Good Friday morning!
When I graduated from seminary, I felt “ready” for pastoral ministry. Where or to whom, I had no idea, but I was “ready to go.”
The first church that invited me to candidate asked if I could drive school bus. Digging ditches for a summer job at the time, I replied that I was not above anything, but I queried as to why they would ask. The short version of their answer was that the pastor driving bus was the means of raising the church mission budget.
Though inexperienced, I had the sense to decline this offer, and I am very glad I did. Had I sought to be everything to everyone, I likely would have been out of pastoral ministry long ago.
None of us can do it all. None of us is called to do it all. None of us is gifted to do it all, and all of us will fail if we attempt to.
Sometimes, in working with search committees, I make reference to “composite pastors.” The ideal pastor to a search committee might be the one who will preach like Andy Stanley, lead like Bill Hybels and counsel like James Dobson… or is that preach like John MacArthur, lead like John Maxwell and counsel like John Auxier J
Each of these individuals has special gifts to contribute to the church. Each of them is a gift to the church. None of them have the all the gifts. No one does. It takes a team. As Paul Stevens states, “God gives gifts to people, and gifts of people to the church.”
The Apostle Paul writes,
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
(1 Cor. 12:7-11)
A search committee needs to have both an inventory of the current gifts present in the church – and of what gifts are necessary for what God is calling the church to in the future. Your next pastor will not be, “just like our last pastor,” nor should he/she be the opposite of him/her. The next pastor should be appropriate for the next chapter.
I am thankful for the gifts of people around me in our Lower Pacific District ministry. I appreciate our district board, and am thankful for the resource that they are to me – and to you. I value the ministry of Steve Sharpe, as he serves as the LPD Director of Church Planting and Development. I am thankful for the ministry of Josephine Papp, who has accepted the position of LPD Office Administrator, and officially begins on May 1. (You can read about her in the attached “Five Minutes on Friday, April 28, 2017).
Each of these individuals brings both gifts and skill to the team, and their strengths complement mine. That’s what a good team does. As Paul again writes,
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. (1 Cor. 12:15-20)
How is your team going? What part do you play, and how do you complement one another?
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LPD Women in Ministry Facebook Page. Karen has set up a Facebook Page, and invites all women church ministry staff and pastor’s wives to join. The purpose is communication, encouragement and prayer for one another.
To join the Facebook Page, please simply search “LPD Women in Ministry” and click ‘Join” Pastors – please inform your spouse of this opportunity.
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May God bless and keep you as you look to the Lord, and trust him for his good work in the week ahead.
In Jesus,
Rob
