What Does A Pastor Do?

The pastor teaches, though he must solicit his own classes. He heals, though without pills or knife. He is sometimes a lawyer, often a social worker, something of an editor, a bit of a philosopher and entertainer; A salesman, a decorative piece for public functions, and he is suppose to be a scholar. He visits the sick, marries people, buries the dead, labors to console those who sorrow and to admonish those who sin, and tries to stay sweet when chided for not doing his duty. He plans programs, appoints committees when he can get them; spends considerable time in keeping people out of each other's hair; between times he prepares a sermon and preaches it on Sunday to those who don't happen to have any other engagement. Then on Monday he smiles when some jovial chap roars, "what a job- one a week!"

Author unknown 

911 & It's Subtle Effects in a Decade

How 9/11 changed me and challenges me to be a better witness for Christ.
I remember that day clearly as most do. I was in my church office and my wife called me after the first plane crashed into a tower. I came home for a few minutes to watch it on the TV. I really did not grasp the impact of it right then cause I did not know as much as I know now. I later left to go downtown that morning and being that we only lived 4 hours south of DC at the time the news was spreading fear and worry everywhere I went that morning.
I do recall how nice of a day it was and the strange calm i felt as I noticed no planes flying over ahead the remainder of that day.

Since then the security at out airports has changed drastically. I have also witnessed numerous times how TSA agents have lost their common sense and discernment with the American people in the name of security.
The biggest change I've noticed however is in me. Since that day I often find myself frozen when I see someone who appears to be Muslim and I get sort of spooked internally. This was never the case before 9/11.
In 1998 I witnessed to a Muslim in Africa for an hour and now I realize that I must look past 9-11 and share Christ again with the same pre 9/11 passion as a growing population of Muslims continue to grow around us. I know without Jesus all men are hopelessly and eternally lost.
I must admit the fear of men and the propaganda about Muslims effected me without truly realizing it until this past year.

In 2012 I have a missions trip planned to West Africa among Muslim people. I truly am looking forward to sharing Christ without fear and with His favor. I also know if I can feel that about them living there I can and need to be this way here at home.
What if the tragedy of 9/11 had been done by radical Catholics or Evangelicals or Jews or Hindu's ? Or radical democrats, republicans or socialist. I've learned over these past 10 years that I must love His way regardless of who does something wicked. I have to look to God to be filled with his power to be a witness to all men everywhere regardless of religion or creed.
Our hearts still go out to those who lost loved ones on that day, but may we learn to love more in the name of Jesus verses fear more.

Do You Rest Weekly?

  I recently returned from a week of teen mission camp. There were 15 of us in 3 vans driving 12 hours one way to make a difference in the city of Tuscaloosa, AL after the Tornado’s from April. The night we arrived we were excited and got settled and started off the time in the evening worship. What followed was very little sleep on a gym floor with over 100 other people. Each day was labor intense in the hot sun and each evening mixed with fun. Truly the event was life changing for many who attended for multiple reasons. We returned late Saturday night before dark. Teens and adults were tired and the adults probably more so from the extra drain of driving for 12 hours. Throughout the week I never slept more than 6 hours on any given night. Then when we got home, I had Sunday responsibilities to be prepared for and minister out of again. 

  I am observing today on the 9^th day that I went 8 days in a row of giving, going, working, driving and very little sleep. I am not complaining, but rather reflecting and observing my own schedule in this particular time frame. Please do not take this wrong, for the whole week was a "blast", but at the same time it was a full tilt schedule for 8 solid days in a row. As a pastor, Sunday is a day of worship and rest for the body of Christ which is a good thing. Attending worship services to learn, fellowship, sing, give and is to be a spiritually inspiring time every week. Yet for the shepherds and those who minister to the body of Christ it is technically a day of work to empower others to experience a great day of rest.  As a pastor, it is hard for me to take a total biblical day off and rest, renew and reflect without some demand requesting me and my time. It is hard for me to take a full day of rest without giving, but I know I have too in order to be biblically balanced.

         As I reflect back on my day off (Monday) I can see that I broke my schedule for rest. I broke a command for a rhythm of rest unintentionally. Thank you Jesus for the Grace to forgive and reveal your wisdom!   I drove and did ministry for at least 12 hours on what was my typical day off to rest last week. Please know I am not a legalist, as I do know and understand the grace of God.  I don’t "feel" like I sinned because all that I did for 8 days was ministry and good things, but technically I did not take a shut down day off with God like He commands all believers to do as he did after 6 days of creation Himself. 

