Faith Works : How Staying Focused On God Defeats Discouragement And Builds A Church

We trace a lifetime of steady faith through early rejection, hard work, and a clear call that never wavered. Prayerful decisions, Scripture-shaped focus, and a church that rallies around the mission turn opposition into momentum.

• the power of calling over criticism
• using Scripture as a roadmap for leadership
• praying through practical decisions
• handling rumors and opposition without drama
• casting vision that mobilises people
• staying on the gospel rather than distractions
• building a culture that protects and encourages leaders
• choosing simple obedience: “Father, what’s next”

Transcript

Welcome And Why Perseverance Matters

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi, and welcome back to the Faith Works podcast, where we believe the Word of God provides us a living manuscript and a roadmap for life. It prevents for us a faith that actually works. I'm Jonathan Lockleyer, and I'm here with my counterpart.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

My name is Tyler Edge, and I have the privilege of being here with both of our pastors today, Pastor Jonathan and Pastor Lloyd. Pastor Lloyd, I have here that you pastored for eight years at the 15 Mile Road Free Will Baptist Church. And then you've been pastoring here at Wood Aden Free Will Baptist for 59 years.

Early Ministry Hardship And Calling

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

I think it'll be very helpful to the people if we speak on perseverance today. I know you said that that's been on your heart a lot. You've been persevering well for so many years. So if I could just turn it over to you, Pastor, and ask you, how has the Lord helped you get through the difficulties that you've gone through?

SPEAKER_00 0:49

When I started there, I was just a young preacher working at the supermarket full time. The church gave me nothing for a while. The older pastor, if I saw him, he would never encourage me at all. He'd say, Hey boy, are they still letting you preach over there? Like that he'd put me down, but God would just lift me right up. There was an older gentleman called Dad Riggs, and I would go to him sometime. He referred me to read first and second Timothy and Titus. And boy, that spoke to Lloyd Locklear. I gleam from that and learn a lawful lot. But discouragement was everywhere. I didn't have family, friends, no kin, and the friends were those who I would lead to the Lord because I only went to the state meeting once a year, and sometimes no one shook my hand. No one seemed or there were some folks who knew me, but they wouldn't acknowledge me. It was a day of step I step on whoever I can to get noticed, you know. So I I was that little boy out there on limb by himself. But it didn't faze me one bit. I remembered who called me. That's right there in Timothy, 2 Timothy, there about verse 8. He called me, he saved me, and called me. And that was two things that was nailed down in my life. And my job was to get active and do my best for the Lord. Yes.

unknown 2:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

And I think that's so important what you're saying there because the reason that you were able to carry through with it is because, like you just said yourself, your motivation was to be pleasing to the Lord, to do what he had called you. You weren't worried about all those other people if they loved you, if they thought you the best thing ever. You just wanted to serve the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Just wanted to serve. Was that your main that was your main motivator that kept you busy and still at stay? And I had no encouragement there. The family

Learning From Scripture And Lack Of Support

SPEAKER_00 2:55

I was rooming with made light of me when I got saved. Later, I had moved and was staying with this gentleman. When I started pastoring the church, they made him a deacon. I didn't, they made him a deacon. And then he came to me one day and said, We will never be back again in this church. It just kind of shocked me. But now God laid his hand on me and said, There, I'm still here, let him go. If that's his wish, I'll be here with you. And I got my head right, you know, and it's just like traveling down the highway. You can get confused a little bit sometimes, get the road map out. And of course, here's the road map for us. Book. We go by the book. And then when you get that nail down, each one of you at times have been out there and then you get it now that this is the road. And boy, hey, off you go. That was me. I've never been alone. I've always had the presence of God. And at night, mommy and I would pray about a matter, and I'd get up the next morning, and I had to answer, yes or no. And sometimes it wasn't me getting up and running and saying, Lord, is it that I just go about my daily shore? And God would say, No, don't do that. And I'd come home and say, hey, no, I said don't do that. Or God said, We can do that. Yes, sir. Even that car would drive in today. I went and looked at it and said, we'll provide it. And God said, Go down and get that car. Go down and get that car. And now we were going to get something later. I told him, maybe we're going to partner back. We done went and bought it, you know. But nevertheless, that was leading. God was leading. And everything just went from there to good to good. And so it is with my life, brother. Raising my five children here in the church. Bruce brought it up from Sunday because he was out here bubbling over about all of it. And he said, Dad, you know. And I said, son, it's wonderful to know you and John come out and raise right here. He said, yes. And he said it was wonderful. You're just bragging about it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

