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On this episode of The Lead On Podcast, Jeff Iorg, president of the SBC Executive Committee, shares his enduring lesson that “God provides”— recounting personal stories and biblical examples from his fifty years of ministry of trusting God. He encourages leaders of all ages to rely on God’s provision, no matter the size or scope of their calling.
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Ready to hone your leadership skills and unlock your full potential? Tune in to the Lead On Podcast, where Jeff Iorg dives deep into Biblical leadership.
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From effective communication and team building to strategic decision-making and fostering innovation, each episode is packed with valuable lessons and inspiring stories to empower you on your leadership journey.
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Welcome to the Lead On Podcast. This is Jeff Iorg, the president of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, talking with you once again about practical issues related to ministry leadership. Today on the podcast, I wanna talk about a simple lesson that every ministry leader must learn and frankly, for most of us, relearn several times over a lifetime. The simple leadership lesson is this, God provides. Now, this has been a consistent challenge for me over my lifetime.
Jeff Iorg:One of the patterns of fifty years of ministry is that I have never been in a ministry context that had significant resources to spare. I have always, whether it was in my first church, church planting, serving as a state convention leader in an emerging region, or at a seminary trying to make it in California. I have always faced significant financial challenges at every step along the way in ministry leadership. And now I've come to the executive committee, and I came here at a time when the executive committee was experiencing significant financial stress because of past decisions made by the Southern Baptist Convention and some by the executive committee. It's my responsibility to lead us through this financially challenging time and get us back to a healthier financial position.
Jeff Iorg:But my entire ministry, almost fifty years of it, has all been against the backdrop of having to trust God to provide. Now along the way, I came to grips with the reality of this and frankly made peace with it. And I accepted the reality that I was always going to be one of those people who had to live on the edge of need, always asking for and depending on God to provide. Now, one of the funny stories about this happened when I first went to Gateway Seminary. Now, in spite of the challenging situations I've lived through, I've always also had a reputation for frugality and for careful management of ministry resources.
Jeff Iorg:And so when I went to the seminary, I met my new chief financial officer. His name was Gary. He's a life friend. In our first meeting, said, Gary, I have some hard news for you. We will never have enough money.
Jeff Iorg:He said, Oh no, mister president. Now wait. We manage carefully. We always take care of our bills. We always make sure we have a little bit of a cushion.
Jeff Iorg:I said, Woah. Woah. Woah. I'm not talking about your management style or even my management convictions. I'm talking about this hard spiritual reality.
Jeff Iorg:You've just hired a president who has a life pattern of having to trust God to provide. And the reason that it's important for you to understand this is because God is not going to relent in this pattern of my life because he wants to teach me perpetual dependence on him. I am by nature an arrogant person that likes to be self sufficient and make it on my own way.
Jeff Iorg:And God has consistently thwarted
Jeff Iorg:those efforts, stymied my self sufficiency, and forced me to depend on him. So I said to Gary, that's what I mean. We're never going to have enough, and we will always be praying for and trusting for God to provide. And I'll count on you to account for and manage everything we have in the best way possible. So Gary and I had a little laugh about it that day because he finally realized what I was saying.
Jeff Iorg:And then we formed a partnership and worked together for about fifteen years of really a good relationship in managing the resources that God allowed us to have.
Jeff Iorg:But nevertheless, the pattern of my life is that I have to trust God to provide.
Jeff Iorg:And you know, I've discovered that I'm not so unusual in that. It's highly likely that you are in a ministry situation today where there's more need than there are resources, and you find yourself continually having to trust God to provide. Now, as I've studied New Testament leaders and particularly the life of Peter, I discovered that this was a common theme that Jesus had to reinforce in Peter's life as well. Early in Peter's relationship with Jesus, he started learning this important lesson that God provides. Jesus seemed to teach Peter this in in several ways, but I'm just gonna highlight two of them that happened at Capernaum early in their relationship.
Jeff Iorg:Well, the first one is early, and the second one is in the same city, but later in in the relationship. So Jesus had launched his teaching ministry, in the Capernaum synagogue, and and after one service, he he went to Peter's house and healed Peter's mother-in-law. Now through this experience, Jesus taught Peter an early and very important lesson. You know, as
Jeff Iorg:a family man, Peter had family responsibilities. And through healing his mother-in-law, Jesus showed Peter that he would and that he could meet the practical needs of his family.
