Background History on Randy D'Alessandro

Well, good afternoon! Good to see all of you. My wife and I are so happy to be able to be here today and this weekend, and we are very much looking forward to moving into the area and pastoring a church that I know has been well-loved, well-shepherded, well-cared for in so many ways. Certainly, we appreciate the message I've heard already today. Appreciate the special music. It's gone so well, I might as well just say Amen, but it's all dismissed. Brendan, one of the things that you and I do when we're studying God's Word, the Bible, is we want to make sure that we understand the context of what we're looking at.

The Bible is a tremendous tool that God has given to us. Our God is a great architect, the great designer of the universe. He's also the great architect and the great designer of this book we call the Bible. Every word is put there for a purpose. Every word has deep meaning. We want to understand those words and understand them properly. Certainly, context is one of the things we need to appreciate whenever we're studying the Word of God. That is also true when it comes to us as human beings.

If we want to understand one another, we need to understand the context. So I thought today what might be interesting for you, or at least helpful for you, is to understand the context of the life of your pastor. I will be your pastor starting June 1st. I'm looking forward to being here on site as of June 1st. I would like very much to go through a little bit about my life, my wife's life. I'll let you know who we are, and I think that will help you as I give sermons in the future for you to appreciate where I'm coming from.

Now, I don't want to insult anybody's intelligence, but I know people do have an issue with my last name, Delisandro. Let me spell that for you phonetically. Not the way it's really spelled, but phonetically, so you won't have a problem with it. Phonetically, it's spelled D-E-L-A-S-A-N-D-R-O-W, Delisandro. Or other people simply call me Mr. D. And I answer to either one. I was born in January 1952 in Detroit, Michigan. Detroiter born and bred, lived there most of my life. A little bit about my family history. My father was born about 90 miles to the east of Rome, a little town of Barggiano, Italy. He was born in 1922. And Barggiano, in 1928, as a six-year-old, he did the whole Ellis Island routine, coming to our country as a six-year-old.

He faced a lot of discrimination back in those days as an Italian. World War I wasn't that far over. And there were several times where his teachers would put him in front of the class, make him speak Italian, and then make fun of him. So we know a little bit about prejudice from that point of view, and that lasted for many years in his life.

My mother, on the other hand, her maiden name was Moore, M-O-O-R-E. Mom was born and raised in this country, and certainly her family has been in this country since the 1700s. Over the course of the years, I'll be with you. I'll discuss more about them, and they're shaping my life. My parents were a tremendous blessing to me. My dad was not a religious man. He came to services one time with me and my youth, relative youth.

I gave my first sermonette – dad was there to hear my first sermonette. He was able to last 15 minutes, and then after that was done, he was gone because he needed to go outside and smoke a smoke. So 15 minutes is about all he was going to be able to handle.

My mom was very religious, and over the course of my youth, we went to a number of different churches. More about that in a few moments. I did have one older brother. He is deceased. He died of a heart attack when he was 36 years of age. Heart disease does run in my family. Both my grandfather and father died at age 55, my brother at 36, my uncle at 58. Of course, you're probably aware that back in August I had a quadruple bypass. I'm doing quite well. Probably doing more than my doctor would like me to do, but things are going quite nicely for me.

I have one sister. Her name is Katie. She lives and goes to church with United over in Cincinnati. My wife's name is Mary. She is someone you know and love, many of you in any way. She was a part of this congregation for about six months, many years ago. I have joked back in Michigan about whenever the time comes for me to be transferred, they'll be happy to see me go, but Mary stays there. Certainly that was the case. Not only have I been pastoring Ann Arbor in Detroit, Michigan, but I also help out in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

They're pastors of four-hour drive away, so I go over from time to time. Actually once a month to speak there. When it was announced that I would be moving to Chicago here, the lady said, we don't want to see Mrs. D leave. Of course, we had one of our deacons there, and they said, it's just the way he said. They don't want to see her go, but she's gone.

She's going to be coming here with me. One son and one daughter, Brandon, is my son. He's age 34, Danielle's age 31. They are from my first marriage. We'll talk a little bit more about that in a few moments. When I was 15 years old, I grew up, as I may have mentioned, my mother and I and my sister went to a lot of different churches, a Baptist church, Presbyterian church, Methodist churches, a lot of different churches over the years.

When I was 15 years old, I was listening to a baseball game, and it was not very interesting, changed channels, and I heard Garner Ted Armstrong on the radio. He was coming out of a station from Canada, CHYR in Leamington, Ontario. And as a 15-year-old boy, I was listening very intently to what he was saying. He was making mention of the fact that God's existence can be proven, the Bible can be proven to be true. He was talking about the United States and Britain and prophecy, and it really piqued my interest.

