Monday

I have been a pastor since the fall of 1982. That means I have pretty extensive experience with the let down that comes on Monday. Think about it, the whole week gears toward Sunday and then, it's over. You might think that would leave you with a sense of accomplishment, and sometimes it does, but there is always that realization that no matter how good you thought your message was you will be expected to turn out another next Sunday. Beyond that, I heard a physician on James Dobson's radio program say that most ministers will have an increase in adrenalin on Sundays and then it will crash on Monday. So, you have two strokes against you on the best of Mondays. That is a dangerous place to be.

There is a standard bit of pastoral wisdom that says, "Never resign on a Monday!" Most ministers of my acquaintance have thought about it. I know I have, but the real question is how you are looking at the situation. If it is about me, how I am treated, or if it is about results, how the church is numerically doing, then there would be lots of times to quit. What I have come to realize is that it must be about Jesus. How will He be most glorified? Now, that sounds somewhat mystical and I am no mystic. How can I know if Jesus is being glorified? I think the only thing we can do is step back from things and take a hard look. That generally means getting away from it for awhile, and then looking at the church with fresh eyes. I have done that more than once. I am sure I will be doing it again.

Up When Things Are Down

One of the things that I face from time to time is how to be up when things are down. Coming on the heels of an entry about loneliness, it may sound like things are falling apart in my world, but believe me they are not.

Today was one of those kind of Sunday services where a sizable number of folks were just not here. Some were on vacations, one family was at the hospital, another was attending a baby dedication at another church, a few were sick, and some were just backslidden. Now, what do you do in that situation? Do you get angry at the folks who are not there? Do you fall into the "slough of despond" and project that so that everyone feels equally depressed? I have tried both of those approaches and have not been all that pleased with the results. What I did today was to put as positive a spin on things as I could. I made a conscious decision that I was going to be up. My hope is that such an approach will be contagious, that the service will be, in the best sense of the word, uplifting. But, there is a down side to being up. Suppose you walk into church and see a lot fewer people than ought to be there and just about the time you are getting worried the pastor comes on like nothing is wrong, as though he is oblivious to what seem so obvious to you. Somehow, I want the church to know that we do not live or die by the statistics, that we can worship the Lord with many or with with few. I want to project a balanced concern about where we are and where we ought to be numerically, but that I refuse to allow that to rule my emotions. Maybe that is too nuanced a message to get across in the tone of a Sunday morning service. Maybe that is why I have a blog, to develop those ideas for the two or three folks in the congregation who will read them.

Loneliness

It was the great explorer, Shackelton, that said, "loneliness is the price of leadership." There are times that truth comes home to me and this week has been one such time. I doubt if anyone but another pastor would realize how much of the typical pastor's week is spent alone. Even the most compulsive "people person" sorts will spend time in an office alone, typically in an empty building. Visitation is a good outlet, but you have all the time getting to the folks, and let's be really honest here, they don't always want you to show up. Further, those visits are about ministry, not really focused on fellowship.

That is where friendship comes in. I have been blessed with some really good friends, especially in the ministry. They know where I'm coming from because they have been where I am. My hope is that I will make those friendships real "two-way streets." I enjoy getting from the relationship, but I have to give as well. The Scriptures counsel, "for a man to have friends, he must show himself friendly." I think it is a good investment. You never know when you are going to really need a friend.

Fifty Something

I was at a coffee shop with some ministerial buddies when one of the guys began to bemoan his station in life. He had served churches in many different capacities and is quite a talented guy, but can't seem to find another position. He didn't really want to "put his name out" because that just didn't feel right to him. What's more, he was sure no one was interested in hiring a fifty something guy without a full head of hair and few to many pounds.

I knew what he was saying. There have been times that I have moved from one ministry to another. I have never been all that comfortable with the system. Do you just send your resume to every church you hear is open? What is the real difference between that and calling someone like the state promotional director to serve as an intermediary? Somehow you have to get your name in front of the committee which will make a recommendation to their church. Now, just how do you do that?

I have known a few fellahs that just said they would pray and leave it in the Lord's hands. I have generally observed they are the ones who either have a network of friends who go to work for them or they end up selling insurance and working the night shift at Walmart.

Clearly, we need a better system. I would only suggest that the preacher brotherhood become a bit more caring about one another. Point in case, I have talked to three friends about "finding" a ministry position for my unemployed acquaintance.

