January 2, 2012 marked a milestone in the life of my father, Dr. Philip R.Byler. It serves as the 40th anniversary of his ordination into ministry. My dad is the sixth generation of ministers in our family, which makes me the seventh. There is something very special and unique about such a heritage. Many things can be said about it but words cannot truly express the sense of honor and duty that comes with that heritage.
Ministry is not a family tradition. It is a calling. The wisdom of our fathers prevailed in that they did not allow us to be “Momma called” or “Daddy called”. Nepotism was the enemy. My father encouraged both my sister and me throughout our childhood and through our young adult life to be involved in ministry. He granted opportunity for us, just as he did with others. Yet, he also was seemingly a strong advocate against my entering full time ministry, though I did not fully comprehend why. In time I discovered that his actions were forged in a simple understanding. He later explained, “If I can talk you out of it, you have no business being in it. The decision to enter ministry has to be between you and God and NOT based on being the next in line for a family tradition.” It took great courage for my father to lay the legacy on the line and release it into the hands of a young and impetuous son.
As I grow older and look to my own children (also young and impetuous) I have a much greater respect for the strength, courage and faith my father exemplified during those years. It was seemingly just the introductory decision into my life of ministry, yet that decision was the pivotal one. It was the one that enforced the need to have my own relationship and sense of calling with God. It preserved me and protected me. While I carry on the tradition, I am not bound to carry it solely as my father and grandfather did. Instead, he released in me the freedom to carry it as God leads in my heart and direction. It made me a better minister. I am thankful for his wisdom and the love he demonstrated into the launching of my ministry life.
I am also thankful that he is a pioneer at heart. Had he been an explorer, he would have been a Christopher Columbus, or a Lewis and Clark. He pioneered and built from the ground up a number of churches. I have relationships with people from every era of his ministry, who are not only still serving God but function in a leadership capacity in the churches they now attend. It is a testimony of his leadership by example and his ability to stir a passion for God and His Kingdom into the lives of others.
Often times throughout the years, we encountered people who did not understand my father. He always seemed to “buck” the “status-quo". The church at large would be going in a direction and for him the winds would change and he was moving in a different direction; in his own terms, often armed with a compass rather than a road map. Ironically, the direction he was going would always later prove to become a movement within the church in America. He embraced Charismatic faith and led his congregation into it at the beginning of that movement. He embedded into every disciple his life verse, Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.” He was teaching the benefits of the Kingdom when many around us were not embracing Kingdom lifestyle. He saw great healings. In the early seventies, He developed what I believe is one of the first worship orchestras in Charismatic circles. It consisted of pianos, guitars, bass, drums, trumpets, trombones, French horns, saxophones, clarinets, recorders, an accordion, an opera singer and a sixty-seven year old Mennonite woman who played a four string banjo. Yet somehow, it not only worked, it worked so well that people came distances to experience the worship offered by that ministry.
He led his churches through the head waters of the discipleship movement. He taught them the values it brought and was astute enough to recognize the pitfalls and protect those in his care from damage that many others encountered. He led congregations into a great awareness of the need for true missions effort and helped people discover a passion for sharing the gospel to those in need. He took the lessons learned from all of these experiences, authored several books, and became a defining voice in the development of what is now considered the New Apostolic Reformation.
For four decades my father has taken up his cross and followed Christ. He, like the Apostle Paul, has demonstrated how to be abased and to abound. He taught me that those are not opposite aspects of life, but rather, they usually happen simultaneously in life. In other words, we learned that in seasons when we were abased, we were still abounding because of our relationship with Christ and our pursuit of His Kingdom.
My dad is a veteran. When a veteran passes, it is customary to drape his coffin with an American flag. When my grandfather passed, my father draped my grandfather’s coffin with a Christian flag in tribute to the fact that his father was indeed a soldier of the cross. I pray that it is a VERY LONG time before such a decision has to be made, but when that day comes, I believe that I will strive to repeat the same action, for my father is a warrior of the King – he is a soldier of the cross.
In the past forty years, he has poured out his life as a “libation of love” – a drink offering to those who would taste the waters that would allow them to never be thirsty again. He taught us the benefit of preferring others and he taught us that the true blessing of life is found in the living of it. His longevity and tenacity in pursuing the Kingdom and the knowledge of the Holy is not merely an inspiration, but a great testimony of faith. I am thankful for his pursuit, His love for God, His passion for the Kingdom, the love and guidance he as shown to me and to so many others, and for the wisdom of his years. Far from finishing, he is on the path to finishing well, and I hope that when I reach his milestone, my testimony will reflect his.
Thanks for all of it Dad! I love you.
Son,
Timothy