So after the broadcast, I ran downstairs. I was up in the attic, ran downstairs to talk to my parents about what I had heard, how excited I was. Dad was totally non-plus. Mother was a little bit excited. But after a while, she wasn't excited either, especially when I became a 15-year-old evangelist. I'm sure some of you understand that. Some of you probably did the same thing. I came to see, as I read the Plain Truth magazine, that the work had a three-pronged program, radio, the PT magazine, and personal evangelism.

So at every opportunity I had, I tried to get my folks to listen to the radio broadcast. I tried to stuff the PT under their nose. And, of course, I did evangelism. Now, what that got me is thrown out of the house on a number of occasions. It did not go well. But 17 years later, in April of 1984, I was able to baptize my mother into God's church.

And it was an interesting experience because after I had baptized her, I was kind of standing off to the side and smiling. My mother said, well, what are you smiling about? I said, well, Mom, for the first time in my life, I've had a chance to lay hands on you.

But one thing I do want to make mention, especially to our young people, you know, I know that as you're growing up in the church, there are many challenges that you face. Certainly, there are challenges of wanting to be on the high school and junior high school sports teams. I was there. I was able to letter in football and basketball. I was able to play first string football and basketball when God called me as a 15-year-old.

I realized the team I wanted to be most on was God's team. And so I made it a point to go into my coaches and tell them I no longer played football or basketball. I was going to be keeping this thing called the Sabbath. And they didn't understand that, and that was okay. They didn't need to understand that. I understood it, and I wanted to make sure that I was obeying God as a 15-year-old.

Now, my parents would not allow me to attend church, and so all I was left to be able to do was read the church's literature as I was able to do that, give the local pastor, Alan Mantoyful, a phone call, ask him how to keep the Sabbath, keep the Holy Days, when the Holy Days were, that sort of thing. Most of the time I never was able to get in touch with him. He was normally out visiting somebody, so I was able to speak with his wife, Mrs.

Mantoyful. And 20 years after this point, I was relating this story, and she was there at the feast when I was relating this story. That was the first time I ever got a chance to meet her. And so it was really meaningful to me, as a young person, to be able to reach out to somebody and talk about God's way. And for you young people, God can work tremendous miracles in your lives as you stand for God.

As you stand for God, God stands for you. And the Bible is full of examples. There are many examples of young people who rocked their age group, rocked the society in which they lived, as young people. David is an example. You know the story of David and Goliath. Josiah, as a young king of 16, turned a nation on its ear as he began to obey God's holy days. And God, of course, blessed him. Back in Michigan, I'm going through the book of Daniel.

And of course, you've got the story of Daniel himself as a 15-year-old boy, uprooted from his family. His nation defeated in war. Thousands of people murdered. Thousands of people deported to Babylon. And of course, as a young person, they wanted to take Daniel. They gave him a new name. They wanted to give him a new language. They wanted him to be everything Babylonian. But he resisted. And he resisted with a great deal of wisdom as a 15-year-old. And as a 15-year-old, God blessed him and blessed some of his associates who came to be known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

All young men, all young nobles of Judah. And yet God worked mightily through them. Let's take a look at Daniel 1 for a moment. As we go through some of the things I've experienced in life, I do want to draw some lessons. I don't want this just to be about me. Daniel 1. Verse 1, In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand.

One of the main themes of the book of Daniel is the fact that God makes and unmakes rulers and kings. And of course, this year is a presidential year, and people are wondering who's going to be our next president. Well, God's going to determine who our next president is going to be. People will vote. They will have their passions.

We see that already. But God is going to determine, just as God did here, who's going to be our next ruler. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Sheinar, to the house of his God. And he brought the articles into the treasure house of his God. Then king instructed Apchbinaz, the master of the eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king's descendants and some of the nobles.

Now, when we read that, most scholars would tend to think, you know, that's Daniel. That's Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve the king's palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldean. In other words, they were going to try to brainwash these young people. And again, to our young people, I say, the world today wants to brainwash you. Satan very much wants you to think a certain way.

But you're so fortunate. You've got moms and dads in the church. You've got grandparents in the church. You've got peers in the church. And they can be there to help you through the trials you go through. Verse 5, But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's delicacies, nor with a wine which he drank.

