Interview with Andy Montoro

Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. This program is dedicated to helping you better understand the Word of God and the doctrines of grace. The Bible tells us, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of truth.

Get your Bible and coffee ready and prepare to study along. Here's your host with today's lesson, Pastor Keith Foskey.

Interview Setup and Daily Bible Reading

And welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist. We have a special episode today. We're going to be doing an interview with Brother Andy Montoro. But before we do that, I want to remind you today is September 14th, 2020.

And if you're following along in our daily Bible reading, September 14th, we are going to be reading 1 Peter chapter one. If you'd like to get a copy of our daily Bible reading, go to sgfcjacks .org. That is Sovereign Grace Family Church of Jacksonville.

And if you are in the Jacksonville area and you do not have a church home, please feel free to come and visit us this coming Lord's Day. We have Sunday school at 930 and we have a worship service at 1030 and we would love to have you.

So as I said, today we're going to be doing an interview and this is going to be an in-house interview because we're going to be interviewing one of our elders here at Sovereign Grace Family Church, elder and brother Andy Montoro.

Say hello, Andy. Hey, how are you? I'm doing well and I'm thankful that you have stayed. We're actually staying late on a Wednesday night after service. One of the interesting things about Brother Andy and I is that we actually combine the teaching duties on Wednesday night.

So if you visit with us on a Wednesday night, you'll come in. And one of the things we do is we start with a time of prayer. Brother Andy and I both pray and then we offer a time for the rest of the church to pray.

But then Brother Andy leads us through a devotion in the Psalms. And then after he does the devotion in the Psalms, I teach through some lesson in systematic theology. And so we've been doing that for several months.

Everybody seems to enjoy it. And if you would like to see what that looks like, you can actually go to our Facebook page and you can see a live stream of that teaching and get an idea of how we teach together.

Andy Montoro’s Conversion and Call to Ministry

But what I want to do today is, and this is primarily for our church members. I want our church members to know more about our elders. So my goal in the next several months is I'm going to try to interview our elders.

And I'm starting with Brother Andy because I wanted to talk to him about his previous ministries and what brought him to our church. Andy, how long have you been an elder here? Two years in October.

Two years in October. And how long were you here before that? When did you come? Do you remember? I came in 2016. Okay. So you were here for a couple of years. Then you became an elder?

That is right. Okay. Okay. All right. And I honestly, I'm not asking just to tell everybody. I'm trying to remember myself. What's funny is when you get to know somebody really well, it's like you've known them forever.

And so that's kind of where I'm at with you is we've known each other now for a few years, but I don't remember what it was like not having you. I don't remember what it was like, you know, before.

I don't remember what it was like not being here.

It's funny how our minds work like that. Well, can you tell our listeners and everybody who's interested, can you tell them how you became a believer in Christ? How did you come to know the Lord?

We had several children when we first got married. And we lost our third son when he was three weeks old. And I had heard the gospel from some friends that I had worked with. One of them became a believer, talked to me about the gospel, I would say probably a year, good year.

And I listened, but I wasn't interested. And when we lost our son, my heart was broken, and I picked up a Bible, and I never put it down. Amen.

Amen. That's a difficult story to tell, I'm sure.

It is, but I have peace with it now. God is good. God has his way of drawing his people to himself. And whatever way God is pleased to do it is always the best way. Amen.

I mentioned earlier that you have served as a pastor before coming here. How many years did you serve as, I know you were a pastor here in Jacksonville, but I know you served in other churches. How many combined years do you know?

I was ordained in 1991 in a church that at that time was part of an association. It was the Reformed Baptist Association, which comprised mostly churches in New Jersey, Pennsylvania. And I was ordained in 91 by the elder that was there, shared in the ministry for two years, and then because of certain things with work and just in the providence of God, we moved to Florida in 93 or 94, and I visited several churches for a number of years.

And I would say at that time it was a little bit of a dry period for me as I tried to understand what God had for me to do, what he was doing with me in my life. And then in 2003, we visited Oak Grove Baptist Church, which is in Middleburg.

And I was there for about a year and the only elder that was there said he was going to leave in the middle of a sermon. In the middle of a sermon, he just said, I just want everyone to know I'm going to leave.

And they went right back to preaching, which I thought was a little strange. But those people that were there knew that I had been an elder in a previous church and they asked me to fill in. And I filled in from 2005, beginning of 2005 to August of 2016.

So I was there for 12 years. Awesome.

And that's when you came here. And you came here at the recommendation of our mutual friend, Chris Arnzen.

