One thought comes to mind - nobody is qualified to be a pastor or even a child of God, except as a recipient of His infinite grace
I would rather have a pastor who deeply loves Jesus than preaches engaging sermons. Yet the Bible tells us that those who are forgiven much will love much so that tells me that my ideal pastor is someone who has really missed the mark a lot (or is more deeply conscious of it). In other words, quite unqualified from a worldly perspective to lead a church
I knew a man in Bowie, Texas, a lot of years ago that was asked by the congregation of the church he was a member of to be their next pastor. He told them he had no Bible College, no seminary, and they said they didn't care. He knew the Word, and that's what mattered.
I recently posted on flakebook asking whatever happened to the biblical model of training up someone from within the church, rather than hiring a complete stranger from Seattle to pastor a congregation in Miami, as is the usual practice.
I essentially got the "That's just how it's done"-type answers.
It's more difficult and time consuming on the front end. Churches like the instant gratification of a pre-made, prepackaged leader. I ran into this at a church I was on staff at where the church wasn't enlightened enough and needed people from different states to come in and teach them how to do church. It was miserable and did a lot of damage.
I was trying, slowly so as not to scare him off, to do that at my last pastorate with a young man in the church. I asked him where he saw himself in five years, ten years. He said that he would like to be involved somehow in ministry. It appeared that maybe he was headed that direction. I ended up having to resign my position, partly due to health reasons, and a little over a year later that young man went in a completely different direction, denominationally speaking.
I feel your pain on investing in someone only to have them take a different path. Been thinking about your earlier comment and it's one of the reasons I started writing. I've been reading about and watching churches who hire a celebrity pastor or bring in leaders with questionable doctrine, and they either destroy or steal these churches filled with great people. It's heartbreaking. When you raise people from within the church, they're hearts are already bonded to that church, and are less likely to do something to damage it.
Your question is getting to where my heart is. People flowing in their gifting, leadership being one of them. The issue I have with modern day church culture, is that we have made leadership the most coveted gift of them all. Not just that, but we've sanitized it to look a certain way. If it's a gifting, the Holy Spirit should be at the helm, not modern day axioms. Each gifting is vital for the church, one isn't above the other, which is exactly why Paul wrote about it in 1 Corinthians. When someone is operating with the gift of leadership, they're taking the church in the direction the Holy Spirit wants to go.
Excellent work here. It’s way past time we stop judging our spiritual leaders based on what looks good on paper. The most used people in the Bible come from a place where they wouldn’t dare be used by the church if they lived today. Great read.
One thought comes to mind - nobody is qualified to be a pastor or even a child of God, except as a recipient of His infinite grace
I would rather have a pastor who deeply loves Jesus than preaches engaging sermons. Yet the Bible tells us that those who are forgiven much will love much so that tells me that my ideal pastor is someone who has really missed the mark a lot (or is more deeply conscious of it). In other words, quite unqualified from a worldly perspective to lead a church
I knew a man in Bowie, Texas, a lot of years ago that was asked by the congregation of the church he was a member of to be their next pastor. He told them he had no Bible College, no seminary, and they said they didn't care. He knew the Word, and that's what mattered.
I love hearing stories like this, thank you!
Beautiful anecdote! I wish more churches looked at the heart rather than the outward appearance
Thank you!
There’s hidden blessings in missing marks!
Indeed! There’s grace in having the perspective to see those silver linings
I recently posted on flakebook asking whatever happened to the biblical model of training up someone from within the church, rather than hiring a complete stranger from Seattle to pastor a congregation in Miami, as is the usual practice.
I essentially got the "That's just how it's done"-type answers.
It's more difficult and time consuming on the front end. Churches like the instant gratification of a pre-made, prepackaged leader. I ran into this at a church I was on staff at where the church wasn't enlightened enough and needed people from different states to come in and teach them how to do church. It was miserable and did a lot of damage.
I was trying, slowly so as not to scare him off, to do that at my last pastorate with a young man in the church. I asked him where he saw himself in five years, ten years. He said that he would like to be involved somehow in ministry. It appeared that maybe he was headed that direction. I ended up having to resign my position, partly due to health reasons, and a little over a year later that young man went in a completely different direction, denominationally speaking.
I feel your pain on investing in someone only to have them take a different path. Been thinking about your earlier comment and it's one of the reasons I started writing. I've been reading about and watching churches who hire a celebrity pastor or bring in leaders with questionable doctrine, and they either destroy or steal these churches filled with great people. It's heartbreaking. When you raise people from within the church, they're hearts are already bonded to that church, and are less likely to do something to damage it.
Yes, heartbreaking is a good way to put it. He had great potential.
Better still, is there someone in your congregation who lives Christ and has leadership gifting?
Your question is getting to where my heart is. People flowing in their gifting, leadership being one of them. The issue I have with modern day church culture, is that we have made leadership the most coveted gift of them all. Not just that, but we've sanitized it to look a certain way. If it's a gifting, the Holy Spirit should be at the helm, not modern day axioms. Each gifting is vital for the church, one isn't above the other, which is exactly why Paul wrote about it in 1 Corinthians. When someone is operating with the gift of leadership, they're taking the church in the direction the Holy Spirit wants to go.
Excellent work here. It’s way past time we stop judging our spiritual leaders based on what looks good on paper. The most used people in the Bible come from a place where they wouldn’t dare be used by the church if they lived today. Great read.
Thank you for reading, genuinely appreciate that. You’re putting some great stuff out as well!