Therefore, he requested the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Now, I'm not going to take the time to read all of the story here. I think you are very familiar with the story. There was a test run between what Daniel was going to eat and what the others were going to eat.

And Daniel and his three companions won that trial. They stood for God, and as they stood for God, God stood behind them. So one of the lessons that I learned as a young man coming into the church without my parents, without anybody that I knew, was that I was going to stand for the things of God. And certainly, you can do the same thing, young people, and God will bless you so richly for that.

And you're so fortunate. I could have only wished that I had parents who were attending the church, or grandparents, or peers. I didn't know when I was back in the 1960s, I didn't know that you could get a letter and present it to a teacher so you wouldn't be marked down in class. I just simply had to take zeros and incompletes and things like that. But I don't want you young people to think I wasn't concerned about academics, because I was always on the honor roll. I always made the National Honor Society, and I graduated from high school with an A average. So I very much appreciated and wanted to be good at my studies and was. But I wouldn't let anything get in the way of obeying God.

So, from age 15 to age 18, I was not allowed to attend services or talk to anybody. At least, my parents didn't know, but I did call the pastor and the pastor's wife from time to time.

But I applied for Ambassador College in 1970, and I was accepted. And my acceptance letter, which I have on file to this day, was really interesting, because my acceptance letter said, Randy, you can come to Ambassador College if your parents say you can come. And of course, my dad said, you're not going.

You're not going. And for about three weeks, that's the way it stood. And finally, I had a heart-to-heart with dad, and he said, well, okay, you go out there to Pasadena, and it's going to take a big man to admit when you're wrong. But three weeks from now, I want you to call me, and we'll make arrangements for you to come back home to Detroit. So three weeks later, I called my dad, and he said, well, are you ready to come home?

I said, nope. Nope, I'm doing quite well out here. Thank you. But prior to going out to Ambassador College in Pasadena, the pastor said, you know, Randy, before you go to college, it would be nice if you went to church one time.

And so on August 22, 1970, I attended my first Sabbath service. And it was interesting. I don't know that you could have met a more backward person than me, a more shy person than me. And as I walked in, I was kind of fearful of walking into a group of God's perfect people. I realized that, you know, these are people who know about the Sabbath and the Holy Days, and they are perfect people!

So that particular day, I spent a lot of time in the washroom, hiding myself and being shy. But there was one incident I didn't want to relate to you, and that is when I was walking in the door, we had a deacon there by the name of Bob Wilmoth. Bob had a horrible stuttering problem.

Bob asked to be a door greeter so he can work on his stuttering problem. And when I walked up, I wanted to shake his hand and get in there and hide. So what took place is Bob grabbed my hand, and it probably took him 15 minutes to say hello. He was stammering so bad, but he was going to get that hello out.

And I wanted to get out, but he made it a point to do that. The reason I bring that story up is because years later, Bob had accomplished his goal. He had beaten the stuttering problem. He became a Spokesman's Club president and one of the best speakers we had in the Detroit area.

Because he worked at it. Life presented a challenge to him, and he wasn't going to let that challenge just go by the board. He took the challenge, he embraced the challenge, and he was able to be successful with that challenge. But there in that first service, I didn't bring a Bible. I didn't know you were supposed to bring a Bible to church. The other churches I went to, you didn't bring a Bible. My Bible at home was one of those little ones with the cardboard edges and the red edges on the paper. But I sat between two men who were going to Ambassador College who were...

One was a junior and one was a sophomore. And I couldn't believe their Bibles. Huge Bibles! I mean, I would open my Bible if I had it. I would open my Bible, it would be a little thing. They opened their Bible, it was one of these big deals, you know, with the wide margins and all the writing and all that. They're writing in their Bibles. I'm thinking to myself, is this allowable?

Doesn't the revelation say something about writing in the Bible? They're adding to the Scriptures. But Art Mercaro was speaking that day and he gave a sermon on August 22, 1970, Live Life to the Hilt. And if you know who that gentleman was, you can appreciate how good a sermon that would have been. So I went to church on August 22, 1970. August 23, 1970. I was an Ambassador College Pasadena. Four years' worth and graduated in 1974.