Chris Arnzen and also through Mike Gaydosh. Oh, yeah. Brother Mike. And so Ground Christian Books, who I had known because Mike was an elder in a church in the next town when I served in the Church of New York.

Amen. Amen.

The Universal Problems Churches Face

All right. Well, I want to ask you a pastoral question. You served as a pastor for many years and you've had experience. I want to ask you a question that maybe could get a banter back and forth with us going, as a pastor, what have you noticed across the various churches that you've been in that have been sort of universal problems within all of the churches that you've served in?

And I ask this because I've only been in one church. I've been the pastor here for so many years, but before that I was youth pastor and before that I was a member and I've been here since I was seven.

I don't have a big well to draw from. So what are some of the things that you would say this is a universal issue in the church?

There are a number of things that I could mention. I think the thing that stands out in my mind is, let me say it this way, and it might not be as directly an answer as the question, but I've noticed over being involved with different churches that the same problems are present in every church and it's, sometimes it's in different faces.

In other words, there are the same kinds of people that God brings together in a body for his purpose and no matter what church you go to, there will always be someone who's like this and then there will always be someone who's like that.

And I have found that that's both a blessing and a little bit of a problem in the churches because you see certain types of people who hold to certain things, who will allow certain things, who won't allow certain things, and that has been a characteristic that I see in the churches.

But as far as issues, I would say it is really to where people in the churches have a view of the eldership as it's their job and not necessarily the members that have to contribute. The churches feel as if we've called Brother Keith and Brother Keith better do it.

And if Brother Keith don't do it, we'll just get rid of Brother Keith and get Brother Jim or so-and-so. And I think that's one of the things that I've seen that hurt the churches, they become so dependent upon the elder or elders that they don't feed themselves.

Almost like little baby birds, you got to keep dropping food in their mouth or they won't feed themselves. That might not be what everybody wants to hear, would you ask me what my experience is?

And I think this is good. And part of the blessing of having this ministry of this podcast that's new is it offers an opportunity to be a little more candid. And hopefully everybody understands you're just speaking from the heart.

And I would agree over the years there's definitely been a recognition that there's an expectation. And I think part of it is the expectation of pay. We pay him to do this, therefore that's his job. And the Bible says that our job as elders is to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

And what often I think happens is the elders become the ministers in the minds of the people. So they're not equipping the saints, the saints are paying them to do the ministry or appointing them to do it.

Or they're looking at other churches and saying, so-and-so, pastor so-and-so in another church does this and we don't do it. Oh wow, yeah. And that's another thing that I've seen in the churches where instead of focusing on equipping the saints and the saints actually building one another up, sometimes they're looking over the fence and paying more attention to what's happening in another church than actually putting their hands to the plow.

Yeah, grass is greener on the other side, but it's usually a bunch of fertilizer. There's a reason why that fence is there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another thought I wanted to ask you, again, with your years of service and time in churches, what are your thoughts about the size of a church?

Our church has been about the same size for as long as I've been here, and we've grown, but we have not expanded. We've grown by way of we'll have some folks leave and new folks come, and we've always stayed under 100 people.

And I know there are some churches that as soon as they open the door, they got 500 people and then 2 ,000 people, and these things sometimes cause guys like me to feel very inadequate when I'm talking to, and I'm just being honest, again, being candid.

You talk to a guy who's, well, our church, 2 ,000 people, and then we come to our church and there's only 75. What are your thoughts about megachurches and the distinction? Do you think there's a blessing in having a small church?

Well, my experience has always been with churches similar to Ohio's size, somewhere between 100, 200, and I do think there is some real blessings to be had in that in the smaller body, there seems to be perhaps greater ability to be a community of believers versus being in a large church where you might not even have conversation with everybody, you might not have understanding of their situations, you might not know what really is pressing them, and that kind of hinders sometimes what you teach, how you function within the body.

I'm not opposed to large churches. I'm opposed to when a church becomes so large that it no longer functions as a biblical church. Amen.

That's a good thought. Do you think that churches that are multi-site, where the one pastor is being piped in by TV, and I'm not condemning any churches, I'm asking you your opinion, man of God to man of God, we're just sharing.

What are your thoughts on a church that is so big that they have to have different rooms but it's the same guy preaching to all those rooms?

Yeah, I have a real issue with that in that I am very strong on local church basically because of my perhaps Baptist experience, but that I see in the scriptures that when a church becomes, when it gets to that point where it's too large to accommodate a local body that they should split off and perhaps start another church, but that other church should be autonomous.

Yeah, plant a new church. Plant a new church versus we'll put so-and-so up on the video in all these campus churches, and I think what happens is then one person becomes the one that everybody looks to, and even if they have a pastor in a campus setup, he's not really a pastor.

