Advice to new pastors

 For the past 40+ years it has been my privilege to serve in ministry. For 20 years I served as a bivocational pastor of a small, rural church. Fourteen years were spent in regional ministry serving, first 84 churches in my Area, and before retiring serving 133 churches in the same capacity. Since retirement (?) I have served two churches as Transitional Pastor. If you would allow me to, I would like to offer some advice to pastors who are new to pastoral ministry. These are things I have been fortunate to learn (some the hard way) that I pray will help you.

1. You are not the leader of your church. Your position as pastor does not automatically make you the leader of your congregation. There are people who have invested years of their lives serving the Lord and that church who are the real leaders. They are the ones others listen to, not you. You will have to earn the right to lead your congregation, and that can take several years of faithful ministry before you will earn the trust to be a leader in the church. What you must learn is to lead through the leaders. Yes, you may have some great ideas, but these need to be filtered through the recognized leaders of the church. They may point out some flaws in your thinking simply because of their experience with this congregation. It's often best if your good ideas are presented to the church through the lay leaders who are recognized as leaders in the church.
2. Many of your new ideas will be automatically rejected when they are first presented. A significant percentage of the congregation is happy with the ways things are even if they are no longer productive. Another significant percentage wants nothing more than peace in the church so they will side with those opposed to your new ideas. You can expect most changes in a church will take longer than it should as it takes time for people to adapt to new things. You are working with volunteers so you have little leverage over them. A good rule of thumb to remember: No one likes change except a baby.
3. The worship wars should have ended years ago, but it hasn't. There continues to be an issue between those who prefer traditional worship versus those who prefer a more contemporary style. (Of course, contemporary means different things to different people.) The church I most recently served as Transitional Pastor found the way to blend the two styles of music into each worship service as well as any church I have ever experienced. Most fail at doing this. If the church you serve is a new church you can probably use more contemporary music and worship styles with little problem. If you are serving in a more traditional church, it's not that easy. Worship is about finding ways to help people experience and worship God in a way that is meaningful to them. I believe it is a sin to ignore the needs of your more traditional saints who have been faithful to the church for decades in order to reach out to younger people with different styles of worship and music. At the same time, we cannot ignore their needs either. It remains a balancing act that will continue to be a challenge for many pastors and church leaders.
4. Although I could share much more I will close with this: You are not indispensable. From the moment you begin your ministry in the church you are a departing pastor. You will leave either vertically or horizontally, but you will one day leave if the Lord tarries. The cemeteries are full of indispensable people. Unless your church is a new church start, there have been pastors there before you, and if the Lord tarries, there will be pastors there after you. God has placed you there for a season. Your responsibility is to make the best of that season. One of your roles is to prepare the church for your replacement.

Perhaps later I will share more things I have learned that might make it easier for new pastors. Just remember this, if God has called you to this place it is because He has great things in mind here for you and for the church.

The North Star of our worship

This week has been a fascinating time to watch the skies. The planets Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus have lined up creating a great opportunity for those who enjoy viewing the sky. Last night we went out and could see all but Uranus which is too far away to be seen with the naked eye. For me, watching the stars move across the sky in perfect harmony with one another, and the fact that their movement is so predictable for astronomers to be able to know where each star, comet and planet will be with pinpoint accuracy is more evidence that God is author of creation. This universe in which we live did not come into existence in a random explosion but was crafted by God who designed every detail.

Last night's viewing was followed by this morning's devotional reading. I am currently reading The Wolf in their Pockets by Chris Martin who writes of the dangers that social media can play in the minds and lives of believers. It has been interesting reading which I would recommend to anyone serving in ministry or church leadership. While social media is not in itself harmful, it can cause harm if misused, and the author presents 13 ways social media can be misused.

In my reading this morning Martin mentions the star Polaris which is the North Star. It is found on the tip of the handle of the Little Dipper. Because this star is aligned with the North Pole it appears to not move but always point to the north. This star has been used as a navigational device for centuries. Martin writes, "What or who we worship serves as our North Star...All of life seems to revolve around that which we worship, even if it isn't actually doing so, just as all the stars in the sky seen to rotate around Polaris."

The Bible regularly warns us against the worship of false idols or gods. Such false objects of worship may not be the god of another religion or a carved object we pray to. A false god could be wealth, fame, a hobby, our career (even ministry), material possessions, pleasure, sports or even our family. A false god can be anything that we give our lives to and turn to when life becomes difficult. The North Star of true worship is found only in God.

The worship of God is more than singing a few songs on Sunday and dropping some money in the offering plate. It is yielding our entire selves to Him and to His will for our lives. When we truly worship God our entire world revolves around our relationship with Him.

