Lessons Learned Through a Medical Crisis

In this podcast, you’ll be inspired as you hear John share:

• How God used his illness to strengthen his faith and ministry;
• What encouragement he offers to those who do not see healing in their future;
• How the medical crisis impacted his marriage; and
• How God miraculously healed him.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Leith: Some would say that a theology of suffering is under-developed in the American church and among American Christians. I’m not even sure how I would imagine you would answer this, but if you had a theology of suffering before all this and then after all of this, how do they compare?

John: Well, I love the question, and I embarrassedly admit that as a pastor of 25 years at that point, I really didn’t have a theology of suffering. I was an American, middle-class, white guy that had things pretty easy and had come my way. I hope I had some empathy for people in crisis. We certainly did a lot of good things at the church for those in various life stages of crisis or pain, but I was more of an outsider looking in.

So yes, passages of Bible that I once used as inspired Scripture but never really sank into my soul suddenly began to find their way of nourishment and profound feeding for me. Isaiah 43 is kind of a classic where God says, “I’ve summoned you by name; you are mine. I’ve redeemed you.” And the very next verse says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; they will not set you ablaze.”

We just look at it and say, “Great! God’s going to be with us.” Well, look at it more closely. His summoning us by name, his redeeming us is not a guarantee that we’ll never have rivers and fires. We will have his protection in the midst of them. We’ll have his presence, but we do go through deep waters and very difficult places as his children. So, it’s not a pass from suffering. It’s a strength to pass through the suffering as a deepened person.

I was speaking at a men’s retreat in California a few years back, and I gave this story. A guy in a wheelchair about my age rolled up to me and only said one sentence then rolled on. He said, “John, don’t you feel bad for people who’ve never suffered?” And I thought, “Wow. I get it now.” I didn’t then but there’s a shapening and deepening that comes. That’s all part of this theology of suffering — understanding the presence of God in the midst of very difficult times. And yes, I had to wrestle through that.

Share the Love

If you enjoyed the program, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That will help get the word out and raise the visibility of the show.

Relevant Links/Resources

• Christian & Missionary Alliance
• Books by John Stumbo

John Stumbo has served as the president of the U.S. Christian & Missionary Alliance denomination since he was first elected to the position in 2013. Most of his 35 years of ministry have been as a pastor, including at Salem Alliance Church in Salem, Oregon. He has written three books, “God in You: A Conversation,” “In The Midst: Treasures from the Dark,” and “An Honest Look at a Mysterious Journey.” He received his B.A. in Bible and theology from Crown College and his M.A. in missiology from Columbia International University. He earned a D.Min. in leadership and the emerging culture from George Fox Evangelical Seminary.

Leith Anderson is president emeritus of the National Association of Evangelicals and pastor emeritus of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He served as NAE president from 2007–2019, after twice serving as interim president. He served as senior pastor of Wooddale Church for 35 years before retiring in 2011. He has been published in many periodicals and has written over 20 books. Anderson has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, and is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, Bradley University and Denver Seminary.