Sons of faith often follow their fathers into ministry. Sometimes it's because they have been urged into the calling all their lives and sometimes it's because they've witnessed their fathers at their work. In the case of Pastor Steve Misch and his two pastor sons Nathan and Zachary, it was a case of being surrounded by faith in their daily lives. Join Pastor John Cain as Steve Misch explains, "Family conversation has always been centered on the Gospel, and being saved in the faith has been enumerated often, so it's a matter of their following in my footsteps and not on my coattails."

The following program is sponsored by evangelical life

Ministries. Welcome to engaging truth, the manifestation of God's word and the lives of people around us. Join us each week. As we explore the impact of his message of spiritual renewal from the lesson of forgiveness forwards in the crucible of divorce, to the message of salvation, learn earned by an executioner from a condemned killer to the gift of freedom found in the rescue of victims of human trafficking. This is God's truth in action.

Welcome to another edition of engaging truth. I'm your host pastor John Kane from Nacodoches Texas with us today. We've got a, a, um, a dynasty part of a dynasty. We've got the M family pastors, and, uh, there is something about having information ministry handed from one generation to the next, the supports the, uh, insights are something that are a little bit more rare today. I think there was a time when, uh, maybe most pastors were, they started out as the son of another pastor. Uh, now it's a little bit more rare. Uh, so we are gonna talk with, uh, Steve Mim, Nathan, me and Zach mesh. So welcome to the program, gentlemen. Uh, thank

You. Glad to be here.

So for us as Lutherans, we, we talk about vocation. That's a big deal to us, uh, ever since the time of the reformation, uh, recognizing that God has got a plan for us, uh, looking at Ephesians two eight through take, uh, eight through 10 we're saved first. Every Christian is saved for mission to, uh, save for a purpose to do the good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do, not for our own salvation, but to, uh, improve the lot of others to touch others lives with, uh, the good news that we have been saved, uh, through Jesus and Jesus alone. So, uh, gentlemen, what, uh, what would you like to tell me about the blessing that it has been to, uh, be in a family of ministers? Go ahead,

What, I mean, there's a certain, oh, sorry. Excuse, you mentioned the word gospel. How, how important gospel is? Can you define

That for our listeners? Oh, you bet. I remember in fact I can give you an example with my father. Um, I remember, and I don't even know if I've told this to the boys. Um, and I'm talking about Nathan and Zach here, but I, I did something that was just awful. I mean, it was, it was terrible and not gonna articulate that. no, we're on

The air. yeah, I don't hear that. Well, come on dad. I don't hear that

but, uh, but I remember my father dealing with that and, and with me, and there certainly was law and when it all got said and done at the end of it, he stopped and said, oh, okay, any more of this. And we said, no. And he said, good, that's the end of it. That's the gospel that is, is taken care of it's forgiven. And no more to be said, we pressed on, I mean, it was like a living illustration of, of, of the gospel and the, and the, the, the, the recovery that we have, the, the, uh, the, uh, re re um, uh, emerging of, of healthy relationships, all of those things that would exist in the context of the gospel where lived right there.

Right. And, and the gospel then being, you know, God does the same for us, where, where, you know, he says, you know, you've this, we are not gonna speak about it again. It is whatever you have done. It has been handled by Jesus at the cross. And so, you know, for me, grandpa did that for my dad. I remember dad, you did, uh, something similar to that when Zach and I were teenagers, a couple different times, you know, say the thing , um, brothers don't fight, right. I mean, you know, most brothers don't, but, uh, you know, obviously they do. And we too, and I remember a couple times, you know, my brother and I had rooms down the hall and, you know, one time we got an argument, you know, it was a, there was a bit of shouting going on from bedroom to bedroom.

And dad just walked in the hallway and just said, stop, you know, bringing the law. But then ultimately, you know, the gospel coming through, it's like, this is not gonna get between us. We are family. And so that law gospel conversation, even though it wasn't explicit terms was still undergirding kind of the conversation on the whole and that, you know, always has stuck with me. Yeah. Growing up in that environment was evident, uh, law gospel, their expectations. Um, I remember my father once when my, I don't know if you remember this Nathan, but when Nathan and I were becoming teenagers, our dad sat us down and said, all right, your actions directly impact my, our, my ministry. I was like, okay. And so, you know, there, but, you know, but living in that environment, it was very evident. And we could tell that even if there are consequences for obedience, but there is also forgiveness, we knew that,