Jeff Iorg:This has been one of
Jeff Iorg:the most amazing and rewarding aspects of my life of following Jesus and my life in ministry leadership, and that is how the Lord has
Jeff Iorg:consistently met the practical needs of our family. You know, a few years ago, my oldest son had gotten old enough that he was out on his own and making his own way and learning what it cost to actually live as an adult in our world. One day, he said, dad, I I I wanna tell
Jeff Iorg:you something. I don't know how you did it. I said, do you mean? He said, I I I I don't know how you did it. I I don't know how you raised three children, took care
Jeff Iorg:of our financial needs, handled our medical challenges, took care of all of our school expenses, bought the braces when we had to have them, and then ultimately even even helped send us to college. I I don't know how you did that.
Jeff Iorg:I don't know how you did that on a minister's salary all these years. Well, I said, I don't know how he did it either, but I do know that we trusted God and that somehow he provided. That was a wonderful conversation because it gave the both of
Jeff Iorg:us an opportunity to celebrate God's provision in our lives to meet the practical needs we have had as a family. Now Peter, in the story that I was just recounting, had recently given up his fishing business and was now, with Jesus as an itinerant disciple and minister. As Peter considered leaving his fishing business behind, he he he may have wondered Do you do you think he may have ever wondered,
Jeff Iorg:how will I care for my family? How will I care for my mother-in-law who's sick and weak? How am
Jeff Iorg:I gonna make it if I don't
Jeff Iorg:have the fishing business to support me? So Jesus used this healing opportunity of Peter's mother-in-law as a teachable moment to settle this issue for Peter. He was saying to him, the lesson is clear. God provides for ministry leaders. He meets their personal needs.
Jeff Iorg:Now another incident also related to Peter that confirmed God's provision also happened sometime later near Capernaum. Peter was asked to pay a temple tax but questioned the legitimacy of doing so. Jesus told him to pay the tax, but in an unusual turn of events, promised to provide the money
Jeff Iorg:in a really remarkable way. He told Peter, go down to the sea, cast a fish hook, get this, not a net, a fish hook to catch just one fish. And in its mouth, there was gonna be a coin provided the amount needed to pay the tax for both Peter and Jesus. Now, by any measure, this is an incredible, remarkable means of provision. Here are the instructions.
Jeff Iorg:Go catch a fish, open its mouth, take out a coin, pay the tax. Man, Jesus is trying to make a point, and I think Peter probably got it. Jesus will provide in often unusual ways to meet the needs of his leaders. You know, ministry leaders are no different than other people. We have practical responsibilities, including financial obligations.
Jeff Iorg:Now the time demands of leadership coupled with the often minimal compensation for ministry leaders makes meeting these practical responsibilities challenging. But Jesus promises to meet our needs when we follow him. Now, just like Peter, early in my ministry, I had some remarkable experiences in which God confirmed to me very clearly, I am your provider and I will meet your needs. You know, in our first church, it was a relatively small church and it was a working class congregation, and my salary reflected my context, and so my salary was was modest. We lived paycheck to paycheck back then.
Jeff Iorg:I was supporting a preschooler and a stay at home mom,
Jeff Iorg:and and, it it was it was it was tough. We we we were living to the dollar almost every month. And then one morning, our refrigerator quit. Now, an older gentleman had been visiting our church a few times and had been coming at
Jeff Iorg:the invitation of his banker and and a friend of his and a member of our church, a fellow named Ken. So soon after I met this man who'd been visiting our church with his friend Ken, was also his banker, the gentleman was diagnosed with cancer and hospitalized in a terminal condition. So Ken, believe it or not, his banker took time off from work to care for his friend. And as a part of that, I visited this gentleman several times in the hospital over a several week period of time. He passed away the same morning that our refrigerator conked out.
Jeff Iorg:So I told Anne, this is gonna be a very busy week. This gentleman has died. I'm gonna be really occupied with caring for him and for his family. And so here's what
Jeff Iorg:I need you to do. Just go buy some ice and pack the baby's formula and other essentials that we have in a cooler. And tomorrow or maybe the next day or maybe the day after that, after the funeral, I'll go
Jeff Iorg:out and try to find us a used refrigerator. I thought maybe if I can find one for 25 or $50, I can pull that together and I can I can buy something? Now my wife, she's amazing. No complaining. She agreed and said, I'll take care of it.