What, or who, is it you worship? Now, stop and think before you answer. Is God truly at the of your life, or have you put yourself in that position? Have you put something else in that position? Perhaps God is part of your life, but is He at the very center of all you are and do? He will not accept second-place. This is a question that all Christians must answer, not once, but on a consistent basis to ensure God is still our North Star for worship.

Another chapter closed

This past Sunday was my last as the Transitional Pastor of Westport Baptist Church. I served this great church for about 2 1/2 years in that role and loved every minute of it. The people there are great, which I knew before I even went there. For a number of years this church was in my Area when I served as Area Minister. It was always in my top three favorite churches that were in my Area. Their pastor was a great minister and friend, now retired, and the church had an amazing feel every time I walked in.

It should not have taken the church this long to find a pastor, but that is the way it is today when churches seek new pastoral leadership. For years I've told search committees that the pool is not very big and not very deep. This is especially true for churches in rural communities or small towns. If I had to guess, some of the people the church interviewed decided to not candidate due to the small community of Westport. Personally, I don't think they know what they are missing. Of course, I like small communities and always felt very comfortable with the Westport community.

Their new pastor is a young man with a family. He's never pastored a fully-funded church before so the church has asked me to mentor him for a few weeks. He seems energetic so I think I'll enjoy meeting with him and helping to answer some of his questions.

God has been very good to me in the churches He has led me to serve. For 20 years I served as a bivocational pastor at Hebron Baptist Church in Madison, IN. What a wonderful time that was! After retiring from denominational ministry I had the opportunity to serve Madison FBC as their Transitional Pastor for two years, and now He allowed me the privilege of serving the Westport church. As an Area Minister in our Region for 14 years I know how brutal some churches can be, and I am thankful God spared me from that.

Some have asked about my future plans, and I really do not know. My auction business keeps me busy, but if God opens up another door I'll certainly consider it. I turn 75 later this year, but I don't feel like it (usually!), and I believe God still has work for me to do.

The older I get the more I appreciate Caleb. As one of the original spies of the Promised Land he along with Joshua were the only ones who encouraged the Israelites to conquer the land since God had promised it to them. Now, the Israelites are conquering the land. Caleb goes to Joshua and asked him to let him take his tribe and take the mountain areas. Although that area was inhabited by giants and walled cities Caleb was ready at the age of 85 to rise to the challenge. My prayer is that I will always be ready to rise to the opportunities God gives me.

While I wait to see if God opens up doors of ministry I am ready to fill pulpits when needed. Please feel free to contact me if you need someone to preach for you. 

Finding true value

 One of the most difficult things I have to do as an auctioneer is to tell someone that the things they have treasured have little actual value today. Many of the people I do auctions for are people who are older and moving into assisted living or a smaller home and cannot take everything with them. As we walk through their home, they tell me stories about the dresser they got from their grandmother. I often have to explain to them that the dresser didn't belong to anyone else's grandmother, and that antiques do not sell for much, at least in our area. The sentimental value they have for many of their items is far more than what they can expect them to bring at auction.

Similar things happen with those who buy "Collectibles" from television ads. One young man got angry with me when I told him the 200 or so "Collector Plates" his mother owned might bring a dollar apiece at auction. "Do you know how much she paid for them," he demanded? Yes, and I also have seen many of them sell in auctions. Here's a tip...if it says it's a collector's item, it probably isn't. Such items have little value in the secondary market, especially when sold at auction.

What does hold its value? What is a good investment? The Bible tells us "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Like someone said, you never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul. The story is told of two men who attended the funeral of a very wealthy individual known for his tightfisted ways. One asked the other, "I wonder how much he left behind?" The other man responded, "He left it all." Everything we acquire on earth is just stuff. It breaks, it gets dirty, it loses its value, and eventually, much of it ends up in a dumpster somewhere.

I've been on this rock for nearly 75 years, and the most valuable thing I possess is my relationship with God through Jesus Christ. When I leave this life, and leave all the stuff behind I've accumulated, I know that I have a heavenly home. It is there that I will be reunited with loved ones who have gone on before. It is there that I will enjoy a life without sickness, poverty, pain, hatred and any of the other things that are too prevalent in this life. Most of all, I will be in the presence of Christ who loved us enough to give His life on the cross for our sins.

I pray you are laying up treasures in heaven as well. A relationship with Christ is the most valuable thing you will ever possess because it is truly eternal. 

Confronting things that never occurred to us before

Few people in churches enjoy change. I once read that a woman upset over some changes that occurred in her church approached her pastor and said, “Reverend, if God were alive today, He would turn over in His grave at the changes in this church!”  While I doubt this actually happened, it does reflect the attitude of some within the church regarding change.

