To the Saints who Bear Much Fruit

07Nov

Dr. David E. Draper’s Celebration of Life service took place in Findlay, Ohio at the Seminary building this past week, on Saturday, November 2nd. The day before was, quite appropriately, All Saints Day.

Many of our churches provided brief videos or announcements, sharing names, pictures, and snapshots of those faithful church members and congregants who we’ve lost in the last year. Faithful brothers and sisters, spiritual mothers and fathers, mentors and friends who’ve gone to be with the Lord, and whose legacies we now have the privilege of unrolling and reading like a scroll.

Dr. Dave’s Celebration of Life service can be found online at UFTV’s YouTube page, here:|
Celebration of Life Recording

During the service, multiple speakers talked briefly but meaningfully about the witness of Dave Draper, and how he and Linda changed life after life. One of the most beautiful quotes was from Urban Light Pastor Joe Carpenter who said, “The fruit that Dave’s life is bearing is lasting fruit because Dave embraced and lived out the command to love each other.” By “lasting”, Pastor Joe meant the fruit is bearing itself out in the lives of the people Dr. Dave loved. By “lasting”, he meant the disciples Dr. Dave made and the people who have been molded and shaped by his influence.

These last two weeks were filled with numerous stories, both orally spoken, and keyboard inscribed, nesting deep into hearts and minds the legacy of Dr. Dave Draper. We shared some on our own blog (and new tributes have trickled in even after our post went live.) See here: Dave Draper Tribute

There is no shortage of people who have been powerfully impacted by Dr. Dave Draper.

But we can’t say that about all our leaders, secular or Christian. Many people are terribly disillusioned with the very concept of leadership. This is, perhaps, supported by the substantially fewer people who voted in the 2024 general election in comparison to 2020 (the votes are still being counted, but it’s difficult to imagine those remaining votes could tally up to the estimated 16 million vote differential between 2024 and 2020.) Too many leaders have pulled a fast one on us and made us feel like fools for believing in them. Too many have had atmospheric rises just before meteoric falls.

The same is true with the church. There are lists, long ones, of disgraced pastors. If you buy books about Christian leadership, the odds are good that one of the names on the books’ spines is a once influential leader who has since fallen from grace (and who has probably repented, moved to another church, and is now doing fine).

Given this, how wonderful and lucky are we to have faithful believers with sterling reputations to learn from and aspire to? How fortunate are we that God has placed among us the Dave Drapers of the world who do not grow and wither in a single season? Very! Rather, God has seen provided us people of faith who bear fruit that lasts. As Pastor Lezlie McCrory said, “That is a faith worth inheriting and that is a faith worth passing down.”

We have an obligation then, not just to the Lord, but to the Saints, that “great cloud of witnesses” that the author of Hebrews talks about. Beginning with Abel, the letter to the Hebrews details how the ancients have passed down their faith, inspiring the next generation.

Now the next generation stands before us, and as we reflect on the lives of good and faithful servants, we must consciously choose those qualities we will inherit and those we will pass down, that we might be authentic Christian people who can restore confidence to those disillusioned with the faith. That we might be worthy of the charges God has placed upon us. That we might continue to bear fruit, even after we've passed on into the next life.  


CGGC eNews—Vol. 18, No.  46

CGGC eNews

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