So, whose tent is the biggest?

 The story goes that two tent evangelists in the mid-1900s got into a public argument as to who had the biggest tent. It was finally decided that each would measure their tent when it was discovered that both tents were the same size. One had been measuring their tent from the outside while the other had been measuring his from the inside.

After 40+ plus years in ministry I have seen a number of pastors jealous of other pastors and what other churches were doing. This often happens when a church's ministry begins reaching larger numbers of people. Pastors of these churches are often accused of "sheep stealing" or having questionable theology. These pastors and the churches they serve may find they are attacked by other pastors, and the reason for these attacks may be no more than jealousy.

This past week at the national convention of the SBC Rick Warren was given an opportunity to speak to the delegates regarding his church's decision to ordain women to the ministry, a grave sin in the eyes of much of the SBC. I read many of the comments on Twitter from pastors in attendance, many of whom had little good to say about Warren or the church he served for over 40 years. He was accused of being weak on theology, of being egotistical and being the primary reason evangelicalism is under attack today. I found many of the comments to be little more than jealousy of the success he and his church has enjoyed over the years. I really think what was behind many of the complaints was that his tent was bigger than those of his critics.

Ministry is not a competition. Our battle is not to be between churches but between the forces of evil and the work God has called us to do. If a soul is saved, who cares what church or pastor was used by God to reach that individual. Rick Warren was gifted and called by God to serve a much larger church than I could ever pastor, and I praise God for the work that he and the church has done. I spent 20 years pastoring a rural church that never grew beyond about 55 people, and I praise God for the opportunity to serve that church. Since then I've been given the opportunity to serve in a denominational role and as a Transitional Pastor of two churches a little larger than the one I pastored. Not once have I ever been critical of another church because it was larger than the ones I was serving.

I've said for a long time that too many pastors never fully unpack their boxes when they move. Almost as soon as they arrive at their new church they are looking to see what larger churches might be soon opening up. They're looking for the larger tent and, dare I say it, the larger salary package that goes with it. I have to wonder how the Kingdom of God would be if those of us called to ministry would see our current place of ministry as God's calling on our lives. Rather than seeking a larger tent, maybe we should see that we have been called to this place "for such a time as this."