A Tedious Chore During COVID Led His Old Friends to Christ | Rev. David Stewart
What does faithfulness to the Great Commission look like when it doesn’t make headlines?
In this episode of The Great Commission Today, our guest Rev. David Stewart, pastor of Grace PCA in Lake Suzy, Florida, reflects on discipleship, the ordinary means of grace, and what it means to trust God with the results of faithful ministry.
The Great Commission Belongs to the Whole Church
Rev. Stewart walks through Matthew 28:16–20 with careful attention, noting that the primary command is not to go but to make disciples — and that this commission belongs not just to ordained officers but to the whole body of Christ. The emphasis in the Greek, he explains, is not on geography but on the ongoing work of discipleship: going across the street counts just as much as going around the world.
The Ordinary Means of Grace Are Enough
After 10 years of verse-by-verse expositional preaching at Grace PCA, Rev. Stewart has watched God use the consistent, faithful ministry of the Word to transform a congregation. Rather than relying on programs or formulas, he is committed to the ordinary means God has given His church — and has seen extraordinary fruit as a result. The congregation has developed a culture where members understand that discipleship is their calling, not just their pastor’s.
The Gospel Is Not Just the Starting Point
Drawing from his recent series in 1 Corinthians 15, Rev. Stewart makes a pointed and important distinction: the gospel isn’t just the entry point to the Christian life — it’s the foundation of everything. He also addresses a common mistake in personal evangelism: leading with one’s personal testimony rather than with Christ Himself. The testimony, he says, bears witness to the gospel — but it is not the gospel.
Media, Communication, and the Reach of the Word
Rev. Stewart shares how COVID-era sermon recordings — posted on Facebook while preaching through the Book of Revelation — led two former Roman Catholic friends from high school to saving faith in Christ. What felt like a chore became a channel of grace. He also discusses his weekly pastoral email (now 500 editions and counting, inspired by the letter-writing of Samuel Rutherford), the church’s public Facebook presence, and how a digital roadside sign has become an unexpected evangelism tool.
Church Hospitality as Gospel Proclamation
Grace PCA has hosted county commission meetings, HOA gatherings, and Florida Department of Transportation sessions — not as a formal outreach strategy, but simply as an expression of Christian hospitality. For Rev. Stewart, opening the building is a form of gospel proclamation. The congregation is also planning a fellowship hall to expand its capacity to serve and connect with the surrounding community, including a new development of 1,000 homes expected in the next five years.
Lessons from Church History
Rev. Stewart draws on the First Great Awakening under Whitefield and Edwards — marked by jails closing and visible transformation in communities — contrasting it with the Second Great Awakening and the manipulative revivalism of Charles Finney, which ultimately left the ‘burned-over district’ spiritually desolate. He also offers a careful reading of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus as a model: public proclamation in the school of Tyrannus and house-to-house pastoral discipleship, spending more than two years in one place to ensure the churches were well-established.
A Final Word: Be Faithful in the Small Things
Rev. Stewart’s closing exhortation is simple and weighty: don’t measure ministry by numbers or visible results. After a decade of pastoral ministry in Lake Suzy — including six adult baptisms in a single year at a church that had seen fewer than five in the previous 25 years — he has learned that God works quietly, steadily, and abundantly through those who are simply obedient. “We are called to faithfulness,” he says, “so that God will produce the fruitfulness.”