Jeff Iorg:So she went out and got some ice, packed the baby's formula and some priority food items in a cooler, and we decided that we'd make the best of it. Well, I spent that rest of that day dealing with the death of this gentleman and helping Ken with his grief and starting the process of conversation about funeral arrangements. Well, another day went by and and and then another day went
Jeff Iorg:by. We had the the service, and it was
Jeff Iorg:a meaningful time, but I was still stressed by what was going on at home with now a couple of days with no refrigerator. As that, service ended, Ken said to me, hey. Can you come by the bank? I I need to see you, and I need to
Jeff Iorg:see you there. I thought, man, you gotta be kidding me. As busy as it's been
Jeff Iorg:this week and time I've already spent with you. But, yes, I I assumed he was still grieving and wanted some personal time, and the bank was a a comfortable place for him. He was an officer there with an office, and and it would be a place we could sit down and have maybe a private conversation, which he had really not been able to have with me. So, of course, I said, yeah. I'll come by as soon as I can.
Jeff Iorg:So a little later that day, I swung by his office. And Ken welcomed me in and said, hey. Listen.
Jeff Iorg:Thanks for coming by. Thank you
Jeff Iorg:for what you've done for my friend and for the man that you cared for in these last weeks. But he said, reason I needed you to come by today was, even though he wasn't a member of our church, he really appreciated the way you cared for him in these last weeks of his life. And so before he died, he wrote out a check to you and asked me to give it to you immediately after his death.
Jeff Iorg:Well, I was shocked. It had never even crossed my mind that this gentleman would pay me for the care I was extending to him as a pastor. But Ken handed me the check. Now remember, this was in the mid nineteen eighties, and it was a check for $500. I could not believe what I was holding.
Jeff Iorg:So I called Anne and said, hey, change the plans on the refrigerator, You know, get things pulled together. We're we're going to the store. And we went out that that afternoon. Man, how can this still bring tears to my eyes these years later? Almost forty years.
Jeff Iorg:But we went out and we bought a brand new refrigerator for $495,
Jeff Iorg:and we marveled once again at God's amazing, miraculous provision in our lives. Now in our family, we call this the refrigerator story. And at different seasons in our lives over the last four decades, and at crucial moments in ministry when need has exceeded supply. I found myself praying a prayer of something like this, God, you remember the refrigerator story, how you came through for us that day? Well, God, we need you to come through again.
Jeff Iorg:Kids need braces, school supplies have to be bought, Christmas is coming. There's a
Jeff Iorg:family need that we need to take care of with our parents or with our
Jeff Iorg:siblings. Lord, there's a need at the church. We need a building to
Jeff Iorg:be built. We need a staff person to be hired. We need a ministry to be started.
Jeff Iorg:Lord, there's something at the seminary. We need another faculty member. We need a program to launch. Lord, remember the refrigerator story, how you provided a long time ago? I'm asking you to do it again.
Jeff Iorg:So just like Peter had the story of his mother-in-law and that fish, I've had my refrigerator. Whereas a young pastor trying to provide pastoral care to a non member who was visiting our church, trying to support a Christian church member who was doing the right thing by one of his friends, God stepped in and said, I know you've got a need. And before you even know what you're gonna do about it, I've already got it taken care of.
Jeff Iorg:And he sent us that check that day. Over the years, we've tried to remember other stories. We've got a little catalog of them in our family. We've tried to remember God's stories of provision so that we can make sense of of how God is taking care of of us and try to explain when there's really no explanation how we've always had enough. You know, sometimes it it was clear like this story I've just told you, but other times we've looked at each other and and looked at our budget and looked at our bills and looked at the money that we have, and somehow it all took care of itself, and we've wondered, how did we just do that?
Jeff Iorg:Well, it was through a combination of God's protection and God's provision. God only has not only kept our family fed, clothed, and sheltered, but I'm grateful to say he's even provided a few additional resources over the years that have made it possible for us to take a vacation trip or two and have some special things that have meant a lot to our family over the years, and particularly some experiences we've been able to
Jeff Iorg:have together. This phrase, God provides, is an important lesson for younger leaders and a continuing lesson for all leaders.
Jeff Iorg:You know, for many years, of course, I was at the seminary, and I watched many seminary students struggle by on limited means. They're working part time jobs, maybe somehow working also in a church, trying to go to school full time and get their training so they can get out in the ministry in a in a more robust
Jeff Iorg:way. Watching them, it amazed me that they seldom complained. They seldom complained.