If you have

Hearing God’s Voice In Daily Decisions

SPEAKER_01 5:18

the the voice of God in your life, that counteracts most all discouragement. Yeah, all that. A lot of discouragement comes when we get our ears off the Lord and our eyes off the Lord. And you know what I mean. But when we start listening to other voices, it's easy to be discouraged. Or when we quit looking into this book, it's easy to be discouraged. But I just see this beautiful reassurance that God had. You were so young, but your calling was your encouragement. The other preachers not necessarily were encouraging you, but you knew and God would remind you. God would remind you, I'm the one who calls you. And I would help to recenter you. And you I know you had many times early on in your ministry, but your encouragement has been absolutely supernatural. Will you tell us about the guy who was trying to force you out of the church? And you didn't even know anything about it at first. He, you know, come up with just the usual, and this happens so often. Hey, preacher, people are talking. Hey, a lot of people are saying, tell us about him, you know, the guy in the parking lot, and he wouldn't get out of the car.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Yes, sir. There's the deacon that came knocking on my door. Not one time, but two, three times. Pastor, will you come, will you come be our pastor? After I had gone there. And on that second Sunday, the pastor who was there sat down on the front row. That had to be awkward. No, it wasn't. The old pastor there? Didn't bother me one bit. God. You care. You got to get on my arm, shut me like that, buddy. I said, Yes, sir, Lord. He said, I'd be like That's where you were supposed to be. Yes, sir. He said, I'll be there next Sunday and I'll see you there. You wouldn't miss it. I wouldn't. You better believe I wouldn't miss it. And so anyway, I let him sing with a group there. And then I preach. There's a hole all the way through, and here's the pulpit. Now he's been there all these many years and didn't do a thing. The cardboard was up here. The seat was broken, and the towel was come up, and the ceiling was dropping through. I could see through and see yonder. So God told me that week while I'm working. He said, When you get done preaching Sunday, now this is going to be my second Sunday. He said, Here's what you tell 'em. And I said, I want you to get up. And we're going to beautify it. Well, that Monday, here comes this older gentleman. He said to me, There's a rumbling in the church, preacher. And we got a business meeting coming up. You may think about somewhere to go. It's okay. So I went to pray. And when I prayed, you know what God said? Go visit so-and-so in the hospital. Yes, sir. I wasn't done just what God told me to do. And so he came again. He said, Have you found a place to

Opposition, Rumors, And God’s Intervention

SPEAKER_00 8:15

go? I said, No, sir. He said, You know, this is uh coming up Wednesday night. It's going to be the meeting, and there's a rumbling. And uh, okay. And God never said a word to me, but Lord was he talking to that guy. And so I was up there opening the door, and he drove up and he blowed the horn and said, Come over. So I walked over there. He said, Preacher, you and folks go in there and do whatever you want to do. He said, God's been told he's gonna kill me if I get out of the car. Now I'm serious. He said, My old ticker's been acting up. And he said, I'm not gonna say any more to you. And so he rolled away there and drove and off he went home. And from that day till the day I left, any board meeting, he never opened his mouth. God spoke to me.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Can I ask you, has there been a time of leanness when you've been downhearted or discouraged in the building of the church?

SPEAKER_00 9:21

No, no, sir. Not one time. Not one time. I mentioned this, you know, there was that brother that was put on as deacon, and I told him I said, I'd rather not.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Yeah, you knew the guy was self-centered or wanting a position or self-seeking.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

You could see clearly. Yes, sir. He wasn't that wrestling here. But never one time in all of this building program, he didn't pay his meeting. He came out here and told, Lol, I'm never supporting. You'll never get it done. I said, look here, you go home right now. Everything is fine. I can't wait to preach when I get there Sunday. God fired me up right there in ten minutes. I said, sing two songs and let me preach. It doesn't matter who wants to quit. It doesn't matter. God is with us. And let me tell you, the whole church just rose up, shouting, and I wanted them to hush because I wanted to, you know, preaching. But you know, God, boy, you're talking about God building us up. That next Sunday mor Monday morning, there were 75 people out here. Yeah. Working on this building. Yeah. Preacher said we're going to do it, and we're going to do it.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

You know what reminds me of? It reminds me of Nehemiah. Yes, sir. He was called back to build, and there was a calling on his life. That's right. And your calling has been a great encouragement to you. And there's a clarity also that God had given you.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

You know, some people were in the way, but you see obstacles and they're not important. No, sir. If you're not careful, they can become everything that's important, but really they don't matter because God's called you. Yes, sir. Nehemiah's up there building the walls, and they said, Come on down, let's have lunch, let's talk, let's have a meeting, let's reason with you. But there wasn't any reasoning with Nehemiah because he was already committed.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

And you were already committed. And he she thought he could see through these people. And just like just like you, right now, you hear a little something, it don't faze you. Hey, look here. Man, you're here to do a job for the Lord. And God's called me. And then and there weren't a doubt in it. And let me tell you what now, that building over there was 800,000. The city reminded me of, said Preacher. That's a huge thing. 800,000. Just for that building. He said, I said, yes, sir. In 1972, that was a lot. He said, You're gonna raise it from somewhere. I said, Yes, sir. Money comes from West Virginia, money comes for Tennessee, money come from North Carolina, money comes. Claude would come here on Sunday morning, come and come and empty his pockets and pull them out and just get it. Just envelopes and checks and everything. Yeah. That's right. Lay them down here.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Because people saw a great momentum and they wanted to get behind that. In a sense, you could have

Vision To Rebuild And Leadership Under Fire

SPEAKER_01 12:10

allowed yourself to get discouraged, and that would have in turn discouraged everybody else. Oh, definitely. Right. Look here.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