What makes change even more difficult today is the speed at which change is happening and the types of changes that are required. In his insightful book Positively Irritating John Ritner writes, "In The Age of the Unthinkable, Joshua Cooper Ramo explains that we are now in an age of discontinuous and nonlinear social change that is moving at a staggering speed. We have departed from the idea that 'our world can be reduced to simple models [and] that the real dynamics of the world make prediction nearly impossible and demand a different way of thinking.' He argues that when we experience cultural stability, it is merely 'a passing phase, as a pause in a system of incredible - and unmappable - dynamism.' In fact, he suggests, 'much of what we have to confront will be things that have never occurred to us before.'"

Ritner points to the Covid-19 pandemic as a good example of this. All of a sudden, churches could not gather for worship, and pastors became televangelists overnight. Either churches took their worship services online, or those services did not happen. Many churches, especially smaller ones, had never given any consideration to airing their services online. In fact, many of them didn't have an online presence of any kind.

Such rapid changes occurring in our world today require a different way of thinking for church leaders. The old models of pastoral ministry still being taught in many seminaries simply will not suffice. Today's pastors must think more like entrepreneurs. Dave Ramsey coined a term for the title of his book Entreleadership. An entreleader is a person who combines both entrepreneurial thinking and sound leadership practices as he or she leads their team. Entrepreneurs are bold risk takers when facing new challenges; leaders are people who do not let their ambitions and enthusiasm run away with them. When one combines these two qualities they are prepared to face the new challenges that present themselves.

However, as many a pastor will point out, the congregation must allow the pastor to be an entreleader. I've seen many congregations want to micromanage everything the pastor does. They hold him or her accountable for results, but they do not give him or her the freedom to lead. It's like telling the pastor to push down on the gas pedal while they are standing on the brake and then complaining the car isn't going anywhere.

I've been a Baptist my entire ministry. Baptists are congregationalists. In other words, the congregation makes the major decisions of the church. This is often done in a monthly business meeting after committees have discussed a particular issue, sometimes for months before presenting their recommendations to the congregation. By then, the need to respond quickly to new challenges or opportunities have long since passed. 

I will make a bold proposal, at least in the eyes of some readers. Do away with your monthly business meetings and trust the leaders in the church to make the right decisions. If you have selected a pastor because you believe he or she has been called by God to be the pastor of your church why can you not trust him or her to provide the leadership necessary? If you have selected lay leaders to lead your church why can you not trust them to work with the pastor to provide that leadership? You will find no place in the Scriptures where any decision was made by a church business meeting. You will find where decisions were made by the apostles and leaders of the churches that they then passed on to the churches. Let me be very blunt...if you do not trust your pastor and lay leaders to provide leadership, you have the wrong people in those positions or there is something wrong with you.

Change is not going to slow down. In fact, I believe it will continue to increase. Pastors today face challenges I never had to face in my pastoral ministry, and this will continue. Churches ten years from now, if the Lord tarries, will face even greater challenges, and pastors and congregations need to be equipped to be ready to face those challenges if we are to successfully impact our communities for the Kingdom of God.

The Law of the Lid

 I suppose the two books that have had the greatest influence on my life would be the Bible and John Maxwell's book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. When the book was first released Maxwell went on a tour promoting the book. I attended one of his conferences. The first law he addressed was the Law of the Lid. He said that this lid determines a person's level of effectiveness. But, not only does this law impact the individual's effectiveness, it also determines the effectiveness of any organization this person might lead.

As an example, if a leader has a leadership lid of a three, an organization or team he or she might lead can never rise above a two in effectiveness because at that point it will bump up against the lid of the leader. This is true no matter if the organization is a business, a company, a church or even a family. However, if that leader can increase his or her leadership lid up to an eight, the organization can also rise to a seven in effectiveness.

When he finished discussing this law I was upset. In fact, I never heard what he said about the next two laws. At the time I was pastoring a church and managing a small business our family owned. Neither were doing well. I had been frustrated with both believing that if the employees of the business and the members of the church would work harder we could do better. Maxwell was saying both instances were my fault. I was the leader. I became upset because I knew he was right. At that time I committed myself to grow as a leader, and years later I have never stopped trying to improve my leadership.

Two things happen when the leader has a low lid of leadership. One, he or she will only attract people with even lower levels of leadership. A person who might have a lid of a six will not come to work for a leader with a lid of a three. In a church setting, a pastor with a leadership lid of a three will not attract lay leaders with a leadership lid of a six. He or she will only attract those with lids of 2 or less. This is not the way to grow an organization.

The second thing that will happen is those already in the organization with higher leadership lids than the leader's will leave. This takes away the good leaders already in the organization, and these leaders will be replaced with persons with less leadership ability.

I have spent much of my adult life involved in the business world and the church world. I have owned two businesses since retiring from a factory job. For more than 40 years I have served in ministry, fourteen of those in judicatory leadership within our denomination. Time and again I have seen both businesses and churches call leaders with very poor leadership skills and then wonder why their organizations suffered and failed to grow.

