One of the ways you know God loves you is by the quality of friends He surrounds you with. When I think of my friendship with Paul Burke, I think God must really love me a lot!
We have been friends for over twenty years. We connected back in the days when we were both in student ministry. I’ve always admired his devotion to God and his love for people. He and his wife Cindy are two of the kindest people I know.
Several years ago I saw him take a small rural church here in South Louisiana and lead that handful of people into a season of growth that was nothing short of remarkable! One of the greatest aspects of the church was the amount of volunteers they had serving the community. In a conversation at a staff meeting one day, I made the observation that Crossroads needed a ‘Paul Burke.’ My good friend David Baudoin, who was my associate at the time, said, “No, we need Paul Burke!” I felt led to offer Paul the role of Discipleship Pastor on our lead team and, to my surprise and great joy, he took it! Five years later we are a much better church because of the leadership and influence of Pastor Paul. He has nurtured our approach to small groups. He has developed our Freedom Track that helps people move out of the dysfunctions of their former life into the fulness of their liberty in Christ. He has put together our Next Steps initiative that provides people new to faith and new to Crossroads with a starting point. Hundreds of people have benefited from these measures.
A while back, Paul was ready to get back into the lead pastor’s role. He had two great churches interested in him when the afore mentioned David Baudoin let us know he was being led to step off of our lead team and start a christian counseling agency. Paul immediately pulled his resumes and made a commitment to stay with us through that transition. He told me, “Our friendship is more important to me than a pastorate. He helped make what could have been an awfully difficult time for our church a very smooth transition.
Fast forward a couple of years and Paul was recently approached by Glad Tidings Church in Lake Charles. They have elected him as their Lead Pastor and I am so excited for him and for the church! He’s going to make an incredible leader for that historic, flagship church of our network. Glad Tidings is a much greater opportunity than either of those two churches that were courting Paul two years ago. There’s no question in my mind it is God’s reward for his unselfish devotion.
Through the years Paul and I have enjoyed skiing together, golfing together, we’ve enjoyed some great meals and great times. I’m going to miss seeing him every day, but I’m so thankful he’s just down the road! It means he will still be a part of the circle of close friends that surround me on a regular basis. And that means God must love me a lot!
