On Raising Up a Joshua

Last Sunday in church, I preached my third-to-last Sunday as full time pastor of Dunwoody Baptist Church. In the church was my mentor of half a century. Dennis Rogers identified something in me when I was in high school and challenged me to develop it. In high school, I preached my first sermon. In high school, I served on a pastor search committee. He allowed me to volunteer with students when I was home from college on breaks or summers that I came home. We met at a Mexican restaurant in Stone Mountain every week. He challenged me to make a difference in college. Dennis took me (literally, in the car) to New Orleans to meet professors and apply to seminary. And I was not the only “Joshua” that Dennis raised up.

In Gen 15, Abraham is promised that his descendants will inherit the promised land. This promise is fulfilled not by Moses, but by his protégé, Joshua son of Nun from the tribe of Ephraim. Joshua shows up in one of my favorite (and quirky) episodes in Exodus 17 where Joshua is appointed as field commander of the army of Israel when the Amalekites attack them. The quirky part is that Moses stood on a hill with his arms supported by his brother and his (maybe) brother-in-law while Joshua won the battle.

From the beginning of their relationship, Moses let Joshua try things, lead things, learn things. Moses encouraged and nurtured him to follow God’ teachings, accomplish God’s plans, and join him (in protecting the people from themselves and moving them towards the promised land. Moses corrected  Joshua twice applying wisdom and knowledge. Near the end of Moses’ story, God tells Moses that it is time for him to die, and that Joshua, “a man with spirit” would be his successor. 

Although he is to share the power with the high priest Eleazar, Joshua will be the one to lead the Israelites into Canaan and conquer the land. Joshua’s story ends with his death and burial, some eight decades later (Joshua  24:29-30). Joshua succeeded in leading Israel into the Promised Land, but he didn’t raise up a Joshua to follow him.  Within a very short period of time, lacking in leadership and in a culture that was hostile to the ways of Yahweh, “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” 

I wish the story had ended differently. I wish Joshua would have identified, trained, encouraged, poured into a successor like Dennis poured into me. As I approach retirement, I pray that I have raised up a team who will lead DBC well, but will also lead well wherever else they serve in the future. I am also convicted that I have a little Joshua to raise up in Texas.  I pray that God will grant me the wisdom and opportunity to pour into my grandson as he begins to understand the ways of God and the ways of the world. He has a great mom, a great community, an incredibly sharp mind and a tender heart.  

May we all have the courage to raise up a Joshua.