Stay on track to finish the race

 Near the end of his life Paul wrote Timothy saying, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Tim. 4: 7)" Many of us start off strong, but somewhere along the way we lose focus. Some abandon their dreams while others never have one. They just stumble around wondering why they accomplish so little.

If you are like me you get excited to start a new project. These projects provide us with a lot of energy and excitement. They offer a new adventure, and we are certain that this adventure will enable us to accomplish significant things.  No doubt you are just as excited when you cross the finish line and complete the project you began. There is a sense of accomplishment in that which is hard to find anywhere else. The problem comes during the time between the beginning and the end. If one isn't careful he or she can find themselves starting a lot of new projects and never completing one. There are a number of reasons why this can happen.

The first reason is that we just lose sight of the original goal. We set out to do A, and the next thing we know B and C and D are demanding more and more of our time and attention. While we put out fires we forget the original goal we wanted to achieve. Besides, fire fighting wears a person out and there may be little energy to return to A.

Time management is a challenge for most pastors. I suppose you've heard that the first of the Four Spiritual Laws has been changed to "God loves you, and everybody has a wonderful plan for your life." Unless we are very careful about managing our time we can allow others to manage it for us. They have many wonderful things they want to do with your time, and few of them has anything to do with the goals you have set out to achieve.

A second reason we may struggle to complete our task is that it may require new ways of doing things. We may complain about how people resist change, but the truth is that we in leadership aren't too excited about it either. It may require us learning new things or abandoning some other projects we enjoy doing. I've seldom talked to a church that didn't tell me they wanted to grow, but they didn't want to do anything new that might lead to growth.

We need to accept the fact that everything we are doing today was once a new way of doing things. People in the past began doing  the new thing because what they were doing no longer was effective. What we are doing today will one day cease to be effective, and it's possible that day has already come. Some sacred cows may have to be sacrificed if we are to complete our task.

A third reason we might struggle to complete our tasks is that we run into a dead end and need to regroup. I like to remind people that beating a dead horse won't make it run any faster. Sometimes the goal is a good one, but the way we try to achieve it will not work. There's nothing wrong with backing up and taking a different approach.

Grateful pastors make healthy churches

 Few things have surprised me more than God calling me into pastoral ministry. Those who know my story know that I wasn't preparing for this work. I accepted a call to serve a church without a seminary education or ministry training. I was working in a factory when I began my bivocational ministry and continued to work there until I took early retirement. 

Even though there were often challenges to working a full-time job and serving a church and pursuing the education I knew God wanted me to have, I always was grateful for the opportunity to serve the church. I remained there for 20 years before accepting a call to denominational ministry. Many Sundays as I drove to the church property I would thank God for the privilege of serving that small, rural congregation. It was my parish, and I was grateful for the opportunity He had given me.

As a denominational minister I occasionally met pastors who did not share my feelings of gratitude. They often complained about the people who attended the churches they served. Some seemed bitter at being in ministry and felt trapped not knowing what else they could do. Not surprising, their churches didn't seem to be very healthy. Not much occurred in most of these churches. I felt they were as unhappy their pastor was there as he was in being there.

Congregations can easily tell how the pastors feels about them. Perhaps the most important question they will have for the pastor is "Do you love us?" Often unasked, the question exists just the same. The reason it is unasked is because it doesn't need to be. They already know the answer, and that answer will determine much of the health and functioning of the church.

There is no higher calling anyone could have than to be called to serve as a pastor of a church. Every day the pastor has the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. Every day he or she is given the privilege of sharing God's love with people. We are invited to participate in some of the most important times in people's lives, both good times and bad, and walk with them through those experiences. This is an incredible privilege that should make each of us called to this work grateful for the trust God has demonstrated in us.

Certainly, there are times when pastoral ministry is difficult. I went through those times as will everyone called to this work. It can be discouraging at times, but when one looks at the total experience of pastoral ministry nothing can compare or be more fulfilling.

I hope you feel this way about your ministry, and I pray you let your congregation know how much you love and appreciate them.

Churches finding bivocational pastors the answer to their pastor search

 It would be interesting to know the ratio between the number of churches in the US who are seeking a new pastor and the number of pastors seeking churches. I have the feeling that the number of churches seeking pastors would be much higher than the number of pastors seeking a church. Even before I retired from denominational ministry in 2015 I thought this was true, but it would be interesting to know just how wide the gap is. It would also be helpful for those churches seeking a pastor to know the challenge that is before them.

When I worked with pastor search committees I would explain to them that the pool of available pastors wasn't very large, and there are many churches fishing in that same pool. The competition for seminary-trained pastors can be very challenging for churches. It becomes even more challenging when churches put limitations on the people they will consider. I've worked with churches that would only consider male pastors with a doctoral degree, churches that wanted only young candidates, and, yes, I did have one church tell me it would be helpful if the pastor's wife played the piano.

As I've written many times in this blog, we are seeing a rise in bivocational pastors across nearly every denomination. Churches are finding that the struggle in finding, and keeping, a fully-funded pastor is becoming more and more difficult. One church told me several years ago they could afford the salary of a fully-funded pastor, but they could no longer afford the cost of the benefits, such as insurance, that pastors required. They called a bivocational minister who continues to serve that church after all these years. This story is being repeated every day.

