Pastoring

I'm in a writing mood today...or at least my thoughts have been active this weekend.

I've had two calls recently to consider pastoring churches.  One was here in PA and one in OH.  They weren't inquiries by a committee.  They were phone calls from people who know me and know the hunger in their hearts for their churches to be on the cutting edge.  They know I tend to be out there on the edge and that's where they want to be.

Years ago when I served the Board of Congregational Resources for Lancaster Conference I spent a lot of time in churches encouraging them to reach out to their neighbors and their communities.  I don't think I ever spoke in a church where I didn't attract people who wanted more out of their church experience.  They were hungry for a meaningful, personal relationship with Christ.  They were frustrated by what they were experiencing and hungry for a deeper connection.  They were tired of the conflict over "maintaining" the traditions.  Many told me they would have left their churches if they had known where they could go.

So why don't I jump right into one of those situations?  Because for one thing, my wife would leave me.  Seriously, she bore the brunt of much of the conflict that was directed at me when I pastored before.  I could come home and dump on her what I was experiencing and go away relieved.  She, however, didn't have anyone that she could take the burden to.  She and my kids bore the force of the battle I waged every week in trying to bring the church to growth and to impact our community.  We stood alone even though we had friends in the church.

Secondly, when someone who knows me asks me to consider pastoring again they aren't usually in leadership.  The leadership in most churches is entrenched.  They are focused on making everyone happy and not stirring the pot.  The only way that a pastor can survive if he is a change agent is to have the leadership of the church backing him.  Now don't get scared.  That doesn't mean the pastor has a free hand to do whatever he wants to do, but he needs a supportive group of elders who can back him when the dogs start nipping at your heels.

Thirdly, when people say they want to change they really don't know what they are saying.  As much as they might want to believe they want change when faced with it, it becomes another matter.  Why is that?  Because change takes energy.  Change is hard.  Change upsets the apple cart.  Change confronts you with brokenness in your life that you have kept buried and would like it to remain so.  Change is gut wrenching.  When your sin is exposed it can bring lots of shame from others who don't want theirs exposed.

After leaving my pastorate I went into depression.  I had run out of tricks in my bag to survive.  I was stripped naked of all my emotional supports.  All my brokenness was exposed.  I was on my face. 

By God's grace  I found people who were in the same shape as we were who walked with us through the changes I needed to make.  I needed help and I knew it.  I had been crying out for help but others didn't want to face their need along with me.  When I found a group of people (and it wasn't restricted to my community or my state) I latched on to them.  They were broken and knew it.  They asked for help.  The Father showed up.

It was messy, really messy.  It didn't have anything to do with singing hymns or scripture choruses.  It didn't have anything to do with the color of the nursery.  It didn't matter whether we had chairs or benches to sit on because most of the time we were on the floor crying over the brokenness we knew we had.  We were crying out for mercy from our loving heavenly Father.  We knew there was no other answer to our plight.

We were among people who were violent...toward themselves and others.  Anger was prevalent.  There were ugly sexual issues from infidelity, pornography, pedophilia, masturbation addiction, sexual abuse, sexual addiction and more.  It wasn't your typical Sunday School where we are talking about the baby Moses in the basket.

It's kinda tough to have a regular service that follows a routine each Sunday when you are dealing with the brokenness of people.  It doesn't fit in neat categories and it doesn't understand time restraints.  If I pastored a church again, all hell would break loose.  You know why?  Because the Kingdom of God would be coming and pushing out the darkness.

Do you think I would get past the pastoral search committee?  Probably not.

Right now I am interested in being on the street with others who are looking for help.  I'm still looking to my Father for healing and I will be for the rest of my life.  I know I don't have it all together even though I might look like it sometimes.  I'm tired of the facade--mine and others.  I want real people who are serious about seeing change in our world...starting with me.

Model T

I finished reading a book about the life of Henry Ford this weekend.  It was published in 2005.

My memory may be failing me but most of the biographies I have read usually leave the subject in pretty good light.  Their accomplishments are highlighted and their foibles are minimized.  This biography was a balance and I appreciated learning about Ford's weaknesses and failures as much as his successes.

Ford is probably best known for his contributions to mass production.  He envisioned manufacturing a car for the common man by mass producing it on a assembly line where he could pass on the economies of scale.  Over the roughly 15 year history of the Model T he produced millions of them, hitting a peak of over 2M one year.  He also was able to cut the price on the car and double the wages of his workers.  He became known as the $5 a day man.  He wanted his workers to be able to afford his automobile as well as other consumer goods.  His economies brought the price of the Model T down to under $300.

Part of what drove him was the desire to have his own company and to make all the decisions.  He held an iron fist around all the choices that needed to be made including the smallest part on each of his cars.  This continued long after he was employing over 10,000 workers.  On the positive side it allowed him to control the outcome of his vision and not be deterred by others in his organization who had a different vision.  On the negative side he held on too long to his vision without changing with the times.

Long before he stopped production of the Model T and moved to a more advanced Model A the sales of his cars had begun to drop significantly.  Other manufacturers had begun to develop lines of cars that were more expensive but also offered more of the features the buying public wanted.

That seems to always be the case.  Our greatest gift becomes our greatest failure.  We hold on too long to something when we should be moving on with the times.  Or as I like to say, moving on with the vibrant, ever in motion Holy Spirit.

What is our Model T in the church today?  Hymns? Sunday School? Meeting on Sunday mornings?  Wearing suits to church?  What is the competition doing that we aren't doing?  Are we still expecting the way we did things 150 years ago to suffice for today's seeker?  What is today's seeker looking for?  What are their needs, fears, desires?  They are probably much like ours.

I heard somewhere recently that the Muslims have been working toward world domination for 60 years or more.  With the unrest we are seeing in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and other mid east countries we are also seeing that the radical Muslim groups are standing by on the sidelines waiting to "assist" in bringing stability to their countries.  What are we doing to bring the Kingdom to bear on these situations and bring freedom to the captives?

That's ultimately what God wants to bring to us all...freedom.  He wants us to be able to enjoy his heart, to have intimacy with him and with others, to enjoy the desires of our heart.  Is that what we are offering?  Is that what you are receiving?  He's calling out to us today.