My job was to keep the light burning. And look here. Let me get up there in the pulpit. That's right. Hey, look here. God's with us. That's right. And we'll work till Jesus comes. And we'll work till Jesus comes.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

That was a song. Yeah. We'll work not just when we feel like it, not just when the sun is shining.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

There's a job to be done. Not just when I'm encouraged. Look here. There's a job to be done. Them doors that were done. And anything else around here. And there'll be something else coming down the pike. Yes, there will. We're determined people. Look here. Don't let anybody discourage you.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

You know, when we see so much to be encouraged about every Sunday, it seems like there's new people every Sunday. Some churches are not seeing new people every Sunday. But you nothing's happening at the altar. Well, you know what encourages me is what people need. Even if the churches, our pastors listening right now and thinking, there's nothing happening at my church. It feels maybe dead. What encourages me is knowing that people need the gospel. Christians need the gospel. Unsaved people need the gospel. Therefore, we need to get up and tell it. You know what I mean? And that just that fires me up. I tell you what, that also is a way to fight discouragement is to stay on message.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Stay focused. Stay focused. Because if you get into every current event and every political issue, and those things are not unimportant. You can get into some stuff that well, it's hard to get fired up about that. But Jesus Christ has died and risen and coming again. Amen. That'll keep you encouraged. Yes, sir. Right. And nor can we crawl under the desk every Monday morning and say, woe is me, the bills are high and the people are mean and they didn't pat me on the back enough. You know, you just can't give yourself to those things.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Never have I gone home and said, I'm going to quit or I'm going to look up in it. And always there was shirt churches that would they would invite me, say, we'd like to have you be our pastor, you know. But no, no. You were encouraged right here. Yes, sir. Oh, yes, always encouraged.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

What I'm hearing from this, just from the outside, looking in at your story, is that you in your life have had many reasons that people would find to be discouraged, but you've just kept it simple by all right, Lord, what is it that you have for me next? Nice and simple. And what I think, and what's so encouraging to me about this, is I think that a lot of times we overcomplicate it when it comes to these things. I think all the way back to when you said that gentleman who was saying things, we have a meeting coming up, we're going to be speaking about you. Your immediate thought wasn't, okay, well, then I need to go and speak with this person. It was just, all right, Lord, what are we doing here? What's happening here? That's right. And that's so encouraging to me. I found this verse here, Ephesians chapter five. It's verse one, nice and simple. Be therefore followers of God as dear children.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Children.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

And that's what I'm seeing, what you're saying to me. There's this beautiful, almost childlike faith where you're saying, All right, father, what's next? All right, father, what are we doing now? And that just seems to be the theme through your whole life here.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Yes, sure.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

And I think that's why you've had so many years of faithfully serving and that lack of discouragement, right? Because how can you be discouraged if you're constantly just saying, Father, what's next? What's next?

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Keep your eyes on the father and that's not on the people. I said to him, I'm gonna be gone for the next Sunday. I want you to preach Sunday night. He got up that Sunday night and said, I am offended at Brother Lockler's preaching. I am offended over his message, and so forth. And so the brothers went to him just as soon as he got out of the pulpit and said, You cannot speak anymore till the pastor comes back.

Unshakable Focus And Congregational Momentum

SPEAKER_01 15:45

And your church people defended yours?

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Oh, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

You've had a long history of being defended, and you know. Well, I guess that comes with being blameless. If you conduct yourself in the right way, it's easy for people to love you and defend you and speak on your behalf.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

You mentioned it a moment ago. And I see it just in this church all the time. We have a church full of people who I feel refuse to allow us to be discouraged. I see that so often where I'll be feeling discouraged over something, or I'll convince myself of something. And here comes an army of these precious ladies who come up to me. I love your family, and you're so precious. We appreciate you and you're so helpful. It's okay, Lord, thank you. I needed that. You knew I needed that. There's this army of these ladies who just want to encourage. And then you're saying that with these men as well, right? Hey, you're my pastors and you love the Lord. Let me serve you.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

And I can say this ain't one thing that I need that there's a need, and then there's a want. Sure. Yeah, I've wanted some things that I thank God I didn't get.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

That's good, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

But and and there's not a thing. And so uh no, sir. I walk out of here and I'm just bubbling over. And it's just good to see my family.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

We've got so much to be thankful for. And thank you for this. Thank you for sharing. And uh thank you.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

I love you and appreciate you and appreciate what God is still doing in the life of the church. You can see him working in so many ways.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Well, thank you for your wisdom and your encouragement. You have encouraged us today, even through your discouragement, you've encouraged us. Would you dismiss us in prayer and we ask God's blessing on us in the church?

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Father, if we look back over our shoulder, we just thank you and bless you for your faithfulness, how you walked along with us, Lord. And you've helped us, Father. You have just met every need in the life of the church. Thank you, Lord Jesus. We thank you. Now thank you for joining. Thank you for brother here and his little family. Oh, bless them, we pray. And guide us in Jesus' name. Amen.