But it, but it's more than just discipline it's it's truth and not tell you. And I know know both of you guys, as well as myself, as well as my father and, and their parents on both sides, um, are, were interested in communicating true truth as Francis Saffer would say. And, and I think of Malachi four seven in those whole thing, which says for the lips of a priest ought to preserve, not know because he's a messenger of the Lord. And, you know, when we are, are not bringing the message of God's word into people's lives, we're bringing our own opinions. And quite frankly, that doesn't mean anything. The truth that's got to be communicated is the truth that we are, are sinners, and that we are save by grace through faith period. Everything else, um, can be set aside in that regard, Steve,

You quoted, uh, Malachi talking about, um, uh, the lips of a priest and in the, uh, old Testament way of doing things in the Jewish church, we had, uh, Levitical priesthood. So that was indeed a family business. Um, , you know, now you, you, uh, you fellows are, um, in a free country, not, not the Jewish setting. And so, uh, speaking, particularly to Nathan and Zach, was there a time when you considered doing something else other than church work?

So to you Nathan you're the oldest. Oh, okay. Um, sure. Oh, absolutely. Um, until I was a junior in college, I wanted nothing to do with being a pastor. Um, it was just, it, it felt like, you know, this was something that as, as the eldest, one of the things that was never communicated by my parents to me, but still yet, I got kind of stuck in my head that, um, you know, this is just the expectation you follow after what your dad does. And I just, you know, for first 20, 20, you know, 21 years of my life, but really the last eight of that, so 13 to 21 really was very much, I don't want to do this Lord. I want to go do anything else. I wanna make money. You know, , I wanna have a job that paid, gives me a lot of money and I wanna have nice things.

And you know, all this kinda stuff, you know, I've grown up in a pastor's household for generations. You kind of just see that, you know, the Lord provides, but there was a level of like wanting more and wanting more and wanting more in that. And so, so U up until like my junior year in college, um, I did not want to do that. And the Lord kind of got a hold of me and said, nah, you need to go do this. Um, and here I am today. So , yeah, I'd also like to stress this though. I mean, there's a, there was a tremendous amount of freedom for us in our house though, growing up to go and explore or other things. This was not a, Hey go, you know what? We've gotta have an expectation for. There was none of that. And for me too, it was about my, uh, junior year in college.

My first couple of years, I was like, you know, I'm going to test the waters and other things. I mean, being a pastor, I mean, this, this calling or this, this, uh, vocation, but something that was always in the back of my mind, it was like, I would call it always plan C. This was like, okay, I'm gonna try a couple other things. And then if that doesn't work out, maybe this is the way to go. And so it took to about junior year in college to go, yeah, I think this is the direction I am going to explore and see if this is indeed what God wants me to do. And, um, here I am,

You know, one of the things that was true with my family too, growing up is I was at my, my home growing up. And that was, um, when I finally told my parents that I was gonna go to the seminary and I went to the seminary not to become a pastor specific, but to learn more about this God who spoke everything into existence. But when I said, I'm going to the seminary, my mom sat down and she almost broke into tears and said, do you know what you're doing? I mean, cause she grew up in the pars and she understood the, uh, the variances in of pressures that can exist in that context.

So with, with any profession, there are, uh, things that make it work. things that, uh, make it work, not so well, make some things that make it seem like work. Um, you know, so, um, what would you say each of you take a little bit of time? What each of you say to a young person who is considering, uh, entering into the ministry or studying for them?

You know, one of the things that I, that I'm, that I'm thinking about as, as you asked that question is one of the things that we were told, particularly going through the seminary was, you know, have a support network, find people who are gonna support you, who are gonna walk with you, who are going to, um, you know, be, you know, be a guide for you. Um, you, you wanna find you, you don't wanna do this walk alone. If you're considering the ministry, you wanna make sure that you have folks kinda on the, along for the ride. Um, because it's, it is a demanding, I mean, every profession own set of demands, um, and being a pastor is not unique in that, nor is it exempt from that. So you want people to walk along for the ride with you. What I can say is this, though, for sure is that, um, I never really had to think about that.