I'll tell you a little bit about my conversion. You know, I thought that I had built a firm and solid foundation as I was in my teens, reading everything I get my hands on, quitting the sports teams, taking my lumps when it came to getting zeroes on things because of the Sabbath or Holy Days, I should say. But I went to college and I started coasting. And again, this might be a lesson for some out here. It certainly was a lesson for me. I thought that since I was there, I hadn't made. And I was getting great grades in my religion classes, A's and B's in all my Bible classes. But I was noticing that everybody else in my class was getting baptized, and I wasn't. And as Ambassador to College Standards were, I was in my junior year, still not baptized. For Ambassador to College Standards, you're an old man. I was eventually was baptized. I was just a couple of months shy of my 21st birthday. I was 20 years old, almost 21. But it was interesting when I truly decided to give my life to God. Satan entered the picture we talked about in the sermon today, Mike's sermon, about the roaring lion. Satan entered the picture, and he didn't want me to give my life to God. Just as Satan didn't want me to be able to come to services. He made it a point of not wanting me to give my life to God. So where I'd been getting all these wonderful grades in my Bible classes, all of a sudden, out of nowhere it appeared, I couldn't believe there was a true God. I couldn't believe the Bible was true. How do I know there's a true God? How do I know the Bible is accurate and should be obeyed? I had all this tremendous wall of doubt. You see, brethren, I thought I had built a solid foundation, but I hadn't. I hadn't. And I ask you a question, because this is for all of us. Nobody gets a free pass here. Do all of us have a solid foundation? I thought I did. I did not. So I wanted to see the fellow that I thought would give me the hardest time. I didn't want some easy counselor. I wanted somebody I thought would really give it to me, and it was Dr. David Albert, who used to do our telecast years ago with Worldwide. So Dr. Albert told him what the deal was. He said, Randy, I want you to read this and read this. And I did that. He said, but I want you to fast. I want you to take 24 hours out, and I want you to fast. So I did that. Came back the next week. Dr. Albert, no change. Well, we did that six consecutive weeks. No change. He said, Randy, you know the literature backwards and forwards. Your problem is not in your head. Your problem in one sense is in your heart. He said, what I want you to do is start a fast. I'll talk to your on-campus employer. I want you to start a fast. I don't want you to come out of that fast until you've broken through these doubts.

It's all had these pictures of, you know, I'm an Italian. I love to eat. You couldn't tell that by looking at me up here, but I love to eat. And I thought, you know, by the time I'm done with this fast, there'll be nothing but a hanky hair and tennis shoes. But I started the fast, and it took me three full days, 72 hours. And I finally, with God's help, was able to break through the doubt. But again, a lesson to be learned. I'll look at Hebrews 2 for a moment. Because, brethren, we are entering, and we have always been in difficult times, but I think that as I take a look at the world scene, as I take a look at American politics, and I'm not going to talk politics to you. That's not what I should be about here. You can talk whatever you want to talk about. I'm not going to talk about that. But just in general what we see happening in our country, we are hurting as a nation in terms of leadership.

And it may well be that Christ comes in our lifetime. And so we have to take each day and value each day, each opportunity. Notice what it says here in Hebrews 2 and verse 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who hurt Him? If we neglect so great a salvation? Brethren, as a student at Ambassador College, I was neglecting so great a salvation. I thought by being there, I had it made. One of the elders who used to live in our area back in Ann Arbor said, you know, he probably heard this. It was an interesting thing that he said. He said, you're not a Christian just because you sit in church. No more than you're a hamburger if you sit at McDonald's. Brethren, that's so true. We need more than just taking up space and services. We need to have an individual, personal relationship and background and foundation with God the Father and Jesus Christ. And I again know that you have been well-loved in that regard over the years, the many years. You've been well-pastored. You've been well-served. You've been well-loved. And the bar is high here in Chicago. And you know what? I am glad the bar is high here. I felt back home, what is currently home, in Ann Arbor in Detroit, that I had to always bring my A-game to services because you, as God's people, deserve the very best God gives me to give to you. And that's a daunting task, brethren, and I certainly ask for your prayers.

You know, I need your prayers to be inspired as to what topics to give, how to give them, when to give them, the appropriateness, and all of the things that come to play. I need your help with that because I want to keep the bar here in Chicago very, very high. We read the Scripture, Mike read the Scripture, or discussed the Scripture, 1 Peter 5, where Satan, as an adversary, knows and he walks about seeking whom he can devour. And he's no respecter of persons. Remember the beginning of Christ's ministry. I'm not going to turn there. Lack of time. But in Mark 1, Christ goes to the synagogue. He's beginning his public ministry. And what takes place there in Mark 1? A demon rises up and begins to give Christ a hard time. Wants to thwart the preaching of the Gospel. Now, how long had that person who was demon-possessed been in that synagogue? Maybe he had been attending for some period of time as a mole. But when the time was right, when Satan thought he could best maybe knock Christ off his stride, that's when this individual stood up. The Apostle Paul talked about how he wanted to come and see the people there in Thessalonica. But Satan hindered him. We see what Satan did to Job and what got allowed. And so, brethren, we've got to realize that we have to have the foundation and a tremendous foundation. Because we're fighting against a tremendous adversary, and we can't take him lightly. Luke 6. Luke 6.