That church, like many others, have found that having a bivocational pastor works out very well for them. He or she likely has roots in the community due to their other employment and will not be as eager to move to another church. Being familiar with the area gives the bivocational pastor an advantage over a fully-funded pastor who may move across country and has no knowledge of the local area, its people and its customs.

In the past there was a concern about whether a bivocational pastor would have the education needed to serve in a ministry position. In fact, many bivocational ministers have college degrees and a good number of them have at least some theological and ministry training. With so many seminaries now offering online courses, any minister can take courses that will fit his or her schedule and obtain any additional training that might be needed. 

Another common concern about calling a bivocational minister was his or her availability in times of need. Working a second job does mean that the minister may not be available 24/7. This is only a problem if the church believes that only the pastor can offer ministry in times of need. I have long advocated that we must get away from the pastoral care model common in many churches and transition to a congregational care model. In a pastoral care model the pastor is expected to provide all the pastoral care and be available any time a member of the church requires ministry. In a congregational care model the congregation cares for one another, and the pastor's role is to equip members of the congregation to provide such care and be available in the more difficult times people may be having. Lest anyone think I am trying to provide an excuse for bivocational pastors to not always be available when someone thinks they are needed, read Ephesians 4: 11-16. One of the main tasks of any pastor is to equip the saints to serve one another.

It is not wise to try to predict what God is going to do in His church in the future, but I believe bivocational ministry will continue to be an important part of His plan.

When the voices won't be silent

 Have you ever had times when the voices in your head kept insisting that you were going to fail? Or maybe they were telling you that you were in danger? Maybe it wasn't a physical danger you were facing, but it was a financial danger or a relationship danger or some other type of danger. Perhaps the voices were shouting that you were in over your head in some matter, and you wouldn't emerge victorious this time. Even worse, no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't silence those voices. They kept replaying the tape over and over again in your mind, and at night the volume seemed to get louder.

Maybe you've not experienced this. I have. Yes, even ministers can battle anxiety and have times when the voices in our heads seem to overwhelm us. If a mighty prophet like Elijah had to fight such battles I figure I'm not immune to them either.

You might remember that after Elijah defeated the false prophets the wicked queen Jezebel sent word that she was going to take Elijah's life. You might think that after the victory Elijah had over the prophets he wouldn't be scared of such threats, but he was. He ran for his life and begged God to take his life. He told God he had had enough and couldn't take any more. I can identify, and I'm guessing some of you can as well. Being a Christian doesn't make us immune from such feelings.

Even though we know God is with us and will bring us the final victory in all things, there are times we feel we've had all we can handle. Fears and anxieties begin to threaten to overwhelm us. We begin to believe the voices that tell us this time God isn't going to come through, and the more we begin to believe this the louder the voices get. Is there anything we can do to conquer these voices and fears?

The thing that has helped me is to spend more time in the Word and prayer. I keep reminding myself of God's promises, and I talk through my feelings with someone I trust completely. That person is my wife. It needs to be someone who won't judge you or think less of you because of your fears and doubts. Unfortunately, some Christians will make you feel worse in such times because they will question your lack of faith or even your walk with God. Avoid those people! Be honest with those who will walk with you during this valley in your life. God will use them to help you through, and when you get through the other side you will realize God was with you through the entire journey. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, and He never will!

Don't believe the lie

 Truth has taken a beating in recent years. For the past few years we've heard more about fake news than any of us would want to hear. We've seen both political parties attack each other with outlandish claims. Postmodernism has denied the existence of absolute truth. We now call good evil and evil good because we can no longer tell the difference. However, these outward lies are not the focus of this post. Today, I am more interested in the lies we tell ourselves.

Many of us, including Christians, have a very low opinion of ourselves. We feel we don't measure up, that we are not good enough. I grew up in a time when we had a lot of choose-up baseball games. Two people would be named captain, and they would pick the players for their teams. The same kids were usually chosen last. I doubt that did anything for their self-esteem. For some, it might begin in high school as we doubt that anyone will go to the prom with us. Perhaps we begin to question our worth and our abilities when we see and hear how talented our brothers and sisters are and people start to question if we are really from the same gene pool.

Our thought life will determine the direction our lives will take. If we regularly struggle with negative thoughts about ourselves it will be hard to live a life of abundance and victory. It's hard to believe that God has a purpose for our lives when we see little value in ourselves. A healthy self-esteem is essential if we want to fulfill our purpose in life.

Satan knows this, and this is why he will work hard to fill our minds with negative thoughts. He wants us to doubt our worth and value to God. He wants us to question our abilities so as to limit what we attempt to do. The Bible is clear that his purpose is to "steal, kill and destroy," and he will use every weapon in his arsenal to achieve that. One of his most effective weapons is to control our minds and the thoughts we have about ourselves.

Some of us need to spend time reading the Scriptures to learn what God thinks about us. His Word says we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." It tells us that we are "heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ." The Scriptures remind us that even before we were formed in the womb that God had a purpose for our lives. It tells us that we "more than overcomers" and "have the mind of Christ." I could go on and on, but this should be enough to get you started thinking more positive thoughts about yourself.

I want you to see yourself as God sees you, not as the devil wants you to see yourself. You are so valuable that God sent His Son to the cross to die for your sins. God desires to adopt you into His family so you can spend all eternity with Him in heaven. You are not a loser, a mistake, an accident, a misfit. Stop giving the devil access into your mind and reject every attempt he makes to fill your mind with poisonous lies. Accept what God says about you and believe it. Doing so will change your life.