25 Years of Service

It was the year when the major champions in the sports world were the Kansas City Royals, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Lakers, and the Edmonton Oilers. An 8.1 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico City, volcano "Nevada de Ruiz" erupted near Bogota, Columbia, and American Jonathan Pollard was arrested for giving military secrets to Israel. That same year, 1985, Pastor Michael Harding came to Troy, Michigan to accept the pastorate at First Baptist Church of Troy.

Pastor Harding was born on the south side of Chicago where he grew up and attended public school. At a young age, he started attending Marquette Manor Baptist Church and accepted the Lord when he was eight years old. By the age of 11, he knew that he wanted to be a preacher.

Growing up on the south side of Chicago was quite challenging, especially for a young Christian boy. He had to resist the peer pressures and cultural temptations of city life and life in the public schools (which is much worse now then it was then). In addition, he had to contend with the heartbreak of watching his father struggle with alcoholism; definitely not an easy situation. Pastor Harding's mother had come to be a Christian later in life and was a comfort and strong role model for her son.

Eventually, he graduated high school and in 1974, attended Bob Jones University. He majored in Bible, Minored in Greek, and graduated with honors in 1978. He went on to attain a Master of Arts degree in 1979. From there, he served as youth pastor for Bill Schroder at Oak Forest Baptist Temple. He functioned in this capacity for six years while inspiring many 7^th to 12^th graders to yield to their callings to the ministry while growing the youth ministry to an average attendance of 200.

During his time at Oak Forest, Pastor Harding was considering the pastorate. In his search for a congregation, he had offers from three different churches where he was a candidate for head pastor. He called Bob Jones for advice, telling him that he was considering Troy. The advice he received from Bob ones was not favorable for Troy, but Pastor Harding accepted the position at Troy despite that advise say that he felt there was "a core of believers" at Troy who needed encouragement and leadership.

Since accepting the pastorate at First Baptist Church of Troy on February 24, 1985, Pastor Harding has taken a firm stand on preaching the undiluted, straight-forward Gospel of Jesus Christ. The virgin birth, sinless life, ministry, death, burial, resurrection, post-resurrection ministry, ascension, being seated at the right hand of God, the return of Christ, and the bema seat of Christ are all important elements of the Gospel story.

Ask any one of his congregation and they will tell you that there is something different about Pastor Harding that goes beyond the number of years he has served or the countless hours of preparation and work involved in running his ministry. That something different is that he truly loves his congregation in that he has a deep concern about each individual soul. He rejoices with those who are joyful and grieves with those who are struggling. He has a very generous heart and willingly covers the cost of special events for those who are out of work or otherwise having some type of financial difficulty.

Because of his great love and generosity, his congregation reflects and returns the same toward him as well as other members of the congregation. Five years ago, on Pastor Harding 20^th anniversary, his congregation celebrated by renting the hall at the San Moreno and presenting speakers, slide shows, etc outlining his ministry to that point.

When one of his deacons approached him recently regarding his 25^th anniversary, he said, referring to the previous 20-year celebration, "don't ever do that to me again". Being a modest and humble person, Pastor Harding prefers not to be exalted but would rather have the God receive the glory. He feels that it is not what he says or does that deserves recognition, but what God is doing through him. His wife Jenny also requested that whatever we do, that we "please make it simple".

In honor of their request, the festivities were kept simple this time. Instead of renting the San Moreno, we prepared snacks and light refreshments in the Bethany Christian School Gymnasium. Prior to this, the congregation contributed to a special collection, which will allow the Hardings to take a trip overseas and attend a concert of their choice at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. An additional collection was taken by the youth group, which will go toward dinner at a nice restaurant for the Hardings.

Pastor Ken Ending, who was inspired to enter full time Christian service by Pastor Harding, preached at the 25-year anniversary. His morning sermon compared the roles of pastor and congregation with those of large Navy ships and smaller civilian vessels involved in a World War II event in 1940. The large Navy ships were unable to reach the troops because they could not sail into the shallow waters. So, the smaller civilian boats were called upon to help. Although the smaller vessels were not designed for military purposes and depended on weather conditions, they voluntarily helped the larger Navy ships with their mission and rescued the troops from enemy attack.

His afternoon sermon was taken from Second Timothy, versus 1-7, which encourages pastors to endure as would a soldier, athlete, or hard-working farmer.

After Pastor Endings encouraging sermon, the congregation sang a very appropriate song for the occasion.

"When I enter Heaven's glory; And I see my Savior's face; I will offer Him ten thousand years of praise. Then I'll find that special one; In whose eyes I saw God's Son; And with tears of joy and tremble lips, These words I'll say; I saw Jesus in you; I could hear His voice in the words you said; In your eyes, I saw His care; I could see His love was there; You were faithful; And I saw Jesus in you."

At a time when many pastors stay at the same church for an average of only five years, the congregation of First Baptist Church of Troy expresses warm gratitude and loving appreciation for the long years of service of Pastor Michael and Jenny Harding. If we failed to "keep it simple" it is only because you have taught us too well that we "ought to obey God rather than men" and that our expressions of love and gratitude come "from the abundance of our hearts".

You have exemplified Christ to us in you life and ministry. You have raised your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord as an example to parents. You have loved us even at times when we may have been unlovable. We learn early on as Christians that we love Christ because He first loved us. As you have exemplified Christ for your congregation, we also exemplify our Christian love for you. As with Christ, because you loved us first, we return that love to Him and to you.

Thank you for loving us so. May we continue to strive together, storing up treasure in heaven, demonstrating the love of Christ to the rest of the world through our ministry and service to Him.

More information about First Baptist Church of Troy is available at FBCtroy.org