My time as a young pastor was marked by many “Highs” and
many “Lows”. I truly witnessed God change the lives of people. I witnessed
people at their best and also at their worst. I remember as a young boy,
looking at Pastors and Christian Leaders and thinking that they somehow must
have a clear vision about what is coming next and an all encompassing view of
God and what He is doing in this world. That it was just a matter of following
that well designed and well illuminated plan that would result in success in
the ministry. What I found was that you are a man or woman, with no additional “oomphhhhh”,
standing at the front of a large group of people while facing a hazy desert
littered with sand storms, seemingly no water, and enemy invaders buried in the
most unlikely places. I tried often to
have a “quiet” time with God. Nothing seemed to work. I tried early in the
morning in my office at church alone but oftentimes found myself falling asleep
and feeling guilty about it. I tried in the evening but that didn’t work either.
I did find myself talking to God most of the time, however. Trying to find
something significant to say on Sunday Mornings before a group of men and women
became a huge chore. I watched exposition preachers preach through the Bible
thinking that is the best way and I tried it. It was not consistent and I didn’t
feel that the passages of scripture were being illuminated to me. I tried
preaching on topics but found they were topics of issues I had faced the
previous week that begged answers for me (although many of these things helped
others as well). All the while we had begun a building program prior to me
becoming pastor of the church. We had begun something called “Challenge to
Build”. As a disclaimer, let me say that I know that this has probably worked
for many churches in helping to provide money for building projects. However,
the more I prayed about it, the more it really seemed foreign to me to go into
people’s homes, putting them on the spot, and asking them to “pledge” a certain
amount toward the costs of building. This was after they were asked to pray, of
course. I just didn’t feel that this was the direction God would have us to
continue to go. So, my first major decision as pastor was to talk to the
deacons (a body of servants-all men [though my views on that were different
then and also now]) and we prayed about this program. Most of the men in this
group saw things as I did but some did not. We stopped this building “program”
and just asked the people who were attending church to give as God directed
them. This turned out to be a good thing because by 1999, the debt was paid off
for all the renovations. A note here for
small churches: often times small churches
ministries and expenses are financed by very few people. An example is a church
of 150 people will usually (this is my estimate and it may be inaccurate) have
90% of its ministries operated from the giving of less than 10% of its people.
Those 10% are usually the higher earners in the church and more often than not
come from the same few families. In some
churches, it is only one family and in others several families. The point I am
trying to make is that those few families often wield major influences over everything
that happens in the church. This often works well if these families and/or
individuals are faithful and seeking God. However, just like the rest of us, no
one does the right thing all the time and sometimes this can hinder what God
may want to do within a place. I can say, and I know that many will be reading
this, that the body of believers that God allowed me to pastor had
several families whose giving financed the majority of the ministries of the
church. These were families that I believe were seeking God and although they
disagreed among themselves at times, they loved each other (and me—thanks be to
God), and things often worked out as a result. This in part is why my time
there had such longevity. They were seeking God and as a result allowed me to
make my mistakes without crucifying me. I did, however, have friends who were not so
fortunate and their experience was much different as often happens when one
family or individual within the church wields too much control. It is important
to mention here that Satan is strategic and often attacks where can do the most
damage. If a pastor, family, and/or individual has much “say-so” power within a
local body, it stands to reason that Satan will attack that family and/or
individual to seek to influence them and get their focus anywhere but on what
God wants the focus to be on. When a person (or family) with great influence is
focused on other things besides God’s will, tremendous problems result and
often the church begins to go in decline. In my opinion this is the greatest
pitfall of the small local church. Larger churches, of which I have been apart,
often have some of the same issues but often Satan’s strategy of destroying
them is different (more about that later). Keep in mind, the influential
person in the church can also be the pastor….if the families wielding the most
power and influence trust him or her. Unfortunately, this became true of me as
time warranted greater trust in me as the pastor of our church. Here is the
problem. From hind sight, I will tell you that I was still seeking God and “straining”
to follow His will but I wanted more than I was able to handle and
wanted more than God’s people were ready for. An example:
David was only able to fight the giant Goliath because he had killed so
many smaller prey in the wilderness. Excuse my frankness but David did not exit
his mother’s womb and march immediately out in the desert to face the giant. He
was trained in the wilderness and God brought the Giant naturally to him when
it was time. Had he went out in the desert too soon it would have been him
lying dead and defeated on the ground, not the giant. Pain and fatigue can often make
us want what we are not ready to receive. It was at this point that I
began to “push” people instead of “leading” them. Love never pushes people in
directions they are not able to go. You love people into making changes. This
is another principle: Jesus loved people into the Kingdom of God. You might
say, “Rodney, I don’t buy that. Jesus confronted people about their sin.” I
would reply, “He always confronted in love….which is the only reason that some
of those hardened battle soldiers (roman centurion) heard him.” (more to come)
No comments:
Post a Comment