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he restedc from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” Genesis 2:1-3

 I also know that the law does not redeem me, but it’s the sacrifice of Christ which is my redemption. My intent was good and I am set free from the law, but the law still is there for my good and the good of others as well. I actually feel God’s grace in a refreshing way just writing the truth of this experience.

You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.  But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Galatians 5:4-6

So why am I writing about rest when I did not do so well this past week at it? Because I am observing in me how easy it is with totally good intentions to miss the mark of the cycles and rhythms of God’s perfect protective laws for our own good. If I took apart each of the last 8 days I probably could figure out a way to justify 8 days of work without rest, but the bottom line is, regardless of the reasons I feel very tired today and as I reflect back I can see I'm off sync. I can see 8 days of non-stop from my usual cycle and I am paying the price in my body if not in other areas.

    This recent lack of rest in the intent of ministry helped me see afresh the wonder of His love for me and how he designed me to rest in cycles and rhythms for a reason. The intent of the Sabbath was rest with renewing purpose and not rule adherence. It's just a rule of every 7th day that helps us stay in sync with Him and our design and others.

 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?   Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”   When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.  Luke 13:14-17

     Each day requires its own rest and last week going to bed after midnight with teens in a gym and waking up by 6 a.m. was not a great cycle each day. The lack of daily rest compounded on top of the next. I tend to be a night owl way to often anyway and I can see better now how even that does not help my life very much. Not only has God instructed us to physically and spiritually rest and renew one day a week, but there is also the need for daily healthy cycles as well.

Do realize that observing a Sabbath rest is written in the list of commandments along with do not kill, do not steal and do not bear false witness? This reveals to me that to totally ignore the need to rest weekly is as much a violation to ourselves as much as it is to God and others who have to live with us. How much different would we all be if we keep this command weekly? 

If more professing believers observed a Sabbath rest the first day of the week before 6 full days of activity/work I wonder if we might also observe a lot less sin and other violations among each other. Does a lack of rest leave us less sensitive to the Holy Spirit in daily obedience? Does the lack of rest cause us to stumble more in sin against one another? Does the lack of rest cause us to run on empty and shorten our fuse with one another causing more quarreling and fighting? Does Rest Really matter?  I believe rest matters greatly. On one hand, not resting creates problems for us and on the other hand resting too much is defined as laziness and causes another set of problems as well. Bottom line is we need to work out of rest and rest weekly. If we do not do this, then the lack of rest creates disruptions in our lives and those around us.

In some regards rest is as meaningful to our bodies and minds and moods as food is the fuel for our bodies to live on. We need rest and we need it daily, weekly and for the remainder of our earthly lives. A weekly rest does not need to be a certain day of the week as much as it needs to be 1 day each weekly cycle which ever day that is for us, but when we can all be on the same day as a community / culture is makes it so much easier.

 Sunday in America had been a shut down rest observing day for the last couple centuries, but now as we live in a post Christian era the secularist time clock has taken over. 24/7 living and working is now the norm. The Sabbath is not reinforced culturally and therefore requires more personal discipline to accomplish then it ever has.

  Even the convenience store 711 has out grown its original objective of being open early at 7 a.m. and closing late at 11 p.m.  I see the scriptural reason, rhythm and benefits of observing and enjoying His law more then ever. He sure does love me and He loves you as well.
 

 

  As I Rest with Him each week I am discovering that it is also much more productive to Work out of Rest then it is to Rest from Work. When we mess the cycles up we mess ourselves up and when we mess ourselves up, we usual end up messing up others along the way too. What a great God we serve who loves us enough to set the example with us in Resting. May we rest daily and weekly and be extremely fruitful for His honor and glory.

Do You Rest Weekly?  do you have a rest area weekly with God and His People while on the Journey of life?

Jesus Virgins And The Man Who Stunk To High Heaven

The stuff that pastors deal with! The good, the bad and sometimes the mysteriously bizarre.

My last pastorate was on a rural road in a rural town. In the 9 years I served there I dealt with very few strangers and hard pressed situations, at least compared to where I serve now.

In the 28 months of serving in my present ministry very few months have passed without at least a phone call for some need.

There are professional poor thieves out there that know how to play the emotional manipulation game. The best trick in the book is when they show up either before or after a service and track down the minister.

In a little over two years I've received requests by phone or in person and the  needs have varied from electric bills, rent, food, gas, clothes, furniture, temporary lodging, bus tickets  to  “can I work right now for cash”.