You know, we're talking about as, as pastors and being in a family, we kind of had that support network in a lot of ways built in, um, because there were kind of a generations level of conversation. Like you, you go, you go to your family reunion and you talk shop in a lot of ways, and that's a huge blessing to have that kind of community, um, some sort of prebuilt and, and sometimes you Yale shop yeah. yeah. Right. And you seek forgiveness afterwards, right? Yeah, that's right. That's right. But, but so for, for folks who are, who are looking to prepare for, you know, prepare for the ministry who may not have that same sort of built in certain network of folks to kinda lean on back to just say, you know, start building that we network, whether you've got your local pastor or, you know, if you grew up with a pastor or maybe you have a new pastor just starting to kind of pick their minds and, and maybe start building that support system in place so that you've got people that you can lean lean on and go back to, um, if you should find yourself as you know, in, in the challenges of doing ministry and needing to lean on somebody else.

Yeah. I'd echo that as well. I mean, for us, it was fortunate that when we grew up around ministry happening and so we already had that in and if you don't have around you, you know, try to connect yourself. I agree with that. You know, other thing I would say is open up first, Timothy, Timothy chapter three, and read through that and say, do I have these qualifications, have others confirmed these qualifications in me? Or the ability to develop some of these qualifications, like the ability to teach, uh, that's something comes with experience, um, these kinds of, of things. And yeah, I'd say, you know, and, and the other thing too, is like, when, when God called me and I'm pretty sure my father and my brother can confirm this too, in their own lives. It just, it was so just kinda happened. And it became, it's like, yeah, this is, this is right.

Mm-hmm . And then throughout our, our time in, in ministry, it's like, yeah, he he's confirmed it throughout our times in ministry. Yep. This is the right move. Even the tough times and the fun times. And so in prayer opened up scripture and then asked the Lord, Hey, is this something I need to go down. And if you're really considering it start walking down that way, he will let you know. Yeah. I mean, for us, we did, we never like hit like nine years old or in confirmation. And we'll be like, I, I, at least, I don't think this is the case for you, dad. I don't wanna speak for you now, but if definitely for my brother and I, we did not get some confirmation and we're like, we're gonna be past, this is it. This is my life calling. I know exactly what I'm gonna do. Um, we didn't hit that. We, it was very much a, a, a kind of, you know, a testing things out and a just kind of, you know, testing the Lord's. What, what are you saying to me? And is this for sure? Um, because you know, it's gotta be his call at the end of the day if it's into his ministry. So I, I completely agree with you, Zach. It rarely happens by the way .

Well, you, you were Zach, you were talking about the first Timothy passage, the, uh, uh, aptitudes or the characteristics for, uh, pastors and, uh, pastoral assistants. And so being apt to teach and, uh, not a violent person, not a Corolla or not a striker, not, uh, you know, an over drink or all kinds of things that would indicate that, uh, the, the, the pastoral office is won. That is, uh, not for everybody. Um, but for, uh, our listeners today who are not, um, perhaps not ever thinking about going into the ministry, but living their lives as Christians in other vocations, uh, quite often they will deal with what we call the inner call, uh, vocation, the VOCA of vocation being God's voice whispering in your ear, telling you what you, uh, what you should do with your life, maybe to be his witness in, uh, other, other career paths. Uh, so what, um, what, what, um, how did that play out in your life that, uh, whisper in your ear? Were there, uh, perhaps events associated with that, that, uh, maybe our listeners could relate

To? That's a tough one, because each one is different. Um, it it's, it's hard to say that there's a pattern. I mean, in, in my case, I had a very good friend who was at the seminary and I had kind of, kind of was just sort of waffling around and, and didn't really know what to do. I was thinking about, maybe I'd taught some confirmation classes at a church. I was thinking about being the organist at the congregation. I, I have a music degree. And, um, all of a sudden I got a phone call for, from my, my friend said, come on down to St. Louis, we can get you in. And it was a two week matriculation process. And I said, yeah, you know what, nothing else is happening. I gotta go. And that's pretty much what it was. Um, and by the way, I matriculated because they only had two organists and they needed a third, I believe to do chapel.

But, but, but that's a unique story. And I don't know how you replicate that. Uh, but what I do do is say lo uh, to, to people who are thinking about this, what in the world, you start to consider what, how God is moving in your life. Uh, what's he, what what's she pointing your passion to and your interest to? And if your interest is just simply, I want to know more about the triune, God, then you can go there and learn more there than anywhere else in, in the, in the world. Um, and, and at that point, then the spirit may draw you in and, uh, starts to say, you know, you wanna lead God's people. Um, if you have a path that doesn't really match up with Timothy, you know, you say, Lord, how do I deal with this? And, and mm-hmm , is it, is it the foot of the cross? And do you then say, okay, we go from this point and we move forward and we move forward in the, in the context of the spirit leading and, and there's health there. So mm-hmm, , that's how I would respond to that, John.