Jeff Iorg:They they seemed to know that young adulthood is a season of emerging responsibilities and also a season of learning to trust God. And and for many of them, was also a season, now get this, of learning to trust God for themselves rather than trusting in other people who were trusting in God. You know, it's one thing to trust God and have your parents or someone else step in and take care of your need. But there's a point in time when you become the adult, and you're no longer trusting God by trusting others who are trusting God on your behalf, but now you're trusting God yourself. And it was such a privilege to watch seminary students, these young adults going through that season of life where for the first time, they were coming to grips with the reality that they had to trust God for themselves.
Jeff Iorg:And I watched them do it. And I saw over and over how God came through. You know, one student once told me,
Jeff Iorg:Doctor. Ords, you won't believe what happened.
Jeff Iorg:I said, Well, what? He said, Well,
Jeff Iorg:our car broke down. I thought, Okay. He's gonna ask me for a benevolent gift, we've got some money set aside at the seminary. We can probably help him, but that's not what
Jeff Iorg:he said. He said, Doctor. Ord, you're not going
Jeff Iorg:to believe what happened. I said, What happened? He said,
Jeff Iorg:Our car broke down. Then he said, On the same day, on the same day,
Jeff Iorg:I went to my school mailbox and there was a check-in the mail from a family back in our home church that just said, God prompted us to send you this. We don't know if there's a certain need, but whatever it's needed to pay for, just put this money toward it. The check was almost the exact amount of the car repair. Man, God provided. And the little smile on his face and the brightness in his eyes, all I could think of was refrigerator story.
Jeff Iorg:Isabella's having his own refrigerator story. He will always tell
Jeff Iorg:his children and his churches and other believers of the day that God came through when the car broke down and the check was already in the mail. Listen, God wants us to learn this important lesson. No school curriculum teaches this one. God provides. Now while learning this lesson early in ministry leadership is, is essential, it's really an ever ending process.
Jeff Iorg:You know, Jesus, at the end of Peter's life, reminded him again of his provision. He told Peter, go find a man with a water jug and follow him to his house and tell the owner that we need a place for a meal with the disciples. And voila, room and provision for the banquet were miraculously provided. Listen, my friends. No matter the need, Jesus will provide everything necessary to accomplish his purposes.
Jeff Iorg:You know, the broader your leadership responsibility, the more money it takes to fund the enterprise. The more children you have, the more money it takes. The bigger the church, the more money it takes. The bigger the seminary, the state convention, or the Southern Baptist Convention, the more money it takes to fund the enterprise. Every time a ministry advances, it requires funds to enlarge its work and then sustaining funds to keep it going.
Jeff Iorg:And the larger the scope of the ministry, the more money is often needed. You know, back in the days when I first started out, all I needed was one refrigerator. That's all I needed. Now my responsibilities demand much more. You know, at one time, I I thought I would eventually grow to
Jeff Iorg:the point where I would no longer worry about money, and I would no longer have
Jeff Iorg:to ask God for resources. I thought I will eventually discover the key to always having enough and to funding whatever ministry I'm leading,
Jeff Iorg:but it never happened. It just simply hasn't.
Jeff Iorg:And I've now come to accept the reality that God doesn't want us to have all the money needed, personally or professionally, in my family or in my ministry. God wants us to trust him in the moment to provide. Now, by keeping us on this growing edge of trusting him for provision, he accomplish es several objectives. First, he hones our spiritual edge and keeps us spiritually sharp. He also controls the timing and the pace of ministry.
Jeff Iorg:He makes it clear it's his ministry, and he makes it clear that he will not share the glory, that he will provide, and that he will provide in such a way that he gets the glory for what happens. And this kind of brings up a corollary issue, that is God provides for what he wants done and when he wants it done.
Jeff Iorg:God provides, and by doing that, spurs ministry along, but he also withholds provision to keep things on his timetable. Now, while I
Jeff Iorg:was at the seminary, I had a very dramatic example of this. So during my tenure, I wanted to start a Chinese English bilingual program. We had a Korean English bilingual program, and I felt a great need in California and on the Pacific Rim was for a Chinese English bilingual program,
Jeff Iorg:and we attempted to start one to no avail. Now to start
Jeff Iorg:a new academic program requires a significant outlay of cash. You have to be able to hire professors and fund the program for the first two to three years while you're building the enrollment. Now if you're building a program that is one that's really needed, after two or three years, the enrollment will sustain the program. The the tuition revenue and other revenue that comes in will meet the needs. But those first two or three years, you have to have significant startup funds, particularly to hire faculty.
