DeWayne's World: Of Bridges, Blessings, & Blue Beetles

Say what, Holy Spirit?

Surely I could not have heard correctly. The words resonated in my spirit, echoing deeply like a great, distant bell. Unmistakable, but momentarily muffled in my own sense of disbelief.

“I said…Get ready. I’m about to give you a car.”

Oh, my. That’s what I thought you said, Holy Spirit. My heart began to pound and I felt a wellspring of emotions rising up within me. I nervously glanced at the crowd of faces around me, but none were paying me any mind. They were all intently focused on the speaker, just as I had been before the words of the Spirit sliced through my heart like an electric charge.

April 14, 2011. Hundreds of fellow pastors and lay people were sitting in the auditorium of a non-denominational church in Pigeon Forge, TN, named The Gathering, at a conference called Refuge. God knew I needed a place of refuge in the spring of ‘11. It had been a long, difficult five years. I didn’t so much arrive at the conference as I limped in on a wing and a prayer. The fact that I was even in the audience that night was a total God thing.

My name is DeWayne Howard and I am the Lead Pastor at a church which God commissioned me to plant in McMinnville, TN. Bridges of Hope Fellowship sprang from the ground in 2006 with absolutely nothing to recommend it but faith and a vision to bring the true Good News of Jesus Christ to the unchurched of our county. God smiled on our work. It wasn’t easy, but many tears, jeers, and heartaches later, it was time to step out in 2010 and move forward with building the larger facility we needed to continue our growth.

That building program began with fifty-two cents in the bank and no reserve savings. It was concluded in sixty days through the efforts of five hundred volunteers from five different states. Those two months saw God provide over $100,000 toward the expansion. Today, the building and its five acres appraise for over $1 million and is home to one of the most rapidly growing faith families in Middle Tennessee. Not bad for a rural county of only 14,000 permanent residents. God is good and He is faithful!

Such a remarkable story is not without its sacrifices, of course. Every available resource was consumed by the construction. By the time the Refuge conference rolled around, my wife Natalie and I had not been able to draw a paycheck in almost eighteen months. Our vehicle was on its last legs and was sitting broken down in the driveway. We didn’t have reliable transportation for the 3+ hour drive to Pigeon Forge, didn’t have the gas money anyway, and certainly didn’t have food and lodging expense. I knew in my heart that God wanted us to go to Refuge, that something special was waiting there for us, but I didn’t see any way we could.

That is precisely when God started being God and I started being amazed. A local business lady insisted that we take her personal car to Pigeon Forge and gave us $100 gas money. The folks at The Gathering called to say that a church member had donated the use of several overnight rental cabins for those pastors who might be financially stressed by the lodging expense. Three free nights in a cabin in the Smokies! To top it all off, a friend called while we were driving to Pigeon Forge and asked us to swing by his place. He provided us with meal money to tide us over for those meals not included at the conference. By the time we hit town, our hearts were already full of joy at what God had done!

The Gathering family and staff really went out of their way to make all of us pastors and guests feel at home. One gentleman in particular took an interest in me. Dan Tilley was himself a pastor at one time, and was now serving as one of the volunteer leaders for the Refuge conference. We chatted a few times over the next couple of days and I told him the remarkable story of how God had so blessed our Bridges church family and how He had provided so wonderfully to allow us to be at the conference. I could tell that Dan was moved by our situation, particularly being without a paycheck for so long, since he had personally walked the pastor’s path.

This brings us back to the moment when I so clearly heard the Holy Spirit promise me a new ride.

The evening speaker was Bil Cornelius of Bay Area Fellowship in Corpus Christi, Texas. Pastor Bil was teaching on the essence of “Instant Obedience” and the blessings which await those who practice it. When God instructs, we act. Immediately and without question or debate. To do so allows God to act in all of His fullness, in the way which He has chosen…using people to care for and help other people, in Jesus’ name. That’s the system.

To illustrate his point, Bil shared about a time years before when he clearly heard God instruct him to give away his car to someone in need. Bil had never done anything so radically generous, and couldn’t believe that God would truly ask an average, everyday, not-rich guy like him to do that. He wrestled with it, doubted it, rationalized it, and tried to debunk it. But it was no use. God’s instruction was clear. Give the car. When he did, God began to bless by opening door after door after door of opportunity and provision for Bil’s family and ministry. Today, Bay Area Fellowship and Bil Cornelius Ministries are one of the fastest growing churches in America, at the forefront of the national scene. He credits instant obedience and giving with their rise.