Luke 6, starting here in verse 47. In my Bible, all red lettering here, I use the New King James. Luke 6 and verse 47. Whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them. You know, for a time there at Ambassador College, I was only a hearer. I wasn't a hearer and a doer. I was a hearer. Please learn from that. Whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep. Yes, we want to dig deep. We want to go deep into the Scriptures. We want to have a prayer life that is deep and vibrant and full of life. We want to be people who know how to fast and meditate. We want to dig deep and lay the foundation on the rock. Not on a pet teaching or a personality. We want to have a foundation that is on Jesus Christ. Nothing else will do. What does it say there in Acts chapter 4? I'm not going to turn there. Acts chapter 4 and verse 12. Only one name under heaven whereby we can be saved. Jesus Christ. We must have a foundation built on that rock. But notice, and when the flood arose and the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. Brethren, if indeed we are living at a time when Jesus Christ is going to return, we know that this is going to be the worst time mankind has ever seen. We need each other. But more than that, we need to be founded on that rock, on Jesus Christ.

Verse 49. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built his house on the earth without a foundation against which the stream beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.

This is something, brethren, that I have to ask myself on a regular basis, and I ask you, what is your foundation right now? How firm is your foundation? How solid is your foundation? How well do you know your Savior?

I don't want to be, and I know you don't want to be, in a position where someday Christ said, Well, you know, who are you? I don't know you. You really didn't ever, you never really prayed to me, and I don't remember you studying a whole lot, and you weren't really putting things into practice. I don't know you. No, we want people who, God wants people who are deep into the Scriptures, deep into a relationship with Him, who walk with Him and talk with Him, who pray on a continual basis as they go through life.

That's what God wants. Okay, another aspect of my life I'd like to discuss with you, a very important aspect of my life, my wife Mary. As I may have mentioned, I'm a divorced man, married my college sweetheart, we were married for 29 years, two children together, and if you don't think it's a difficult thing in our church culture to have to, at the way I did it, is after services one day, I asked the song leaders to, after the closing Amen, to have everybody sit down, and as everybody sat down, I walked up and let them know that their pastor was getting a divorce after 29 years.

Very stressful. Didn't know how the brethren were going to take that, but the brethren were very generous, very loving, very charitable. One man came up to me and they said, you know, Mr. D., I know that you're concerned about how we're going to take this, but look at all the people in your congregation who are divorced. They can relate to what you've been through. I'm betting, brethren, there's more than just me in this room, who's going in that direction.

But, we'll put that aside for right now. My divorce was finalized in September 2003. That feast, one month later, went to the feast with the intent of having the best spiritual feast I could have. And the fellow who was running the feast said, Randy, there's this girl I want you to meet. And I said, Jim, I got divorced last month. After 29 years, I don't need to be meeting girls. And besides that, I'm 51 years old. And you're talking about this person as a girl. I want somebody, if I ever get married again, I want somebody a little on the older side.

And so, this particular pastor went to Mary, my wife, current wife, and said, Mary, when you meet Randy, act like as though you're older. Act like as though you're in your 40s. I think Mary was 38 or 39. I was 51. So, she's 12 years her senior. But we went on a date.

I mean, I was tossing back and forth. But, as I would tell anybody privately, in my first marriage, the first 20 years that if my first wife Lois were here, she would say, the first 20 years were good years. They were really good years. Those last nine years, some of them, after the 20th year, began, were so so, toward the end, they were really pretty bad. But, as the one pastor said, Randy, just have dinner with this girl. You don't have to marry her. Just have dinner with her. And so, I had not been on a date like that for 30 years, obviously. So, it took me some courage to walk up to Mary, ask her for a date, ask her for a date.

She accepted 20 minutes into the date. And I said to myself, I've got to get her phone number. And it worked out real well. Now, Mary, her father, Fred, was a schoolteacher. A Korean War veteran. Mary's dad died in a car accident the day before her 10th birthday. She found out about that on her 10th birthday. Mary's mother, Norma, is a schoolteacher. She attends up in Rochester, Minnesota. She's a deaconess in the church. Her stepdad, Lloyd, who became really her father one year after her dad died. Lloyd is a deacon in the United Church of God up there in Rochester. Mary had two brothers. One, she still has Brad, lives in central Illinois.

