Meet the Team: Michael Guyer

This post is part of a series called "Meet the Team" introducing you to our Generation LINK staff. We hope it will help you get to know Generation LINK staff members serving around the country a little better.

Tell us a little about your bio (studies, work experience, family, etc.)

I am originally from Fayetteville, Arkansas. I came to know Christ as a teenager in high school. God began changing my life and giving me new desires for him that I never could have imagined. One of those desires was to serve him in full-time ministry. That desire took me to college at Liberty University. It was in college that I met my wife. I graduated a year before she did and moved to Dallas, TX. In that year, I convinced her to move to Dallas when she graduated. In what was unplanned by us but definitely God’s plan at work, we ended up moving to Wake Forest, NC four months after Emily moved to Dallas. God provided a job at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and shortly after we arrived we connected with Open Door Church. During our time at Open Door, Emily and I grew as a couple, were invested in by other godly couples, and were married on March 5, 2011. Our daughter, Amelia Ruth, was born on October 30, 2013. It has been an incredible journey welcoming her into our lives. We are loving being parents, serving together in ministry, being a part of community at Open Door, and reaching others with goods new of Jesus Christ.

In addition to the serving as the Generation LINK Raleigh Area Director, I serve as the Minister to Students at Open Church. I have the joy of investing in middle and high school students as well as college students. Before coming on staff at Open Door, I worked in the president’s office at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I served in various intern roles throughout college and my first years of seminary at churches in Arkansas and Texas. Outside of ministry my most interesting job was my first job as a door-to-door newspaper salesman for the Northwest Arkansas Morning News. Residents couldn’t resist my charm and good looks.

I  completed my undergraduate degree at Liberty University and an M.Div from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I am currently working on a PhD in Biblical Studies at Southeastern. I desire to serve the church by helping God's people understand their mission and carry it out in this world. I am excited to be a part of equipping the next generation of disciple makers through the local church.

What does Generation LINK look like at your church/location?

Currently, we are in the beginning stages of developing the full potential of Generation LINK at Open Door. We currently have one GLINK Resident—Paul Whitfield—who is being equipped and serving on our staff at Open Door. Paul functions as a church planting resident and serves primarily under our Lead Pastor, Dwayne Milioni. Paul has and is helping us establish a pattern and plan for training and equipping future missionaries, church planters, church planting team members, and pastors. We are looking to add both male and female GLINK residents in the coming two to three years. Generation LINK functions in two primary ways at Open Door: 1) an initial equipping and service opportunity for seminary and post-undergraduate students who desire to serve the church in some capacity in the future (1-2 years) and 2) a capstone equipping opportunity for church planters and missionaries before they are sent out from the local church.

How have you seen God use Generation LINK in your location?

God has used Generation LINK in a number of ways at Open Door. Three significant ways are: 1) GLINK has strengthened our training and equipping strategy. 2) GLINK has opened up and deepened partnerships with other like-minded churches and church plants. The value of GLINK is measured not only by its impact within our own local church, but in relationship to the other churches we are able to serve through partnering together. 3) GLINK is allowing us to invest in future leaders, pastors, missionaries, and church planters in a strategic way. Open Door has been committed to this vision before GLINK came into the picture, but GLINK has allowed us to do this even more intentionally through the residency.

What excites you most about the future of Generation LINK?

I get most excited about the potential of training men and women for the sake of gospel, some of whom will be faithful church members and reach their communities with the gospel, others who will be pastors of established churches, and others who will be church planters to unreached and underserved cities and communities in North America and around the world. Generation LINK is the tangible vehicle for this actually coming to fruition. It allows us the opportunity to invest in those God has entrusted to us and is an invaluable opportunity for our residents to be equipped and sent.

What 2-3 books have been most formative in your walk with Christ?

This kind of question always makes me a little anxious because I either can’t remember some of the books I’ve read or I start think about all the books I wish I had read. Here are a few that I remember reading and that I am grateful for doing so:

Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J. I. Packer. This book grounded by passion for sharing the gospel in the confidence of God’s sovereignty. Knowing God’s sovereignty should not dampen our passion to share the gospel, rather it should make us bold, patient, and prayerful. God taught me through this book that successful evangelism is being faithful to the gospel (both its message and its invitation) and trusting God with the response. In fact, in the process of writing this blog post, I had the opportunity to lead one of our students to Christ. I think I might just need to go back and read this one again!

Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper. This book hit me like a ton of bricks when I read it. I probably underlined 80% of the book. I didn’t quite know what God was going to do with my life after I read it, but I knew I didn’t want to be counting seashells—I didn’t want to waste my life but I wanted to spend my life for the sake of the gospel among the nations. I think I read a few mission biographies around this time as well, which contributed to the work God was doing in my heart (John Paton by James Paton, Five Who Changed the World by Danny Akin, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya by Ruth Tucker). “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Downpour by James MacDonald. I’m not sure who gave me this book, but God used it and the biblical passages it walked through to teach me the true weight and offense of my sin and the nature and joy of repentance. I learned that repentance not only marked the beginning of the Christian life but characterized the entirety of it.

I commend any of these books to you, but know that their contents will not allow you to stay the same!

What are your favorite things to do in your free time?

This is an interesting concept—free time. When I do get a little free time, I love spending time with my wife and our daughter. If I’m not spending time with them, I enjoy reading, a round of golf, hanging out with friends, going to a good coffee shop, and I even enjoy doing a little work around the house.

What is your typical coffee shop order?

If I am not feeling snobby—a grande black coffee from Starbucks with room for cream (but only because they fill the cup up so much that it spills over and burns my hand). If I am feely snobby and have a little extra cash, I go to the hipster coffee shops and usually order a pour over of some coffee that I can’t pronounce (typically, it’s from Africa).

