Guest host Pastor Jared Baldwin spoke with Dean and Faith Taylor this week about their ministry, including their contribution to our couples conference.
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Transcript
Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our guest host this week is pastor Jared Baldwin, the executive pastor at Harvest Baptist Church. Every week on this program, we spend twenty five minutes together telling you the stories of our church by interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We’d invite you to join us at Harvest Baptist Church this week. We have two services on Sunday, 08:45AM and 10:45AM.
We offer Japanese and Korean translation during that 10:45AM service, and that’s also when we live stream on hbcguam.org, hbcguam.org. This week, Dr. Dean Taylor will be speaking in our Sunday morning service on how broken disciples can become disciplers from John 21. Let’s begin today’s Harvest Time by welcoming pastor Jared Baldwin. Hi, Pastor Jared.
Jared Baldwin: A hafa adai, Chris. Thank you for that intro. I’m so excited to have our good friends here, Dean and Faith Taylor. We saw your video last Sunday in church, and I’ve already heard a number of people comment on that. I don’t know if we do very many intro videos for guest speakers, but yours was especially compelling because what was the temperature when you filmed that on your back deck?
Dean Taylor: It was at least negative 20 degrees. So it was it was brutally cold.
Jared Baldwin: Wow. So you have a number of people here on Guam that have never experienced snow. Alright? So negative 20 degrees basically sounds like going to the moon. It is it’s almost impossible to fathom if you haven’t been through that.
I’ve recently been there myself, so I know exactly what that feels like. That’s about the temperature it was when I was heading to the airport a few weeks ago. So, well, welcome to Guam. You all got to take the island tour yesterday. Faith, what’d you think about the island tour?
Faith Taylor: It was beautiful. Really enjoyed. I love the ocean. I grew up in the the South Of The United States, and anytime I get to see the ocean, I’m all in.
Jared Baldwin: Yeah. Well, and the ocean here is unique because of the with the white sand and the shallow inner reef water, it’s it’s very blue and kind of aquarium like. Right? So it’s it’s really pretty. Well, we’re glad you guys are here and that you’re able to enjoy a little bit of this.
I want to just ask you first a little bit about your ministry background, and then we’ll move into what you’re currently doing, and then we’ll talk a little bit about what’s happening, the next few days here at Harvest with you guys. But first, why don’t you give us both a little bit of your background that that led you up to where you’re at today?
Dean Taylor: Awesome. I can start us out, and then Faith can share as well. We want to officially greet you hafa adai, and, thank you for including us in, the the ministry of Harvest and in this opportunity to talk about it. We’ve just been here a couple of days. We love it here.
Just beautiful. The people are so, so friendly, and we’ve gotten a warm welcome here at Harvest and on Guam. When I was eight years old, a nine year old friend asked me, Dean, have you ever personally believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior? And I said, No. And he started sharing with me how Jesus died for my sins and rose again, and that I needed to trust Jesus to save me so I could be forgiven and have eternal life and go to heaven.
And it was through that boy sharing the Gospel with another little boy that I came to know Christ as my savior. So I thank God for him. No surprise, he’s now a missionary in South Korea sharing the Gospel with thousands of people. So I’m very thankful for him. And it was really when I was about 18, 19 years old that I completely yielded my life to the Lord to serve him any way that he wanted me to.
And that’s when I became aware of a growing burden for ministry. And since God leading me toward pastoral ministry, so I went to college to prepare for that, and seminary. And then from there, Faith and I were called to a church in the state of Indiana. I served as a youth pastor there for four years. And then we were called to a church in Wisconsin, Brookside Baptist Church, where I pastored for a little over nine years.
And then we were called to a church in South Carolina, Calvary Baptist in Simpsonville, and we were there for twelve years. And it was after that that the Lord directed our steps to where we are now at Faith Baptist Bible College.
Jared Baldwin: Excellent. Excellent. And Faith, what about you?
Faith Taylor: I had the privilege of growing up in a home where I had parents who knew Jesus Christ, and they began to teach me probably from day one about the Lord. And as a young child, I remember being in a church service and hearing the gospel. And at the end of that service, having the very clear thought, I need Jesus as my savior. And although I was young, I have distinct memories of placing my trust in Christ and of riding home that night in the back of the car. I was the youngest of four kids, so I’d get thrown in the back of the station wagon.
And I remember riding home that night and looking out the window at the sky and thinking, I know that I’m going to heaven when I die. That was the beginning of my journey. And then as a pretty young child also, I think I was about eight years old, our church hosted a missions conference where there was an emphasis on people going overseas to other countries. I had to share the gospel with people. And I remember that day saying, Lord, if it’s your will, I would love to be a missionary.