And the older we get, uh, we look back over our shoulder and we see all the places where God opened the door for us, you know, uh, how God kind of guides us. Uh, I think you can see that Steve, that, uh, you know, it, uh, it seemed to you that nothing else was working and maybe that's the way that God works. I, I think that was it in my case as well, that, uh, you know, it kind of closed down options, this one open door and like, you know, what, that's it,

John, I've got, I've got a thought that I'd like to add to this. And that's speaking to pastors who have children, um, who, uh, young men who could go into the seminary because they've been ex they've been, uh, they're familiar with how the rhythm of ministry goes and how, how there are seasons that are packed and seasons that may not be so full of, uh, of, of ministry and, and holidays and all that stuff. One of the things my parents did that was very important. And I think wise was not to bring church conflict into the home mm-hmm and that included local conflict and national conflict. And what I mean by that is they never complained or criticized, complained about or criticized people, uh, at least in front of us or me, and, and as a result, no bitterness in the, toward the church grew in me. And I hope that's the same kind of thing happened with you guys. Nathan and Zach,

I remember, um, we were one of the congregations you were, you guys were at. And, uh, um, we were, we were out taking a walk somewhere and you, you guys would say this happened several, several different times, but y'all would say, go walk ahead. And so we'd get off , you know, you know, we'd get off outta earshot, but not outta eyesight and just kinda our own little world. And as I look back on that, I'm like, I wonder, is this whats going on here?

You still are human. And you gotta deal with things, but not putting your still in a position of hating the church because they feel like the church hated their parents.

Right? Yeah. We don't get that juicy stuff when we'd go visit, uh, grandpa and grandpa . Um, one of the things is you were talking dad about your own experience, the, and, and then John, as you were mentioning your own experience, the same, I would say similar thing for me too, the Lord just kind of shut down doors. And that was just, it was consistent. Okay. I'm trying this door not being a pastor. Okay. Let me try this door and not being a pastor. Okay. That door's shut too. And then, you know, you try a number of doors it's so it's like, well, it's only this one and I've gotten a few kind of hints here and there from other folks that this might be the path I need to try, so okay. Let's try it and see what happens. Yeah. And if I briefly can, um, talk about that too, for me, as it's a little bit different for me, it was always back my mind, uh, thinking, yeah, I think I can do this. Yeah. I think I could do this. And that just kept building and building and building and then it just came. It just was, it was clear to me. Yeah. I should try to do this, but I will re reiterate. And my father said, the reason I went to seminary was to know more, not necessary to become a pastor that comes out of what going to seminary is. But, uh, I was just like, yeah, I'm really curious about, about our God.

We, we at our dinner table would laugh a lot. Uh mm-hmm and, and it would be things that we'd say it was just a lot of fun, but it was also theological and we'd laugh in the theology and have good time with it. Um, so I, I, I think that brought sort of a lifestyle of, we wanna know more, uh, it's just a fun thing to know,

Faith, family, and joy, you know what, what's better. We'll come back to our guests in just a moment. I'd like to, uh, invite our listeners to go to our, uh, radio website for this program. That's Elm houston.org at Elm houston.org. You can find podcasts of our past broadcasts that are archived there. You can find out more about us. Uh, you'll find out that all of our, uh, on the air personalities are volunteers. And so your donations go far to keep us on the air. Uh, we invite you to, uh, visit not only, uh, the elm.org website, but also to jump from there to our, uh, Facebook, Twitter, and, uh, YouTube accounts. So, uh, join us again real soon. We hope, uh, hope to see you there at, uh, Elm houston.org, finally, to our guest, Steve Nathan M God's blessings on your ministry. Thank you for being with us today and thank you for showing us, uh, the power of, uh, faith and family and joy and, uh, living the life in Christ so that we're better prepared to, uh, to share it with others. Blessings. Thanks for having a Hey, thanks for having God. Bless us. Join us again real soon on another edition of engaging truth. Bye.

Thank you for listening to this broadcast of engaging truth. Be sure to join us each week at this time, to help support our ministry, contact evangelical life ministries, post office Fox 5 68, Cypress, Texas, or visit our website Elm houston.org, or find us on Facebook evangelical ministries. You.