Michael Guyer

Here's My YES!

As Valentine’s Day approaches every year I get excited. I have an incredible wife of eight years whom I love dearly. But, there is also another reason I get excited about February 14^th. On this day in 2003 the Lord began a transforming work in me that I have a hard time even comprehending. On that day he got my “yes.”

As a young man, even as a Christian, I became discontented with the church and lost sight of the gospel. My heart grew cold and I persistently gave Jesus my “no.” I was entirely stiff-necked and unyielding. I set my mind to head in the opposite direction God was leading. I decided that I would fight against his wooing and drawing more than any man alive. I thought I was tough. I thought I was strong. But, he was always there….no matter where I went….seeking, wooing, and patiently waiting. The knowledge of his love was inescapable. But, I stumbled along for five long years. I tried to escape into drugs and other sinful pursuits which left me utterly miserable, empty, and powerless. Sin never delivers what it promises. I thought one day I would be too messed up and he would quit his pursuit of me. Luckily, he never gave up. He never quit.

Then, came Valentine’s Day and suddenly the thought of saying yes entered my mind. A close friend reminded me of the graciousness of our mighty God. And, I simply said yes. God turned my heart and I said YES! After church that Sunday I felt incredibly light and free. Jesus took all the heavy burden of the unconfessed sin I had built up over the past five years and threw it as far as the east is from the west. In an instant it was gone. I floated out of the church overwhelmed and completely enveloped in the awesome and abundant grace of God who never, ever abandons his own children to the awful, deadly power of sin. I thought my battle with sin was over….I did say yes…right?

I was naïve and had much to learn about the gospel. I had no idea the war that awaited me. Paul’s words are true in Romans 7:22, 23. “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” This is a war. No, I am serious this is a WAR. I carry the enemy with me everywhere I go because he is me. I have kept pressing on, only because of his grace and forgiveness, only because he died for me. I have won some battles and lost some. The one thing that remains constant is a relentless God who has promised my transformation through the gospel in the context of his church.   

I think about Isaiah seeing this incredible vision of the Lord on his throne, high, and lifted up (Isaiah 6). Maybe this was the first time Isaiah really began to understand the vastness of the gap between God’s majestic holiness and his own wretched sinfulness. We all say with him, “Woe is me!” Then, the Lord showed his mercy and grace to Isaiah. The seraphim touched his lips with the burning coal and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6: 7).

At this point Isaiah probably felt light as air like I did eleven years ago. The power of the gospel triumphs over every single sin and frees the most dreadful of sinners. Grace super-abounds to those God has called out of darkness into marvelous light. God in his amazing grace declares us FORGIVEN based on the atoning work of Christ Jesus on the cross. How can we not rejoice? How can we not, then, proclaim his excellence? How can we not cry out with Isaiah, “Here am I send me?” His gospel made visible through his church is absolutely worth every single “yes.” This war all believers are engaged in is entirely worth the fight because he is worth it. He gave his life so that we might be free. My “yes” was only made possible by the death of God’s precious Son.

I am very grateful for the last year of serving Open Door through Generation-LINK. I am a different man today than I was a year ago. I am more equipped and ready to give my life for him and his church than ever before. I am ready and willing to go wherever he leads. There is no better place to invest my life than in his church. GLINK has provided me with the on the job training that has given me the confidence and faith in God that he can take a guy like me and use me to build his church.

So, who has your “yes” today? Whether you are wrestling with an issue of forgiveness, repentance, church commitment, missions, church planting, a ministry project, or whatever else he desires for you will you pray this prayer with me and just let God work out the details. I trust that he will.    

Lord Jesus, here is my “yes.” It is yours I don’t want it any longer. Please help me to give it to you every single day. When I take it back from you please graciously discipline me so it will return to its rightful owner. Please take it and do with it as you wish. You are worth it and I trust you. Wherever you lead I’ll go. I can do nothing else. My answer is YES!

Only by his grace,

Paul Whitfield

  

Meet the Team: Paul Whitfield

This post is part of a series called "Meet the Team" introducing you to our Generation LINK staff. We hope it will help you get to know Generation LINK staff members serving around the country a little better.

·         Where did you graduate from and what did you study?

o   I graduated from The Baptist College of Florida in 2008. I graduated with a BA in ministry.

·         What led you to do Generation LINK?

o   When I heard that there was an opportunity for greater discipleship and service at Open Door I was immediately interested. I had my “yes” on the table before I knew very much about Generation Link. As I learned more about the program I knew this was just what I needed.  

·         Which location and what areas of ministry do you serve with through Generation LINK?

o   I am serving at Open Door Church in Raleigh, NC. My primary area of ministry is pastoral assistant to our lead pastor, Dwayne Milioni. I also led the first Summer Link at Open Door, administrated the NACPF Unite: 2013 church planting conference, and I have the joy of leading a Care Group.

·         What are you most excited about in your area of ministry?

o   The best part of my job is working with Pastor Dwayne. It has been great to learn from a seasoned pastor. I have gained much wisdom from serving at Open Door under his leadership. I also have really enjoyed serving NACPF church planters at the Unite conference. I am thankful for their hard work and sacrifice for the sake of our great Savior and his glory.

·         What 2-3 books have been most formative in your walk with Christ?

o   Let The Nations Be Glad—John Piper

o   The Enemy Within—Kris Lundgaard

o   Humility—C.J. Mahaney

·         What are your favorite things to do in your free time?

o   I love to spend time playing with my kids and hanging out with my wife. My sweet wife and I love to have friends over to our house for fellowship and meals. I also enjoy playing golf when I have the opportunity.

·         What is your typical coffee shop order?

o   I like light roast coffee. Black.