Many of you remember Todd Snyder. Todd is Mary's brother. He also was killed in a car wreck back in 1999. Mary's got three stepsisters, two stepbrothers. She spent two years in Big Sandy, two years in Pasadena. At the college, she had a major in theology and a minor in home ec. She's worked from the church from 1987 to 2004. She worked for the Ambassador Foundation for many years. Then also in Pasadena, she worked for the accounts payable department.

Then she currently works for a company. It's a multinational company headquartered in Australia. She now works for a company called Amcor Rigid Plastics. It's got, I think, 10,000 or 20,000, no, 30,000 people worldwide employed by the company. They are one of the larger manufacturers of plastic packaging, manufacturing things like Coke bottles, Pepsi bottles, Tylenol bottles, Heinz ketchup, Campbell's bottles, Jack Daniel's bottles, the little prescription bottles you get, the little orange ones.

Her company makes those. So that's my wife. And love her the pieces, and she is the best part, in many ways, of my ministry. We'd like you to turn to 2 Corinthians 1. When you're going through life's ills and troubles, it is so nice that we've got a God who is so compassionate, so loving, to take us up into His arms when we need that, to be there to comfort us. That year, 2003, where I had gone through my divorce, was a special year in my life in many ways. It was a very stressful year. That particular year, I was going down to Toledo with our elder from the Detroit Church.

We were going to meet some brethren in Toledo and take in a minor league baseball game. Of course, as I said, it was under a lot of stress because of the divorce and all the things that were happening along those lines, what it was going to do to the kids and so forth. And as I was traveling down, it was an August day in 19... or 2003, I went almost death in my left ear, to know what was taking place, went to the doctor, saw several specialists. They said, well, maybe in six weeks it will come back. It never came back. They diagnosed it as what they call sudden hearing loss syndrome.

Generally, it happens when a person is under a great deal of stress, as I was, and you can lose... Stress does horrible things to a person's body. In my case, I've got some hearing here, but very little. One of the specialists I was talking to said, you know, Randy, I've got a friend who's a doctor, a physician. He was walking into his house, great hearing, both ears. He's entering, he's unlocking the door, he's walking into his house. On one side of the door, he's got perfect hearing.

He walks to the door, totally deaf, never came back. Doctors don't know what to make of that. So those of you in the back, you may have noticed my wife was trying to talk into this ear, and I had got to turn around so I could hear what she's saying. It really is kind of funny at times, especially in church, where people give me a note they want an announcement made, and they come and they want to talk in this ear.

So I start turning, and then they start turning, and we start doing a minuet. So if you come upon me on my left side, and I don't seem to respond to you, I'm not trying to be funny or rude, I probably just didn't hear you. So I just want to let you know that. The brethren were just super when I was going through that trial. They wanted to make sure Mr. D had somebody to have dinner with every day at the feast.

The church itself was very supportive. I gave my first opening night message to that feast. I thought maybe I wouldn't even be on a speaking schedule at feast, but I gave the opening night message there in Kentucky that year. And of course, I had my date with Mary.

Let's take a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. Brethren, I know there are people in this room who are going through trials. I know very difficult trials. Back in Michigan, I got 2 phone calls just today. 2 different women got in touch with me about issues that they have. One lady's, well, as a matter of fact, these 2 women are sisters.

Their dad is in the process of dying. He doesn't have long to live. And the 1 girl is facing her 5th operation. And on a daily basis, she says, Mr. D, on a daily basis, my pain level is 8 or 9. And I'm taking all these meds, all these painkillers, and they're hardly touching the pain. You know, Brethren, I've gone through my share of trials, but I've not gone through that. And when you're facing that kind of pain on a daily basis, that is torturous.

And when I think about that one particular woman and the way she conducts herself with the grace and dignity, despite all the pain, I can't help but just feel so proud, if I can use that word, of the way God's Spirit is working in her life. But it says here, God comforts us, verse 4, who comforts us in all of our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble.

What have you gone through? What are you doing in terms of helping others? How are you being a teacher or a light or a help? You know, and again, Brethren, we've got to use wisdom. We can't just walk up to somebody and say, hey, I've gone through your trial. I'm here to save you. I've arrived. I've come into... No. Be very careful, but we want to be there for our brothers and sisters, that we may be able to comfort others with the comfort we receive from God.