And kinda set my sights on that. Went to college and and prepared to serve the Lord vocationally, either on the mission field or perhaps as the wife of a of a pastor. And although the Lord has never led us to live in another country and be, quote, missionaries, we always have had a heart for that and have really enjoyed opportunities to visit other ministries in other countries and try to encourage and support what God is doing there.
Jared Baldwin: Yeah, that’s neat. You probably wouldn’t remember this, but I met you when you were the pastor at Brookside. I had gotten out of the Air Force, went to Northland as student, a married student with children, and I joined the Wisconsin Air National Guard. And one weekend a month, I would be in Milwaukee. And after my first two years, Thad Todd ended up coming from Guam, from Harvest, back to Milwaukee, and we ended up our desks being right next to each other in the Milwaukee Air National Guard.
And he and Angie invited my wife and I to church to visit your church. And so it was the small building. It was kind of a a a a long, narrow, building, and I remember visiting there a number of times. Sometimes it was because maybe I’d have to wait for the snow to die down on a Sunday afternoon. It’s like, well, I’m gonna be here a couple hours, come to church.
My wife would come down sometimes, like, spring break if we we were there for guard drill. And, so there were a couple times with that. And then met you personally, and you probably really won’t remember this, but, I was working the front desk. I worked in public relations at Northland, and I’d worked the front desk. And in this the one summer I worked, I think it was probably ’98 or ’97, you your church came up for family camp, and, I believe you had a doctor with you, like a ear, nose, and throat doctor or something like that that I had a question about.
I had had some sinus problems or something, and I just was walking across and the doctor was walking with you, and I I knew that you were a pastor down there at Brookside, and, he gave me some advice or something. So it’s a little little flashback memory for me there. But and then, of course, we had the privilege to work together in Iowa. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about what you’re currently doing in ministry?
Dean Taylor: Absolutely. And those connections from the past are so so fascinating and looking back, and I didn’t know you had that connection with the Todds. So, we, in 2016, were, asked to come to Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, Iowa to teach. And so after being in pastoral ministry for twenty five years, we now are involved in equipping a new generation of students to live for the Lord, serve Jesus Christ in their local churches. Specifically, what I do is I am chair of the Pastoral Studies program, and I teach the practical classes related to pastoral ministry, so pastoral theology, homiletics, church administration, pastoral counseling.
Those are some of the core classes. And we have just under 50 young men in the program who are preparing for pastoral ministry. So it’s a great joy to take what God allowed me to do and to learn through the years of ministry and then pour that into the lives of these young men.
Jared Baldwin: That’s great. And Faith, what are you doing at Faith?
Faith Taylor: When we first went to Iowa, I stayed at home, set up the house and helped take care of my elderly mother-in-law. But for the past, this is my sixth year now, of teaching also at Faith, and I teach the women’s ministries courses. So that includes classes on just preparing women to serve in their local church, how to understand a passage of scripture, how to do one on one discipleship with a woman, how to develop or oversee specific ministries to women in the local church.
Jared Baldwin: That’s great. I know that you both probably have a lot of one on one opportunities with students, whether that’s counseling or mentoring. When I was at Faith, I was next door to you, Dean, our offices, and you were so noisy. No. I’m just kidding.
You you weren’t. It was quiet. The whole hallway was quiet, but I always remember walking by Faith’s office always smelling good as well. So you have the best smelling office in the whole building. So, but, no, what a privilege.
Faith Baptist Bible College, as a is near and dear to my heart because of the time we got served there, the time that my kids went to school there, and then, of course, so many friends there. So we’re glad you guys are here. Let’s talk a little bit about what’s coming up. So we have our kind of family oriented conference, which is happening on Saturday, and then we have our just our broader audience of everyone in the church on Sunday, Sunday morning and Sunday evening. So let’s start off by talking, to the couples and and about what your burdens are for families.
Like, when you’re asked to speak at this type of of conference, what are your burdens? What is God laying on your heart to share?
Dean Taylor: The truth that has surfaced in my heart and in our opportunities to minister to couples in these settings has to do with the instruction in Genesis chapter two where God says, They shall no longer be two, but they shall become one flesh. And I started thinking and studying on the idea of oneness in marriage and what that’s supposed to look like and what are some of the forces that work against that in marriages and how to address those. And so the theme that we’ve been sharing is on this idea of oneness and I’ve given it a subtitle Sticking Together When Life is Pulling You Apart. Because when he says, The husband shall leave his father and mother cleave to his wife, they’ll be one flesh, the word cleave means to stick, like super glue. And so we talk about that idea of sticking together when life is pulling you apart, just the circumstances of life.