Jeff Iorg:So I knew that to launch the Chinese English bilingual program would take about $500,000. And you may say, man, that's a lot. No, not really. You think about hiring two or three faculty members for two or three years, and you can see quickly that that money goes away really fast. Well, I was asking God for the money, and the answer was always no.
Jeff Iorg:I asked donors for the
Jeff Iorg:money, and none were willing
Jeff Iorg:to give it. Now at the same time all this was going on, the seminary was also going through the prolonged trial of its land development complex, ultimately then leading to its relocation. So all the time that's going on, I'm pushing for this Chinese bilingual program, and it's not happening. We finally got the seminary moved, and we're fully operational in Southern California. During the first semester that we were there, we had a massive service of dedication along with a public gala with a banquet and other kinds of events to celebrate the grand opening of Gateway Seminary in Southern California.
Jeff Iorg:As a part of that gala experience, a number of our donors came and other supportive friends that were part of
Jeff Iorg:the event. Well, when it ended, a donor came up
Jeff Iorg:to me and said, I know you're busy and I know you're exhausted, but I wonder if before I leave town in the morning, I could come by and talk with you about the possibility of a gift to help the seminary. And I said, well, certainly. So the next morning, he came to my office and said, I've been listening over the past months and actually couple of years, to your appeals about the need for a Chinese English bilingual program?
Jeff Iorg:And I said, yes. And he said, how much will it take to launch the program? I said, it'll take about half a million dollars. And he said, I think we need to get that done. I'd like to make that gift.
Jeff Iorg:Now when he said that, I thought this is just like God to come through at just the right moment. You see,
Jeff Iorg:the hard reality is if we had started that program in the Bay Area and then had to transition it to Southern California, or if we had tried to start that program while we were also in the midst of this massive relocation, the program would have been hurt by all the change and all the uncertainty that was going on around the seminary. But the day, the day that we publicly said, the relocation is complete. We're here. We're operational, and now we're focused entirely on the future. That very day, God sent a person to my office and made that gift.
Jeff Iorg:And today, the seminary has a robust and thriving Chinese English bilingual program. Why? Because God resourced it at the right moment to spur it along, and God held back the resources at the wrong moments to keep us delayed and get us on his timetable. God provides, but he also withholds provision to keep things from happening. Now, I once preached this theme in a lengthy sermon at Gateway Seminary, and afterwards one of our students came up and said, I can summarize your message in five words.
Jeff Iorg:God's will is God's bill. And I thought, that's exactly right. What took me forty minutes to say he said in five words, God's will is God's bill. He will come through with the resources when he will something to take place. So today on the podcast, I hope you've learned this important lesson.
Jeff Iorg:God provides. He will structure your circumstances in your life and ministry to make sure that you have to trust him to provide. He may limit your income, increase your family demands, broaden your ministry responsibilities, and enlarge your vision. But by all these means, he's going to create financial tension that only he can resolve. God is teaching you this important lesson he provides.
Jeff Iorg:You need to learn this lesson as a young leader. Keep learning it over and over as your ministry leadership responsibilities expand, and continue to trust God over a lifetime of ministry leadership. If you're a young leader, I hope you have a refrigerator story. I hope you have your own story of how God has come through for you a significant way early in your life and ministry and I hope you hold on to that as a reminder that God provides. You will often wonder, where's the money going to come from for our lives and for our ministries?
Jeff Iorg:You'll wonder, how do I support a family? How do I resource a church? How do I fund a seminary? How do I pay for all that a denomination is doing? These are legitimate concerns.
Jeff Iorg:In fact, I was with my head bowed this morning praying and asking God for his provision to expand the work of what Southern Baptists are doing all around the world. It's an ever ending responsibility we have to trust God who provide. So ministry leaders, if you're young, learn the lesson. If you're maturing or older as I am, keep learning the lesson. Trust this great reality God provides.
Jeff Iorg:Live that truth. Trust God for his goodness and his timing. Let that two word phrase echo in your mind as you make decisions today about the ministry that you're leading. Remember, God provides and he does so as you lead on.