Much of my ministry has focused on smaller churches. I have often tried to help them understand if they were to break out of their decline they needed to call healthier pastors with greater leadership gifts than they were used to. I'm not sure I was ever successful.

Here's just one example. A once thriving church called asking if I would recommend a certain pastor to serve their church. They were in the process of calling a new pastor. The previous years had seen a significant decline in their attendance. I told the caller I would not recommend that person to serve any church as he had nearly destroyed every church he had served. The following week I received another call from a different member of that church asking the same question about the same candidate. Again, I explained that they did not want this person as the pastor of their church. Of course, they called him. Within about three years the church closed its doors.

Pastors, no matter where you are on the leadership lid scale, you can improve. You can grow as a leader, and as you grow so will the church you serve. Business owners, you can also grow as a leader which will see your organization grow as well. Parents, you also can grow in your parenting skills which will improve your marriage and provide your children with growth opportunities in their own lives. Leaders must never stop growing.

Finding truth

When President Donald Trump first stated that Covid 19 came from a lab in Wuhan, China the news media among others attacked him for misleading the public and for using anti-Asian hate language. Today, The Department of Energy, the director of the FBI and other agencies have concluded that Covid 19 did in fact originate from that lab, and that China has done everything it can to prevent the investigative work that reached this conclusion.

When the pandemic began we were told that if everyone remained in place for two weeks the virus would go away. Much of the nation was shut down, but this proved to be a lie. We were told everyone had to wear a mask as that would prevent the spread of Covid 19. We were not allowed in public buildings, airports and other facilities unless we wore some type of mask, but this was later debunked when it was finally admitted that masks did little, if anything, to prevent the spread of Covid. Vaccines were rushed to the market under emergency approval that would supposedly protect one from the disease or cure those who already had it. Military personnel, doctors, nurses and others who refused the shots were fired from their positions. Then we were told the vaccines were not enough but that booster shots were also needed. Not surprisingly, many who received the vaccines and boosters continued to get Covid. President Biden has been faithful in getting the vaccines, boosters and wearing a mask. He's had Covid twice now that we know about. We have been told repeatedly to "follow the science," but it seems the science has consistently misled us.

The only things related to Covid-19 that we can know with certainty is that millions of people all over the world died from this disease. Families have suffered greatly. Some individuals and pharmaceutical companies have profited greatly.

Russell Blaylock, retired neurosurgeon, wrote a blistering paper titled "COVID UPDATE: What is the truth?, that was published in Surgical Neurological International journal. His article begins by stating:

"The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most manipulated infectious disease events in history, characterized by official lies in an unending stream lead by government bureaucracies, medical associations, medical boards, the media, and international agencies....We have witnessed a long list of unprecedented intrusions into medical practice, including attacks on medical experts, destruction of medical careers among doctors refusing to participate in killing their patients and a massive regimentation of health care, led by non-qualified individuals with enormous wealth, power and influence.

"For the first time in American history a president, governors, mayors, hospital administrators and federal bureaucrats are determining medical treatments based not on accurate scientifically based or even experience based information, but rather to force the acceptance of special forms of care and 'prevention' - including remdesivir, use of respirators and ultimately a series of essentially untested messenger RNA vaccines. For the first time in history medical treatment, protocols are not being formulated based on the experience of the physicians treating the largest number of patients successfully, but rather individuals and bureaucracies that have never treated a single patient...." (Blaylock RL. COVID UPDATE: What is the truth? Surg Neurol Int 2022;13:167.)

Actually, this post is not about Covid-19 and the lies we have been told since it first appeared on the scene. It is about truth. We live in a time where we struggle to believe anything we are told. We have been misled so often from so many people and organizations we thought we could believe that it is difficult to believe anything. Where do we find truth?

In John 17: 17 we find Jesus saying "Your word is truth." Earlier in the book of John Jesus tells His disciples, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." I believe it was Leonard Sweet who once wrote that he was asked if he believed in truth. He responded that he not only believed in truth, he knew the One who was the truth, Jesus Christ.

I have lived nearly three-quarters of a century, and I have found that the only source of truth I can consistently believe is the Bible. For over 40 years I have preached the Word of God knowing that it is true. If you are a skeptic or non-believer who insists on believing that the Bible contains errors do not bother writing me trying to convince me I am wrong. You are wasting your time. I have found it to be true time and again. And the One the Bible points to from Genesis to Revelation, Jesus Christ, is the truth personified. He is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Deliverer, the one who made it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins and be adopted into the forever family of God.

For those of you who are pastors and preachers, you have the privilege every week of proclaiming truth to your people. In a world of lies and "mis-spokes" they are hungry for the truth. Preach the Word! Without apology. It is in the Scriptures where they will find the truth.