At first I use to listen and give my time away or redirect them to some other agency better equipped. Recently I had to smarten up when I realized this is going to happen a lot here being so close to downtown and on the main drag. About a year ago I developed a two page form to weed out the true from the false requested needs.  They have to fill it out before I will even listen to the story. I tell them ahead of time that we do not have a large benevolence fund or food or clothing pantries. Most of the forms since then either get filled out so vague or not readable that I have to ask them all over and they usually walk away empty.
Well this past month I got taken again and as well had skipped the form. I think I need to stick to form and even spend $10 bucks for a back ground check to get the real deal info and story. I wonder if a social security number and $10 too much to ask someone who is looking for help? 


I use to leave the door unlocked during the day and then I had to lock it so they would not just walk in on me like they owned the place. One time a man walked into my office with his bible open and told me he was a prophet coming through town. He tried to talk to me without permission or consideration that I might be busy. He never introduced himself other than he was a prophet of Jesus Christ. After about a 3 minute forced bible study in my face, I said “what do you want”? He said the Lord wants you to give me gas money. At that point I was a bit perturbed with this disturbed prophet. Then as nice as I could I asked him to leave my office. When he insisted I stood up and told him that if he was a prophet then he should have known the future enough to know I was not going to give him a dime. I really did not say that, but in hind sight I wished I had. Sometime later I found out he did a lot of damage emotional to a few other churches in our area.

As he headed out the door in front of me I saying “get out” when he proceeded to call down curses on me. That was among the worst. Another interesting story was the man who came on a Sunday morning who had another long story that I had to cut short. He cut to the chase and asked me for a shower and a place to sleep for a night. No money or food, just sleep and shower.

I told him I needed time to process his request and would give him an answer after church. Then he asked if he could join us for worship. Well of course I said yes. But this man truly stunk to high heaven.

The people who came to church that morning were very nice to him and several who sat around him never said anything or treated him different because of his appearance or smell. He was loved and given kind welcomes as anyone else would be. But his odor was truly repulsive. I must admit he was the worst human I ever had to smell before. That particular Sunday my wife was out of town and I had my 4 youngest of 5 kids with me and it was a juggling act. I sensed the Lord wanted me to really bless him. So after church I took him across the street and told him to order whatever he wanted for lunch and told the waitress I would be back soon to pay for him.

I left and went to Goodwill and bought him fresh clothes including under wear to shoes (the works). Then I came back and took him to the best hotel in town. He was one blessed soul. I never heard from him again and our total bill was about 100 bucks on that guy. It was a small price to pay to help restore the dignity of someone.

Several have found my home from time to time and asked for money. The strangest one was a young woman about 22 who looked well dressed with purse and all. She rang the bell at 11:30 pm and wanted to talk to the lady of the house. After a series of my questions and no clear answers I told her request was not going to happen. She walked away down the street. Of the many who ask for gas money I usually meet them at the gas station if it feels right and then half the time when I get there they are nowhere to be found.

One day a tall man in his 60's came by and demanded we give him a refrigerator. That man was not such a happy camper when he left.

I've helped people who have the most bizarre stories. Some have worked off projects for cash or gas, others I've bought meals and given grocery cards too.

Many leaders in certain pastoral assignments can identify with these unexpected interruptions, challenges and blessings. Some are demonic and others are just pitiful. Few hold promise and many are professional abusers. And so many who we minister to each week in our local churches have no idea about the people off the streets we deal with behinds the scenes.

I’ll close with a rather goofy story that happened recently that inspired me to write this entry. I just finished helping a man get money to prevent him from living on the street (who has since has left town after weeks of helping) when I was approached by another couple ladies in the parking lot. They were dressed in white looking like 'disciples'. The picture to the right is actually the ladies themselves. My first thought was cult, then just weird and finally bizarre. They were Joan & Carrie in their 30's and 60's and they traveled the country by faith as they claimed. They did not know where they were going and asked for a place to roll out their bed rolls. After an hour of strange conversation I gave these vegetarian virgins for Jesus two bananas, 20 bucks and permission to sleep in their car in the parking lot. They did indeed refer to themselves as Jesus virgins.

Many in our congregation miss these experiences that find me and many other pastors in our nation. Some of these stories make the pulpit at times, but most never do. Our associate pastor to young families has had his own set of these stories now and we have shared a few of them together as well.


I hope a little glimpse into the mystery of ministry will inspire you to be discerning, open and more understanding of some of the odd things perhaps your pastor does while serving you as pastor in your community.