Ken Davis has been the director of Project Jerusalem, a church planting endeavor out of Clarks Summit, PA, for 20 years. More than that Ken has been my pastoral mentor and personal friend for over a decade when I joined the Project Jerusalem team in  2007. This is part 4 of a 5 part series interview with Ken on his cancer journey. This originally was done as an interview Sunday morning at my church, and you can hear the hour-long interview here 

TIM: How has this changed the relationship you have with Sharon your wife?

KEN: Frankly, I could not have made it this far without her support, encouragement, and prayers. We’ve walked this journey together. When we decided from my research I needed to drastically change my diet and eliminate all sugars and sweets, reduce greatly all carbohydrates, and aim for a ketogenic diet, she has found the recipes we needed and searched hard for healthier raw, organic foods my holistic doctor would recommend. And more importantly she basically eats what I eat now.

Above all, by God’s grace, Sharon has stuck with me through thick and thin. Our relationship today is stronger than ever. We’re able to talk about spiritual realities more than ever before. We pray for and with each other more, and take more walks together. When we’re in the car together driving to a weekend engagement or meeting, Sharon often reads to me from Scripture and we’ll talk about the passage.

We’ve read several good books together out loud, like Tim and Kathy Keller’s “The Meaning of Marriage” and we try to discuss and apply what we’re learning. Even though this August we will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary, I think we both agree we’re still seeking to fortify our marriage and are still learning together. We’ve renewed our weekly dates and have come up with a list of six very personal questions we ask each other each week and that has deepened our communication.

You’ll have to ask her how my cancer journey has changed her life, but my sense is that she would agree that life is more precious and we need to be more intentional about enjoying life together.

TIM: How has your cancer journey changed the way you train and disciple leaders like myself?

KEN: It’s certainly added urgency to my mentoring of younger men, knowing that I will not be around forever. I need to focus more on investing in the younger men God has graciously allowed me to coach and serve within our Project Jerusalem family of 11 churches that have been started here in NEPA and Newark, NJ.  

I realize now more than ever that these men will have to carry on the vision to plan new churches in New England. In all likelihood, I’ll never get to realize that dream. I’m thinking more about what legacy I will be leaving here in NEPA, not only with my family, but with the couples and singles Sharon and I have been privileged over the past 20 years to serve alongside. As co-laborers with Christ,  He’s been building HIs church and churches all across this region.

Having stage four cancer has helped me re-examine my own motivation for why we are serving Jesus to be sure it’s out of the overflow of worship of Christ that we are together on mission with Jesus. I so desire now to be sure I’m modeling well, before our church planting teams, what it means to live a sacrificial life devoted to Christ alone. To make sure they all get it, that it’s not so people can applaud us for what we have done, but that all of this is for His Name and Fame. It’s all by His grace and for HIs glory alone, not ours.

Listen to Part I

Listen to Part II

Listen to Part III

Thanks for taking time to read this Maddening Theology post. If you enjoyed this content you can find Pastor Tim’s sermons at www.cornerstoneforestcity.org. You can also join us at 520 Marion St. Browndale, PA 18421 on Sundays at 10:45 AM. To make following the blog easier you can also register. You can also join us on Facebook at Cornerstone Forest City. Also, don’t forget to download our APP on iTunes  or Googleplay.