He's not really, no, he doesn't function as an elder, he functions more as an administrator and pushes everything back to whoever is the main guy. And I do think that you can lose yourself, again, I'm not opposed to large churches because if you can function as a large church, as the church in Jerusalem did, then that's great.

I think the real issue is when it no longer gives you the ability to function as a body or to function as God has set the pattern. Yeah, amen.

One of the things that I've tried to, I heard it years ago, and I think it was actually the Christian singer Steve Camp, do you remember him? Yeah. I think I heard him say that a shepherd should smell like sheep, and it seems hard for that to be with such a ginormous group of people.

Why Sovereign Grace Family Church Matters

Now I'm gonna ask you this question, and this is actually an opportunity, you know, people are listening, a lot of our people are listening, hopefully there'll be people who haven't been to our church who are listening.

And I wanna ask you this question sort of on behalf of them. What do you think is, what brought you to SDFC, and what do you think are the strengths? And I would also say, what do you think are areas we need to grow in?

Because anybody who's coming ought to know we haven't arrived. We're not perfect, and when we look at another church and we say, well, we think there's a failure here, a failure there, we could look at ourselves, you know?

One finger points forward, four or three point back to us, so what, you know, where do you think we are doing well, and where do you think we need to do better?

I came here on the recommendation of our friend Chris and Mike. They had told me of the ministry here, told me it was Reformed, which certainly to me is essential, not only in doctrine, but Reformed theology leads to Reformed practice.

And to me, you cannot really live for the glory of God unless you have a firm grasp on Reformed theology, and not everything that the Reformed was held to, but nevertheless. So that's the reason why I came.

I do think the greatest strength here is theology matters, as you have often said. And that everything that we do is subject to the Word of God, and that we will seek not to go outside of its boundaries, and we will seek to go as far as it pushes us to go.

So I do see that as a strength. When I first came here, I was impressed by the knowledge of the body, and I know that's a result of solid teaching, because in many churches, the main way in which God's people grow is through the week-by-week, study-by-study preaching of the Word.

So it has to have had solid teaching in order to have those that have a good grasp on biblical truth. As far as weaknesses, a little prejudicial, I guess, now that I'm here. Yes. I do think that there are many areas that we can grow.

I would encourage our people to be more involved in the different ministries that we have, and also to have a desire to expand ourselves in other areas, and not just be content. Sometimes that could be an issue, especially in a small church where everybody has...

You don't sit in Joe's pew, because that's Joe's pew, and that kind of thing.

Be willing to be a little uncomfortable for them.

Be willing to be uncomfortable, be willing to be a little put off, be willing to go outside your own box, and to realize that we're here by God's grace, and we're here to be used by God to bring other sheep in, and that it doesn't end all at Sovereign Grace Family Church.

Yes. Absolutely. I hope I didn't make you people mad. No.

No. I think what you said is very true. I think understanding... It kind of goes along with what you said earlier, understanding that there's ministry to be done here, and ministry is more than just what we do on Sunday morning.

Part of the reason why we had that meeting two weeks ago was to ask the church, what areas can we do better? As elders, we can become... Where we talk to each other more than anyone else, we don't hear everybody else as well, and that's what we wanted to do.

Favorite Sermons, Influential Preachers, and Books

I know you love to preach. I'm going to ask you a couple of quick questions, just be simple answers, won't take too much time. I know you love to preach. Do you have a favorite sermon that you have preached over the years that you say, that was the best sermon I ever preached?

Wow. Wow.

I know that's a strange question. If you don't have one, it's fine. I've made a practice of never preaching the same message twice. I remember you telling me that. I mean, I keep all my messages, and I've got them all in notebooks from the last 25 years.

I might use the same text, but I never preach the same message. I would have to say, as of recently, I enjoyed our conference this past March. I truly enjoyed preaching Psalm 148, when we talked about the sovereignty of God in the creation, in the heavens, and in the earth, and as far as it pertained to Christ.

I enjoyed that, whether it was beneficial, I pray it was.

I think the whole conference was great.

Yeah, I think the conference was great, and I was very comfortable. One of the things when you preach, and I know you know that, is that it doesn't end when you preach, when you're done, and then the rest of the day, I know I'm either praying about what I said, or praying about what I didn't say, and then the next day, it's like, oh, I should have said, or I shouldn't have said, or I could have done it this way and that way.

So, I do love the Word of God. It's amazing, and for those that have been in Christ for a long time, I hope you would agree. I've been a Christian 45 years, and I can't get enough. Amen.

And I've heard you say that, I love to hear that.

