{"id":2193,"date":"2018-05-21T22:49:37","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T22:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/?p=2193"},"modified":"2018-05-21T22:57:40","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T22:57:40","slug":"4-essentials-lasting-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/2018\/05\/21\/4-essentials-lasting-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Essentials For A Lasting Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bishop Manuel Pate<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An inheritance is what we will leave to our children and family, but a legacy is what we will leave in them. It is our imprint upon their souls.<\/p>\n

My parents\u2019 imprint on my soul runs deep. Lamar and Mary Alice Pate served together as IPHC missionaries in Zambia and Zimbabwe for 17 years. They pioneered the work in Zimbabwe, physically building and planting seven churches, a Bible School, and three pastor\u2019s houses. My dad, at only 44 years of age, died unexpectedly in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) on September 1, 1972. Mom continued the work in Zimbabwe as a widowed, single missionary for another seven years, serving over 24 years as a missionary in Africa. The call of God to Zimbabwe burned as passionately and fervently in her heart as it had in Dad\u2019s. She never remarried because she said: \u201cI don\u2019t think I could ever find anyone as good as your dad.\u201d A spinal cord injury in 1991 in Zimbabwe, required a medical airlift back to the United States, and resulted in her retirement as a missionary. On August 21, 2017, Mom went home to join Dad in heaven. She had been a minister in the Alpha Conference of the IPHC for 65 years!<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the imprint my parents left on my soul, here are four essentials to leaving a lasting legacy, or imprint, on the next generation:<\/p>\n

Firstly, there\u2019s a thirst for God. David said (Psalm 63:1 NASB): \u201cO God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.\u201d David didn\u2019t hide his thirst for God from others. Neither did my parents; they lived open, authentic lives that were continually seeking and thirsting for more of God. Their thirst for God made me thirsty for God. I wanted to know God like they knew him. They regularly shared the things God had spoken to them, and the miracles they had received in answer to their prayers. God was so real in their daily lives. I\u2019m forever grateful that they included us in their walk with God, and they encouraged us to seek after God in our own lives. Likewise, I\u2019ve endeavored to live this way with my children.<\/p>\n

Secondly, there is God\u2019s loving-kindness. David said (Psalm 63:3-4 NASB): \u201cBecause Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live…\u201d David is writing this psalm from the desert of Judah, a tough-to-survive, inhospitable place. He has discovered that even though life has brought him a dreadful desert, God\u2019s lovingkindness is better than life, bringing him better things to sustain his life! \u201cLovingkindness\u201d translates the Hebrew word, chesed<\/em>, or hesed<\/em>. It means the covenant-keeping love of God that is holy, steadfast, and loyal. It is a major theme of the Old Testament and is translated by numerous English words such as: kindness, loving-kindness, mercy, love, unfailing love, favor, goodness. Similarly, my parents also faced tough-to-survive places! Only eight months into their first missionary term in Zambia in 1957, Dad was bedridden for a week with such a severe case of malaria that he couldn\u2019t even be moved to the hospital!<\/p>\n

At the same time, my mom was confined to the hospital for a miscarriage and hemorrhaging that required surgery. The veteran missionaries, the Guthries, had returned to the United States for furlough, and so my parents were all alone in Africa.<\/span> Thank God for his loving kindness that led a Spirit-filled lady, living nearby, to take care of my two sisters (I had not yet been born) and my dad, cooking three meals a day, while my mom recovered from her weeklong hospital stay. How did they make it? They knew that no matter how bad things were, God would keep His covenant of love with them and would bring them better-than-life things! I cannot thank God enough for parents who imprinted my soul with a God of loving-kindness, and this is the God I\u2019ve tried to show to my children.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, there\u2019s clinging to God. David said (Psalm 63:8 NASB): \u201cMy soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.\u201d My parents would resist being put on a pedestal, as if by their own strength, they overcame the challenges of the mission field. Like David, they learned to cling to God, and it was God\u2019s right hand \u2013 the hand of favor and blessing, power and authority \u2013 that upheld them. In one of the greatest trials of Mom\u2019s life, clinging to God was all she could do! She had a fall in 1991 in Harare, Zimbabwe, and was paralyzed for two weeks, having mobility only in her neck and head. She couldn\u2019t feed herself, brush her teeth, or roll over in bed; internal bodily functions, like her bladder and bowel, were impaired. Two weeks turned into 11 weeks of grueling, debilitating misery, as she was moved to a rehab center.<\/p>\n

Confined to a wheelchair and without much improvement, Mom was finally airlifted to the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota. They performed surgery to relieve a spinal cord injury, and then, Mom went through months of painful rehab. On the morning before she fell, these words jumped off the page as she read her Bible (Jeremiah 30:17 NASB): \u201cFor I will restore you to health and I will heal you of your wounds\u2026\u201d Mom thought to herself: \u201cThat\u2019s strange! I\u2019m not even sick.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0She clung to the Lord and these words of restoration and healing during this grievous trial. She was able to recover all bodily functions and walk again, because the Lord upheld her! Lord, help me show my children that clinging to You brings greater power, than fighting in one\u2019s own strength!<\/p>\n