So, the Holy Spirit wanted to give me a car. Cool. I was up for that. But God rarely gives something without wrapping it in expectation. And He expected something from me. The Spirit moved powerfully that night, dealing with the hearts of many shepherds. I was one of them. Before the evening was over, I would find myself completely broken before Him, surrendering everything…and I mean EVERYthing…to the cause and the mission of Jesus Christ. All of my own dreams and vision died on April 14^th, 2011, as I traded MY dreams for HIS dreams.

I knelt by my seat and fervently cried out to God for my people and my city. I looked up at one point and saw that someone had laid $120 on the chair. I gently tucked it into my pocket, praising God for his unswerving faithfulness. I could stop wondering about the gas money to get home now.

During prayer time, two other men of God from two different states came up to give me a prophetic word about my ministry. They both said, independently of one another, that Heaven was going to send a great revival to the church at Bridges of Hope Fellowship and that McMinnville was already ours in the spiritual realm, for the glory of God. I eagerly received that Word!

I was so overwhelmed by all of the revelations God had shared with me that I almost forgot the earlier conversation about the car. Near the end of the prayer time, my new old friend Dan Tilley approached me. Dan is a thick-shouldered, barrel-chested bear of a guy with a broad, friendly face, the kindest of eyes and a wide, infectious smile. It is hard not to like Dan right away, and I did. Only I noticed that his eyes were now brimming with tears as he placed a big hand on my shoulder.

“Pastor DeWayne, God has asked me to do something tonight that is very difficult for me, but I know I would be disobedient if I didn’t do it. Especially after what Bil Cornelius just spoke over us.”

With the other hand, he dangled a glimmering set of keys.

“If you ask anyone who knows me, they’ll tell you that my prize possession in the world is a fully-restored baby blue 1973 Volkswagen Beetle. I love that car. But it’s not mine anymore. Can you drive a stick, preacher?”

He grinned as a tear trickled down one rosy cheek. I began to weep as well, with joy and gratitude.

“Yes sir, I sure can. THANK YOU!! And thank YOU, Lord!”

After getting our new Beetle back home, Natalie and I began to pray daily for instructions on what to do with it. Yes, we needed dependable, economical transportation, and the VW certainly fit that bill, but we both sensed in our spirit that it represented something bigger than that. A deeper purpose. However, a quick answer was not forthcoming. We kept praying and enjoyed driving the blessing.

I walked into a local flower shop a few weeks later. The owners are fine Christian folks, and one of them told me that day, “Pastor, God has shown me what you are to do with that car of yours. But I’m not going to tell you until He does. That way, we will both know it is His idea, not ours.” Yep. Definitely one of those things that make you go, “Hmmm.”

More and more strongly, we began to feel that God had it in mind for us to sell the car rather than just continue to drive it. When that feeling turned into a conviction, I returned to the florist for the desired confirmation. I found it.

“Pastor,” my friend began to share with me, “I was impressed from the get-go that the car was an investment in your ministry. Not only do I agree with you that God wants you to sell it, but I think He wants to do MORE than you expect. There’s more riding on the title of that car than the book value. There’s KINGDOM value supernaturally built in there.”

I was a bit puzzled, but encouraged her to go on.

“That’s not just any car. It’s a special car. From what you’ve told me, it was special to the man who gave it to you. His sacrifice is special to God. And so are you and your church. God wants to bless you with some much-needed revenue. He wants to bless your church with a great testimony of His faithfulness that they can share. And He wants to bless the Kingdom by sending ordinary folks on extraordinary missions.”

Well, I thought, that sounds great, but can one little blue Beetle produce those kinds of results? Then I was reminded by the Holy Spirit that a single grain of wheat produces an abundant harvest, a single seed produces a sprawling apple tree, and a single kernel of corn can feed many. HE is the God of the harvest, not us! We don’t try to figure Him out. We just obey. Instantly.

That same afternoon, two other business owners echoed the confirmation of my florist friend, and I called Dan Tilley to share my thoughts with him. Dan laughed and said he had been given the same message days before and was wondering when to expect my call. That settled it. God was moving and I was listening.

So, brethren o’ mine, here we be. One faithful God. One beautiful vintage auto. One humble servant just following his Master’s orders as best he understands them. We trust that the Holy Spirit has already selected someone to be a conduit of blessing. Someone who has the resources to provide a financial gift far above and beyond anything we would dare to ask. When that happens, no one but God can receive any of the credit. We can’t wait to see the ending He writes on this, HIS story. Amen!

“I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!” (Malachi 3:10)