I really don't know how this friends situation will resolve. I do know there is a crying need for good pastors. I can only hope that our imperfect system will work for this fifty something friend.

"Turn Your Radio On"

Soon after I came to Bethlehem Church I learned about what was then called the Ashland City Ministerial Alliance, or the ACMA. It has sense changed its name to the Cheatham County Ministerial Alliance in the vain hope that if we made the name more expansive it would grow the organization. In any case, one of the things that this association did for me was to give me the opportunity to host the Monday morning edition of the "The Shepherd's Hour." I have done it almost from the beginning of my ministry in 1995. Corky Albright, the owner of WQSV, does this as a public service to the community. Each week day a different host or hosts launches out into the ether. I was actually tempted to say "hello world!" the first time I went on, but I fought back the urge.

The Shepherd's Hour really is an hour long, so I have plenty of time to play the sermon from the preceding Sunday and some good Christian music. I have also read all the way through a couple of books, one, the autobiography of Warren Wiersbe more than once!

One recent change to all this is that the radio station has gone on the internet. I actually have a member of the church I pastored in Illinois who listens in on Mondays. I sometimes joke about my "vast media empire" because while the station may saturate Cheatham County and parts of the surrounding counties, I have no way of estimating how many listen. Just about the time that I think nobody but my Mother-in-law is, I will meet someone who mentions that they enjoy the program.

I have written all of this to make an analogy. Ministry is not an easily quantifiable thing. It is possible to get to thinking no one is listening, that no one is being helped. It is just about then that the Lord moves upon someone to send a note or go out of their way to express appreciation. In other words there is a tangible proof that God is using me.

I have every intention of going down to the radio station next Monday from 9 to 10 a.m. I hope it will be a blessing to someone, but I may never know if it is. Just so, I will do my best to remain faithful to God's calling on my life. I am confident that it is doing more than I will ever know.

Editorial Revision

After I wrote my first real blog entry, I naturally wanted to show it to my wife. While she generally liked it, she expressed concern about a couple of things. First, she did not think I was positive enough about the Sunday morning service. Maybe she is right. I may have made it sound like I was just glad there were few folks asleep during the service (there are always some). My point to her was that I didn't want to "over-sell" the service. I have seen some church web sites and pastoral blogs where you would assume that Pentecost had come again, and it is happening every Sunday! I suppose what I really meant to get across was that I felt like the congregation was with me. That doesn't always happen. I am sure it is sometimes my fault when that happens, and sometimes circumstances work against us, but whatever the reason, every preacher knows the difference between a congregation that is following the sermon and one that is not. Sunday at the Bethlehem FWB Church, they were with me.

Second, my wife wondered if I might be setting a dangerous precedent by writing about the church service. Will people expect that I will offer my analysis every Sunday? What about when something doesn't go all that well? Will I bring that up for review in this blog? Well, let me just say that this blog is pretty open ended. I think it would be rare for me comment on every service, but from time to time I would imagine that it will happen. I am "Pastor Corn" after all. I am writing this to express things about my vocation.

Finally, I have no real expectations that this blog will be widely read. How many thousands of them are on the web these days? How many thousands of those are written by pastors, who at heart are frustrated writers? In fact, I doubt that a tenth of the folks who attend Bethlehem will ever look at this thing. So, why write it? I'm doing it for me as a creative outlet and perhaps as a source of inspiration to a few others. That's enough.

Sunday Night

This may be my favorite time of the week. It is Sunday night and I am back home from church. There is a sense in which Sunday is "game day" for the typical pastor. Everything builds up to Sunday and when you get to this time of the day, it is all over.

I have to say that I thought today went reasonably well. Sure, I could have wished for a better attendance in Sunday School and in the morning worship service, but I thought the service itself went well. There are times that I am the last person to ask about how a sermon went. I can on this occasion say that I felt everything went smoothly. Preaching is a spiritual activity, so you can't really quantify it, but there are just times that you know it has gone better than others. Today was such a time.

Tonight we had a fellowship supper and a presentation by Bonnie Kate Simpkins about her trip to Cuba with "E-Team." I thought she did a very good job and I was glad she had this experience. Who knows what sort of long term effect it may have on her?

This is the sample run of this blog. I have been inspired by the blogs which other Pastors have posted and decided I would give it a shot. More later.