The great aspects of life, kids and work and even church, the busyness of church life can do that. And of course our own sinful flesh and our pride and the conflicts that come and different conflicting values that individuals in a marriage may have. And so we talk initially about the foundations of oneness from Genesis chapter two and then get into some very practical elements of what does that look like. And we focus on some of the stages of life. So for a newly married couple, a couple with kids, middle aged couple, older couple, what does oneness look like in those stages?
Jared Baldwin: Sure, sure. And Faith, you’re gonna be speaking to the ladies in a separate session. Can you give us a little bit of a sneak peek of what will you be talking about?
Faith Taylor: Sure. I think that for women, often we pursue oneness when we’re getting to know our future spouse and we are dating, and we’re very interested in knowing them and they receive our full attention. And then after marriage, perhaps God blesses you with children, other responsibilities, whether that’s career or taking care of your children or perhaps in ministry. And often our attention then swings to all the other responsibilities of life. And that can often distract us from continuing to pursue oneness with our spouse.
And so we have this calling to, through all of life, continue to pursue that oneness. Another aspect that I think women struggle with is what is our God given role? God talks about our being created to be the completer, the helper of our husbands. And that flies in the face of what our culture tells us. And so how do we think biblically about that role?
And how do we continue to serve and function in that role when that spouse is obviously imperfect, we’re both sinners, and we can get hung up on the sin in that person’s life and feel like why should we submit to that person, why should we follow their leadership. So just addressing how to think correctly about that and what is it that God has called us to and some practical tips for continuing to function as God has called us to and to continue to pursue oneness.
Jared Baldwin: Excellent. Excellent. And then, you know, we have the couples conference course happening this weekend, and, we have record turnout, by the way. I think standing room only. So we, unfortunately, can’t take any more people because it just filled up so much.
I think it’s twice the, attendance of of the last time we had it, and so we’re really excited about that. It’s gonna be a great time at the Westin here. But then on Sunday, you know, we’re having two services, Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and you’re gonna be speaking on other topics. Could you give us a sneak peek into what you’re speaking on on Sunday?
Dean Taylor: Yes. Absolutely. And and just a a comment on what you just shared, how exciting it is that couples see the value in this, and also I’m so grateful that Harvest Baptist Church sees the value in it and the need for equipping couples. Because you can’t just, know, Oh, we’re going to do this and it’s all going turn out okay, or have a romanticized idea of what marriage practical elements of doing it right and keeping that oneness and glorifying God together. So thank you.
Thank you all for your emphasis there. We are looking forward to being in the services at Harvest. We just love to worship together with God’s people and enjoy the sweet singing and warm fellowship and all of that. We’re looking forward to that. And I’m looking forward to sharing the word.
And I do have a burden for just the fact that people sometimes may feel very inadequate or incapable of living their lives for Jesus Christ and then of impacting others for Christ. And we’re all called to not only be disciples but to be disciple makers. But if you have failed in some way, or you feel guilty about past sin, or just your own sense of inadequacy in that, it can discourage you. And Jesus Christ so lovingly, patiently interacted with Peter, who had failed miserably and talked him through steps of renewing or redeclaring his love for Jesus. And then Jesus said, Alright, Peter, go to work.
Go feed my sheep. So here’s this huge failure of a man. And Jesus says, Alright, go feed my sheep. And just an incredible story of God’s grace and mercy and how that applies to us and how we as broken disciples can become disciple makers as well.
Jared Baldwin: Mmm Excellent, excellent. And then Sunday evening, the practice of forgiveness.
Dean Taylor: Yes. We talk about being forgiving to other people, but I think sometimes we miss the practical aspects of what that looks like. So if you say, Okay, I’m supposed to forgive someone, how do you do that? What is the process? What words do you use?
What steps do you take? So it’s going be a very practical message out of Jesus’ words in Luke 17, If your brother sins against you, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times, comes back and says, I repent, forgive him. And so how do we follow that instruction?
Jared Baldwin: Yeah. I’m sure in both of your counseling, you’ve come across, the reality that most people don’t understand what forgiveness even really is.
Dean Taylor: Right.
Jared Baldwin: As a child, maybe they fought with their siblings, so their parents put them in a extra extra large t shirt, and this is this is my forgiveness shirt, and they’re stuck together until they say the words, I forgive you, begrudgingly, and then as if that is it. And so if you ask someone I mean, some people, you know, are are blunt and honest and say, no. I haven’t forgiven that person. A lot of people, if they’re Christian, they’ll be like, no. I forgave them.
But to define forgiveness, how would you guys define forgiveness?
Dean Taylor: It’s a promise. Just like God promises to forgive us and he says, I forgive you, and we take that at face value, when we forgive somebody else, we’re making a promise to them that we are not going to hold that issue or that act against them and we’re not going to bring it up against them, either in our own minds or to somebody else or to them. So it’s a promise to release them from guilt in their relationship with us. Why can we do that? Because Christ has forgiven us and because he forgives them.