Lastly, there\u2019s recognizing and encouraging God\u2019s call and giftings in the next generation. David recognized God\u2019s call on Solomon\u2019s life to be king, and he collected the plans, resources, and leaders to help ensure Solomon\u2019s success in building God\u2019s Temple. Likewise, Mom discerned and encouraged the call of God in my life at age 11, by giving me the opportunity to preach my first sermon to a small group of Africans under a shady tree (with the pulpit nailed into it!). The Africans told my mother, \u201cThe spirit of Mufundisi (Shona language: Pastor) is resting on the son.\u201d The Zimbabweans called her, \u201cAmai (Shona language: Mother) Pate,\u201d because she encouraged them in their gifts and callings as her spiritual children. Bishop Jonathan Chatendeuka, the IPHC Superintendent of Zimbabwe, mentioned Mom\u2019s imprint upon his life in sending me his condolences: \u201cBishop Pate, it was with shock to hear the passing away of mum… Your mum did much in my life through teachings and encouragements. Truly may her soul rest in peace…\u201d May we so encourage the generations behind us, in their gifts and callings, that we set them up to advance God\u2019s kingdom far beyond us! That\u2019s a lasting legacy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[520,1],"tags":[510,521,550,318],"class_list":{"0":"post-2193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allgenerations","8":"category-general","9":"tag-510","10":"tag-all-generations","11":"tag-bishop-manuel-pate","12":"tag-may","13":"entry"},"title_es":"Pensando en la pr\u00f3xima generaci\u00f3n","content_es":"Crec\u00ed en una granja a unas pocas millas al sur de Lake City, Carolina del Sur, y solo tengo recuerdos d\u00e9biles de mis abuelos. Pap\u00e1 y mam\u00e1 nos llevaron a la iglesia desde mi m\u00e1s tierna infancia. \u00c9ramos pobres pero no lo sab\u00edamos, y si alguien nos hubiera dicho que \u00e9ramos pobres, nos habr\u00edamos sentido ofendidos. Tomar folletos fue un absoluto \"\u00a1No, no!\". Pap\u00e1 era agricultor y alba\u00f1il, y su educaci\u00f3n termin\u00f3 en tercer grado, y mam\u00e1 pas\u00f3 el und\u00e9cimo grado. Mis padres sintieron profundamente que quer\u00edan que sus hijos tuvieran una vida mejor que la que ten\u00edan. El Esp\u00edritu Santo comenz\u00f3 a dibujarme de joven antes de llegar a la adolescencia. Los campamentos juveniles anuales de la Conferencia de Carolina del Sur dirigidos por Durant Driggers y Jim Crocker fueron cruciales para ayudar a anclarme en la fe. Al crecer, quer\u00eda convertirme en abogado, e incluso descaradamente le dije al Se\u00f1or \u00a1\u00c9l necesitaba abogados cristianos! En mi adolescencia, me enamor\u00e9 de la Palabra de Dios. Para cuando llegu\u00e9 a la mitad de la adolescencia, el tir\u00f3n del Esp\u00edritu en mi coraz\u00f3n hab\u00eda sellado un enf\u00e1tico \"\u00a1No!\" A un futuro en la ley. En cambio, el Se\u00f1or quit\u00f3 mi mano de un arado y un ladrillo, y la puso en una Biblia. Mi maestra de ingl\u00e9s de la escuela secundaria, Bernice Goodwin, me cont\u00f3 lo que se ha convertido en un amor de aprendizaje para toda la vida. Para Evans, HP Robinson y John Swails se convirtieron en mis h\u00e9roes y primeros mentores en la fe. Cuando era<\/em> la pr\u00f3xima generaci\u00f3n, se convirtieron libremente en mis animadores. Por ejemplo, antes de ingresar a Emmanuel College, HP Robinson me dejaba ir a su biblioteca y pasar todo el tiempo que quisiera. Tambi\u00e9n realiz\u00f3 nuestra boda cuando Lu y yo nos casamos. Siguiendo los ejemplos de mis mentores, siempre he querido retribuir a las generaciones que me han seguido. Mis dos d\u00e9cadas de ense\u00f1anza en Southwestern Christian University me han bendecido con esa oportunidad especial, y en mi retiro, contin\u00fao ense\u00f1ando all\u00ed como profesor adjunto. Una de las razones por las que escrib\u00ed, Una Colecci\u00f3n de Historias Cortas Misioneras de IPHC<\/a> para Ministerios de Misiones Mundiales fue una convicci\u00f3n de que no quer\u00eda que esas fascinantes historias de fe en Dios se perdieran para los ni\u00f1os, adolescentes y adultos j\u00f3venes de la familia de IPHC. Mi oraci\u00f3n es que a las siguientes generaciones, en sus clases de la Escuela Dominical, grupos de j\u00f3venes y grupos de j\u00f3venes adultos se les ense\u00f1en estas 18 historias e inspiren a acercarse m\u00e1s a Dios. Es gratificante saber que hay personas altamente capaces en la siguiente generaci\u00f3n que he podido motivar para so\u00f1ar m\u00e1s grande. Uno que inmediatamente me viene a la mente es un par de personas muy capaces a quienes alent\u00e9 a comenzar a trabajar en un doctorado porque cre\u00eda que eran lo suficientemente inteligentes para hacer el trabajo, y se lo dije. Tambi\u00e9n he tenido pastores que me dijeron que podr\u00edan haber dejado el ministerio, pero sab\u00edan que yo cre\u00eda en ellos, y mi confianza los motiv\u00f3 a resolver problemas y seguir predicando. Por Frank G. Tunstall<\/strong>","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/All-Generations-GSO-2018-3.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Bx-zn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}