Verse 5, For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so the consolation also bounds through Christ. We drop down to verse 8. And notice what Paul says here. If we don't want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble, which came upon us in Asia, that we were burned beyond measure, are some of you right now burdened beyond measure? It's okay, brethren, to be burdened beyond measure. Paul was. He wasn't afraid to say that.

He didn't feel he had to have a smile on his face 24-7. We were burdened beyond measure above strength. He realized he couldn't cope with this on his own, so that we despaired even of life. In our church culture, people don't want to talk about being depressed. But sometimes our people get depressed. Paul was. . .we're not talking clinical depression here. Paul certainly felt a temporary depression here.

He despaired even of life. Yes, verse 9. We had a sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. You don't get any worse trial than that. Paul said, you know, if this is what it's going to come to, God will raise me from the dead. Verse 10. Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us, in whom we trust that he will still deliver us.

So again, brethren, a lesson learned as you and I go through life's troubles. I'm going to be there, hopefully, for you. I ask that you again support me in prayer so that I can be there for you. But you need to be there for me, too. You know, we are a family here in Chicago. It's not a one-way street. I have been helped so much by the brethren in every place I've pastored. And I look forward to developing a close relationship with each and every one of you.

I look forward to getting in my car and driving to your home and getting to really know you and you getting to know me. You know, there's a scripture, if you want to turn over to 1 Peter, chapter 5. 1 Peter, chapter 5. You're going to hear me quote this a number of times over the course of the time I'm here with you.

And I like to quote this verse, 1 Peter 5.7, out of the Phillips translation. The Phillips is a New Testament-only translation, and it's a rather old one. But this particular verse, to me, speaks volumes, the way it's translated by the Phillips. Listen to this. You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern. You are God's personal concern. And because he's God, he can feel that way to each and every one of us as individuals.

We are his personal concern. To me, that is greatly meaningful. Okay, a little bit back to the story here. I've only got a few more minutes here. I know we need to quit by 3. I'm used to quitting on time. Only rarely will I go overtime, because, as I said in the Dells on a number of occasions, the worst way anybody can die is to be preached to death. So I don't want to preach to death. Let's try to end this by 5 to 3, and I'll have more opportunities to discuss these things more in depth. I went to Ambassador College, graduated in 1974. I didn't want anything to do with the ministry. I did the whole Jonah routine.

I went back home. I mean, back in 1974, they asked all the seniors, come on, fellows, you're seniors. You've got your degree in theology. We need some ministers. Come and interview. I had no desire. I didn't make an appointment. Went back home to Detroit, my hometown. Worked as a warehouse manager for two years. Learned a lot of things there. Then got into sales. I was in sales for eight years. I was a road warrior. I would leave Mondays, sometimes come back on Thursdays or Fridays.

That was a lonely life, but it taught me a number of things. All the things in my mind said where I'd never wanted to be a minister in any way, shape, or form, much less a pastor. I said, well, I never would be able to leave my family. Well, as a road warrior, you're leaving your family. I thought I'd never relocate, but I told some of these companies, hey, I'd be happy to relocate if that's what it takes.

I'll relocate. But I just got to the place where I realized this wasn't my calling. You know, God wanted me someplace else. And when the opportunity came in 1984, got a phone call from Pasadena. Randy, we were thinking about hiring you. Would you like to work for the church full-time? I said, yes, I would. And they said, well, sell your house. We have a fellow down there in North Carolina, Mike Booz. Mike is working long, long hours. He's got one church of 550 people, another church of 200 people, and he's working all these outlandish hours.

You've got to get down there. Put a for-sale sign on my house. Sold it in three days down in North Carolina in a couple of weeks.

Bottom line there, brethren, in Proverbs chapter 3, I'm just going to read this for you since time is fleeting here. Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5 and 6, Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. Too much of my life as a young man, I was wanting to do things my way, Jonah's way, and it wasn't God's way.

And again, that's a lesson I had to learn, and to learn very deeply. From 1974 to 79, I was in the Detroit church. I served as a member of the church. Then on September 22, 1979, I was 27 years old.

I was ordained as an elder on the Feast of Trumpets, 1979. I think God was moving at that point to get me into the ministry full-time. In 1982, as a salesman, God turned off the tap. I mean, he really turned off the tap. Sales just weren't going anywhere.

And the nice bank account I had stuffed with full of money, that was decreasing every month as I was paying bills. Money wasn't coming in like it was, but the money was going out to the place where, after a while, I was either going to lose my home to foreclosure or lose my car. I couldn't make both payments. I believe very strongly that God was wanting to see what De La Sandro was made out of, because there in my account was all that lovely second tithe.

