To Stay Or To Go?

During my urban ministry, I received four calls or invitations to other Churches -- which I did not accept. Three of these were overseas. Arguably, all of these calls made better sense than what I had -- from the human point of view. I knew that staying in the (African) city would be tough. It did not seem an inviting prospect if sparing oneself was the idea, or making material gains. But with each call, I decided to stay because I felt that the spiritual work being done was too useful, in fact too critical, to give it up for something else. OBSERVATION: If I were to make the same decisions over again, I think they would be the same -- because I still think the same way. (There was a fifth call in a sense -- to take on a second Church in the city -- but one ministry demanded my all).

POSTSCRIPT: I miscounted. I declined four calls and accepted a fifth. Post corrected.