He started out by asking the congregation what makes St. Andrews different? The answer was that St. Andrews was ordinary. St Andrews didn’t desire to think up new ways of reaching the world, but rather trusted the Lord, through the simple means of Grace that God had ordained, and that the early church had established from the beginning. They devoted themselves to the preaching of the Word, to prayer, and to fellowship.

What happens when your pastor–your faithful pastor of many years–dies?

Many people rightfully wonder about this when incredible men used by the Holy Spirit in special ways, go to be with the Lord. This is a particular concern in our mega-church celebrity pastor era. How in the world will a church survive without its charismatic leader?

But R.C. Sproul wasn’t your regular American celebrity pastor, though he was brilliant. His greatest desire was to know God and make Him known, and his greatest goal was to equip people to worship.

If R.C. was a celebrity pastor, it was simply because he taught his congregation and many around the world how to worship God, and, in thankfulness to God, many people respected and admired him.

In God’s providence, my family planned a vacation near Orlando. Months in advance I had planned to attend St. Andrews Chapel. Little did I know it would be on the first Sunday after R.C.’s passing.

What would the pastor preach on? What would they say? How will the church go on without R.C.?

Pastor Burk Parsons even said it himself while trying to contain himself from bursting into tears, “I don’t feel like preaching today and I don’t feel like singing.”

And yet, the church service went on. The wonderful music played and the service went on as planned. A young man was baptized and the church took the offertory as usual. Up until the last song before the sermon, it would have seemed like a typical Sunday. I was wondering when someone was going to say something about what happened on Thursday and was wondering if someone would say something at all. That is until I looked at Pastor Burk who was sitting on stage during the last song. He was sobbing. And by now, so was I.

Finally, it was time to preach and Pastor Burk, after about thirty seconds of standing in silence as he tried to contain his tears, broke his silence.

He said,

R.C. went home to be with the Lord this past Thursday. He has parted from us and was to us a pastor, friend, and teacher. How God has used him in my life and the lives of all of us, we can’t accurately put into words. He was like a father and more than a friend, he was a buddy. His life and spirit were contagious and as we all feel his loss and as we all struggle through the days, it’s like a dream and it’s shocking.

Pastor Burk went on to describe the last hours at R.C.’s bedside. He and another elder held his feet, to not only keep him warm but to let him know that he had loved ones by his side. He turned to Vesta, R.C.’s beloved wife, and joked, “I’ve never touched his feet before!” She joked back, “I kissed his feet each day when he came home from work!”

As the congregation let out a much-needed laugh, Pastor Burk became serious once again. He told us about how he remarked to R.C.’s family there in the room,

“As I hold your grandpa’s feet, I can’t help but think about how his feet are beautiful feet because the Lord has used him to preach the gospel, and to bring good tidings of peace to the nations!

I thought this was a remarkably thoughtful thing to say; I can’t imagine how encouraging that would have been that day. It brought a lot of us to tears.

As R.C. passed away on Thursday, Pastor Burk wondered what he should do. Once he had decided to go ahead and preach, he wondered what he should preach about. Vesta, R.C.’s wife, quickly said, “R.C. would want you to continue your series, just keep going.”

This proved to be the right choice, and perhaps the theme of the morning.

The passage was Acts 2:41-47  on the first description of the early church.

He started out by asking the congregation what makes St. Andrews different? The answer was that St. Andrews was ordinary.

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