Was I going to take that and use that to pay bills? Or was I going to lose my home or lose my car? If I lost my car, I eventually would lose my home. At that point, I had my little boy, who was just a toddler at that point, he was born in 82, this all started in 82. This went for two years. Two years. Sometimes we ask God, why am I going through this trial?

Well, brethren, why not us? Why not me? Why not you? Well, God wanted to see what I was made out of, and so, just like Daniel was thrown into the lion's dead, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they're thrown into the fiery furnace. Some of you are in that fiery furnace right now. Why me? Well, because that's who we are as Christians. But when I finally came to the place where I said, the guy called and said, Randy, we're coming to get your car. I said, hey, you're a businessman, I'm a businessman, I'm not going to be sitting on the hood of my car with a baseball bat.

You come, pick up the car, here's the keys, you're doing what you've got to do, I'm doing what I've got to do. I'm going to circle the house here and keep the house. He said, nah, let's see if we can change the time of your billing. And when God saw that, then the tap was turned back on. But I'd learned some valuable lessons, and they stood me in pretty good stead. So anyhow, I was sent to North Carolina.

I was there for five and a half years, learned a lot of things. I was the associate pastor there in North Carolina, then I moved to Tennessee. I was the pastor in Tennessee from 90 to 93. And, brethren, I can't begin to tell you how appreciative I am of Mr. Faye and the elders that are here and the work that they have done over the years. I tell you that because my ministry has been marked by having to follow a pastor who basically wrecked the church area. When I moved into Tennessee, it was in such a bad shape, the Pasadena called me and said, Randy, we want you in Tennessee.

This was five days before the feast. You're moving. Five days before the feast, I'm told. Two days after the feast, the truck comes and picks up my stuff, and off we go. When I moved to the next location with West Virginia, I got a phone call from Pasadena. Randy, you did a pretty good job there in Tennessee.

We've got another assignment like that for you in West Virginia. Can you be there tomorrow? I said, no, my kids are in school. Too bad. Can you be there tomorrow? Sometimes in the church we can be people. Anyhow, I tell you what, give me a week. I was in West Virginia nine days later. I left my wife and kids behind in Tennessee. They finished up the last three months of their schooling. I was a bachelor basically for three months in West Virginia, working with the people there who had been horribly hurt. Then in 1997, I was asked to go to Michigan.

The Trit Church and the Toledo Church, the Trit Church was 120 strong, and the Toledo Church was 120 strong. By the time the pastor who had been their pastor was done with them, that 240 people was down to 60. So brethren, I enjoy being here. You're healthy. You've got the normal problems any congregation is going to have, but it's not like what I've been through. So when I say I'm happy to be here, I am happy to be here.

To be in an area that the previous pastor was just a marvelous individual and the interim people, marvelous people, I just couldn't ask for better. So that's my background. And that's some of the reason why I became a divorced man, and that's some of the reason why my children don't attend services. When I went to Tennessee, after what the previous pastor had done, they said, well, the Delosandros are here.

Let's have a nice potluck for them. So they had a potluck. Delosandros go through the food line first. We go through the food line first. We sit down. Nobody sat with us. Until the very last family went through and they said, well, no one's going to sit with you. We'll sit with you.

120 people! I'm watching go through the line and sitting. No one's going to sit with the Delosandros because he was a minister. So enough for all of this. But, brother, I know my time is now up. What am I here to do? I'm here to do what you know I should be doing. I'm here to love you. I'm here to serve you. I'm here to do what God wants me to do. And we're looking forward so much to being here.

Now, I've promised Mr. Bradford and Mr. May that I will be here on site. Whether my house sells or not in Michigan, I will be here June 1st to be your pastor. But I do ask that you please be praying for us that our house would sell. Our house, we're going to lose money. What we're putting the house up for sale, we're going to already lose $35,000. Just by what we are told the house is now worth because the housing bubble really hurt Michigan.

So we're losing at least $35,000. But it's never going to get better. I'm born and bred from that area. It's never going to get better. And the opportunity to be here with you was just too great an opportunity.

But we would like to get as much as we can get and have that house sell as quickly as possible. Because until that time comes, Mary's going to have to stay back in Michigan and work. And then when we can sell the house, we'll buy a house here.

We've already been approved for a loan. So we are looking for a place, but we've got to sell the house in Michigan first. So that's where you... I'm here to serve you, but this is where you can help us. Please be praying that a house sells quickly so we can get here and be the loving people you want us to be.