I know that's true about you, I know that's true about many of the people here, and I truly believe that that hunger should grow in all of us.

Well, how about a sermon you have heard, that you say, that's the best sermon I ever heard in my life?

Well, I would say, years ago, this is a long time ago, when I first came to Christ, there was an evangelist named Ralph Barnard, and he was an old timer. And Brother Ralph, boy, he didn't hold back, and he'd get up there, and he'd be kicking and screaming, and I remember one time he said that he would take a shot at every rabbit that crosses the field with the gospel.

And he was quite a preacher, he was full of energy, and I think I enjoyed his messages, all of them, I can't really name just one, but I think he had such a deep effect on me, because he made those tapes that I listened to, at that time we were listening to the little cassette tapes, you know, going around.

But Ralph Barnard made a deep impression on me as far as his, not only what he said, but the passion that he said it with. Amen.

Now, this can be, because I do have one more thing I want you to do when we close, but what's your, outside of Scripture, the one book that has done the most for you?

Hmm, the one book that has done the most for me, I would have to say it's probably Arthur Pink, and it's probably his edition on the attributes of God. Okay. I think that opened the door to me, as well as, I would have to say John Gill, his Body of Divinity, I found to be extremely helpful.

Arthur Pink is available in our bookstore, by the way.

We do have him for a nominal cost, he's a very good writer, he's long gone to be with the Lord, but he was a very good writer.

The Gospel and the Call to Repent and Believe

Well, we're going to draw to a close, but I do want to ask you to do one thing, just for a minute, if you would, because we may have a listener who's listening who does not know the Lord. I'm going to ask you for the last minute or two, how would you tell someone if you just met them and you just wanted to let them know how to be saved?

Can you just finish with the gospel and then I'm going to close us out? And I know to ask a pastor to give a two-minute gospel presentation is really hard.

It's not almost what you say, it's how quickly you can say it in such few words. The gospel is so simple in that it's the truth that we are sinners, that we have rebelled against God, that we have gone our own way, that we have refused to submit to His Lordship, and that God in His great mercy and in His great love and in His great kindness has made provision to restore the fellowship that we broke, not that He broke, that we broke.

And our sins have separated God from us, and yet God in His rich mercy has been pleased to provide atonement, sacrifice, a ransom, to restore us to fellowship, not only restore us to fellowship, but to raise us to sonship, to be adopted as sons and daughters of the living God.

And that provision, of course, is the Lord Jesus, who is the one who did always those things that pleased the Father, who came to seek and to save those that were lost, who gave Himself a ransom for sinners.

And so the gospel is so simple in that it's an open invitation to all, regardless of your state, because your state is one of being alienated by God, from God, but to come to Christ. And even as Jesus said, come unto me all you that are heavy laden, I will give you rest.

And that rest is true rest. It's not the rest of the world that the world gives. It's the rest that can only come from the Creator. And that you and I have the ability, through the righteousness of Christ, to be righteous with God, to be, as Jesus said, to be set free, that's what Jesus said, the truth shall set you free.

And that you and I have this wondrous God who condescends, who sees us for what we are, and yet in that, even in that, He so loves us that He gave His only begotten Son. And yet I would say, I must say in the gospel, that as glorious as that truth is of being able to be reconciled to God and to be restored into fellowship with God, there is the reality of the holiness and the justness of God in that if we refuse to bow the knee, if we refuse God's provision, if we refuse God's Son, then there is nothing for us but judgment ahead.

And that we need to understand that, that God is a righteous judge and that God is angry with the wicked every day, and unless we repent, we shall all likewise perish. But then again, praise God for His wondrous provision that He made Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

If I continue on for the next 25 minutes, it's because Brother Keith asked me that question.

Oh, Brother, that was a wonderful gospel presentation, and I appreciate you taking the time and staying late, and I want to apologize to your dear wife for keeping you out late tonight. But I hope she has an opportunity to listen and enjoy our talk back and forth, and I know that this has been a blessing to me, and I know it will be ultimately a blessing to our listeners.

So again, thank you, Brother Andy, for being here. Thank you, Brother Keith, for having me. Yes, sir. And thank you all for listening, those who have been listening. I want to thank you for being our audience, and I hope this has been an encouragement to you.

Thank you again for listening to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey, and I am a Calvinist. May God bless you.

Thank you for joining in for today's episode of Coffee with a Calvinist. Keep in mind, we have a new lesson available every weekday morning at 6 .30 a .m. on YouTube and Facebook. If you enjoyed this lesson, please take a moment to respond by hitting the like button, leaving a comment, and subscribing to the channel.

On behalf of Pastor Foskey, thank you for listening. May God bless you.