we could really know how to love these boys … so we could be the parents they needed."

Until the call to Bethlehem's pulpit, Meyer believed that God's will for his ministry was as a professor, but that confidence was shaken during Piper's 2011 "Antioch Moment" sermon announcing his retirement. Meyer said he had the same succession questions everyone had, but during the sermon he experienced a jarring call toward leadership: "It was a sense so clear, so forceful: 'That's what you're going to do.' I just thought, Now I'm scared, because this has happened three times before (when I felt called into ministry, to attend class, and then teach at Bethlehem) and it's always ended up being right, and now this is what I don't want."

Months later, exhausted and raw from trying to run, to desperately convince himself the calling wasn't from God, Meyer found himself at home, collapsing in anguish before God, begging to know why he wanted him leading Bethlehem. Meyer felt a clear answer from God: "What if, in doing this, you'll have more of me?"

"God showed us we had to be put on the broken road first, so we could really know how to love these boys."

"At that point, I felt like it was checkmate," Meyer said. "I really believe with all my heart, there's nothing more I want than that, and if that's what this is, then I guess I do want it. After that, my whole heart changed." His wife Cara said God led her through a similar journey … to the same conclusion. "Jesus is on this road, and it's scary, but it's scarier to be without him," she said.

Meyer, one of two finalists to succeed Piper, was described as "very, very strong" by search committee chair Sam Crabtree. Piper was initially involved, but stepped off after the first search committee meeting to avoid any perception of directing the process. Meyer went through an intensive, detailed, and grueling interview series that included competency meetings with questioning from multiple groups from the campuses, each focused on a particular ministry.

God's calling was affirmed when Meyer received a unanimous recommendation from the elder board for his candidacy, a confidence that was echoed by the congregational vote of 784-8. It was a vote Piper called "simply stunning" and proof of God's hand in the transition. "I started feeling like we're supposed to store each one of these (affirmations) up so when it gets hard, we can say that was hard but this was clear," he said.

The Difficulties

The most difficult part of the first year was leading Bethlehem staff through the relational problems they were experiencing. Crabtree said Meyer handled the challenges well, noting they "came front and center" during the transition but were not caused by it. "He moved toward it and met with all the parties. He didn't exclude himself and say, 'Hey, I didn't cause these problems,'" Crabtree said.

Meyer brought in Peacemaker Ministries, a Christian organization that offers mediation services that helped him guide the process until the issues were resolved. Meyer has also focused on building relationships among leadership to reestablish unity, relying on prayer and God's strength to direct the way.

Crabtree said the leadership is now focused on moving forward together. "Jason never wavered," Crabtree said. "He never said, 'Boy, I don't know what I've gotten myself into here.' He's been 'Let's go and roll up our sleeves.' It just seemed the fingerprints of God were on this transition."

Crabtree said Meyer has a gift of building relationships, encouraging open communication, and taking time to meet with every staff member individually to listen, share, and pray together.

Meyer said he sees God's purpose through the challenges they have faced and he and the elder board are unified in their focus on the future of Bethlehem. "We just saw this as the providence of God in that this is the way he chose to establish my leadership," Meyer said.

Going forward, Meyer said he is committed to humbly seeking God for Bethlehem's every step and strengthening the relationships within the body. One of the ways Meyer is strengthening these relationships is through his preaching. Meyer preaches every Saturday night at Bethlehem's downtown campus, which is taped. He then will preach at one of the three campuses live on Sunday and the other two will show the video of the taped sermon. Meyer is living out his desire to do life together as a whole church.

Meyer says, "There's a lot of excitement. We want to see Bethlehem become a relationally charged place, with all of our members … in the sense that we're not just here to hear sermons, we're really here to do life together, to see it lived out, to feel this is my family, this is my support, this is where God meets us, not just in the sermons, but in every area of our life together."

Laura Adelmann is an award-winning reporter living in Northfield, Minnesota.