So who am I to hold something against somebody else if God isn’t holding it against them and because of all that God has forgiven me for. So it’s a promise to treat them the way that God does.
Jared Baldwin: Yeah. I would expect, and Faith, maybe you’ve experienced this in some of your counseling opportunities, but I would expect there are people that really think they have forgiven, And then something comes up, and then all of sudden it’s like, oh, I don’t think I’ve forgiven. Have you experienced that as you counsel?
Faith Taylor: Absolutely. And I think key in that is there’s an initial choice, an initial decision regarding forgiveness, but then there’s an ongoing decision to forgive. And sometimes, I think sometimes especially women are guilty of this. We kinda keep a running list about the wrongs that have been committed against us by this person. And so the next time something happens, we’re just adding it to the list.
And a verse that’s been helpful to me is second Corinthians ten five. And I think in the context, it’s talking about worship. But I think it applies to this area. It talks about casting down vain imaginations and every thought that exalts itself against the glory of God. And what’s happening in my mind is key because that ends up controlling my emotions and my words and my actions.
And I have to, by God’s grace, rein in my thoughts and put off those thoughts when they reoccur. And perhaps continually be making this decision, no, I am choosing to not hold this against this person and letting it go and renewing my mind. Perhaps with the positive things about this person, I remember a point in my life when I went to the store to purchase a birthday card for a person in my family. And have you ever experienced this where you pull out a card and you read it, can’t say that, and you put it back and you pull out the next card, can’t say that, pull it back. And that happened to me.
And I I was standing there in the store. I was like, oh my word. I have a root of bitterness towards this person. And I remember leaving the store
Jared Baldwin: There’s no card that says what you Exactly.
Dean Taylor: Just came up in your
Faith Taylor: Exactly. And I just remember beginning to ask the Lord, Lord, I need you to do a work in my own heart of renewing my mind towards this person by thinking about and thanking God for the positive things about this person and the way that this person had shown love to me and the way that God had used this person in my life. It was a process of months of every day when the negative thought would come of of casting that down and of thanking God for how God used that person in my life. And God, over time, renewed my mind about that. And I think that’s really a key to forgiveness.
Jared Baldwin: Sure. Sure. Well, I know that the best messages come out of the overflow of what God’s done in our lives, and then we share that with others. So it’s not just a academic pursuit, but this is something that, you know, you just shared. There’s there’s things that you’ve experienced and then God’s worked in you, and now you’re able to share that, along with God’s word.
Well, we appreciate you guys coming out here. I know it’s a big sacrifice to leave the 40 below weather in Iowa. Absolutely. But, no, it is. I mean, it can be a grind for those listening to, you know, someone has to kinda hit the pause button.
The work probably doesn’t actually stop back home. You you load up. You change 16 time zones and five climates, and, you know, you’re in a whole new ecosystem and then have to hit the ground running and then be just kinda on. I don’t know if that term makes sense to everyone, but you’re just kinda have to be on on your a game to be able to share, to be able to feel well enough and have the presence of mind to share. And then inevitably, what’s gonna happen is people are gonna come up and and want to talk to you more, and and you got to be ready for that.
And so we’ll be praying for you guys as as we go through this next couple days because you’re gonna have a lot of ministry opportunities. You’re touching on each one of these are divinely appointed, gonna help many, many people. And not just in the immediate, but also as we take this content and we share it over and over again through the radio and different things like that, I can see God using this over and over again in our ministry. So we really appreciate you guys coming out here, and we kinda laugh about it being a sacrifice, but it is because, you do eventually have to get back on that plane and go back as well and reenter that atmosphere and that time zone. And so we do appreciate it.
Thank you, guys.
Faith Taylor: Thank you.
Dean Taylor: It’s a joy. Yes. There’s work involved, but we love it. We really do. And again, you guys have made it so smooth for us and all your gracious hospitality.
We pray for God to use these messages and conversations in people’s lives in specific ways. We’re always amazed at how God answers those prayers and people say, that’s what I needed. And that’s why we’re here. We praise God for that.
Jared Baldwin: Absolutely. We know the Lord will use it.
Chris Harper: Well, thank you for listening to today’s Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we always just want to invite you again to services at Harvest Baptist Church. There are two, one at 08:45AM, the other at 10:45AM. We offer Japanese and Korean translation at 10:45AM, and that’s when we livestream as well hbcguam.org, hbcguam.org. And Dr. Dean Taylor will be preaching this Sunday.
We hope to see you there. Thanks again for listening to Harvest Time.