Mar

Tuesday Town Hall 21…What Are You Looking For?

Posted by: Sonny in Church, Leadership, Preachers, Townhall Tuesday

tues-townhall My pastor is retiring at the end of this month. This saddens me because he is not only a great man of God; he is the only pastor I have had. No one really enjoys change much but the leader of a church leaving can raise concerns and even cause some arguments and dissension in a local body of believers. There have been some questions raised because of a new young adult fellowship that has been initiated. I have also played a part in the establishment of this group. And I am assuring anyone that reads this that we are not doing or saying anything to cause division. Wayne, one of this group put it exactly the way all should see it. He said The Bridge (our group) is an addition, not a subtraction. We want to help each other and the unchurched in these age ranges in our community.

The church has started the process of determining who will take up the mantle of our pastor and move this congregation forward. We all seem to have different ideas about what we think we want in a pastor but the question should be what do we need. Every church is different and has different ministry opportunities and finds itself in the middle of different communities. No two will need the same things. But I want to ask a few questions here today for discussion. A lot of my commentators go to my church but not all. And I know there are other readers. I ask that all respond. These questions are not just about my church.

What role does age play into your choice?

Do you think a couple with children living at home would be a positive or a negative choice? Why?

How important is “style” to you? This is meant in relation to their preaching.

Would you want someone you have known previously to be your pastor?

How much education should the pastor have?

Would you want a single pastor? Why or why not?

Should someone in your local assembly (church) have the first shot?

Do you have any special requirements you are looking for?

These are just a few that I am wondering about for now. If the comments come I may add more as they warrant. I am not looking for the things we should all be in agreement about already. We all know we need someone with integrity and anointing, someone that is a student of the bible, and someone that is filled with the Spirit and operates in His gifts. These and other such things are not what I am looking for. I am looking for practical things that you are interested in.

This is not for comments that are meant to demean anyone. Jesus is monitoring this discussion with me.

Love you all

Tags: Bible, Church, congregation, Discussion, dissension, Fellowship, Love, man of god, ministry, pastor, style, town hall, War

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 1:22 am and is filed under Church, Leadership, Preachers, Townhall Tuesday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

12 comments so far

Tammy

What role does age play into your choice?

For me age is secondary, but still important. I prefer to not have a pastor that will retire about the time we get to know him.

Do you think a couple with children living at home would be a positive or a negative choice? Why?

Yes, I believe a pastor with children would strive to make our children’s department a huge success since he would have a personal stake. I believe every pastor would want a successful children and youth ministry, but one with a child might invest to a greater degree.

How important is “style” to you? This is meant in relation to their preaching.

I have been in the church my whole life and I have seen several different styles that appealed to me. I probably would like a couple rolled into one, like expository preaching with real passion. Mostly I like to be challenged without walking away confused!

Would you want someone you have known previously to be your pastor?

Possibly, who do you have in mind?? I may could think of one or two from the years past.

How much education should the pastor have?

I think it is great to have education, but tons of it is not necessary to my decision.

Would you want a single pastor? Why or why not?

I have not given much thought to this; If single, where would his true focus be? I guess it depends on why he is single.

Should someone in your local assembly (church) have the first shot?

I plead the fifth on this! I lean toward probably not.

Do you have any special requirements you are looking for?

Someone with experience as a pastor; a shepherd who knows how to lead and manage his time; knowledge in the word, thinking of the future, not the past; wisdom in the ways of man and God!!

March 3rd, 2009 at 12:53 pm

Confused

Sonny, I know this has nothing to do with the blog, but instead a conversation that we had during our Bridge meeting. I this week have realized with a torn heart what you were talking about when I questioned why you were so angry. I came in with an open heart to this church ready to pledge my membership, that has changed. I have came to the conclusion that even though I have the same beliefs as the old Church of God, I do not with this one. I have tried two seperate Church’s and I do not belong. Now I am trying to decide whether I belong at any. So you see, I can understand your frustration.

Sonny, I would like for you to pray that God will find me a Church home.

March 3rd, 2009 at 1:40 pm

Sonny

I will pray for you.

I also would like to say that sometimes we, including me, put too much emphasis on our own wants. This is what I am trying to come to grips with myself. What should we desire in a church? The focus should always be on the mission we are to be working out but there has to be something for us as individuals also. I do not want anyone to leave ACOG but if our hearts are not on the mission, we are bound to be unsatisfied.

Think and pray some more and always keep in mind that we are all, even when we disagree, a part of the family of God.

March 3rd, 2009 at 2:22 pm

Wayne

What role does age play into your choice?

Experience over age. I would not want ACOG to be his first church whether he is 40 or 55. Now if a brother is 45 with 15 years experience then bring him on.

Do you think a couple with children living at home would be a positive or a negative choice? Why?

It would be positive because of the personal stake and being familiar with issues that kids face right now.

How important is “style” to you? This is meant in relation to their preaching.

Honestly, I like a little of everything

Would you want someone you have known previously to be your pastor?

Depends, if being confortable is important then yes. The reason we tried ACOG was because of the pastor. That could be a negative too

How much education should the pastor have?

I just want “street smarts”, I have heard folks with all kinds of initials by there name that couldn’t preach. You need to be know your stuff but make a message out of what you know

Would you want a single pastor? Why or why not?

I am really not sure, I have never been to a church like that

Should someone in your local assembly (church) have the first shot?

If they were grooming that person sure. Not just someone that has credentials that goes there.

Do you have any special requirements you are looking for?

A desire to reach the Alabaster community. A desire to be a part of the Alabaster community

March 3rd, 2009 at 9:01 pm

Wayne

Confused,

Hang in there. If you are restless God is trying to tell you something. Be patient, pray and listen

Hope you stay!

March 3rd, 2009 at 9:06 pm

Heath

“the leader of a church leaving can raise concerns and even cause some arguments and dissension in a local body of believers.”

Got the T-shirt!

I am 32 with 10 years of experience… Master’s degree, no kids, married 10 years… And I think every one of the factors I just listed has very little, if any, bearing on my abilities as a pastor. What they do have a bearing on is who I am.

Hire the person, not the resume.

Then love the person and throw yourself into supporting them.

March 3rd, 2009 at 10:47 pm

Mike Ward

Sonny & Confused,

I obviously am not privy to the totality of your conversation together, but I would like to say a few things concerning what was said in this blog.

Pastoral change is always difficult for the church. The person you have chosen to follow (as Paul said, “as he follows Christ”) and to place your trust in to have the necessary wisdom in guiding the sheep, is leaving. Christ, himself, understood the extreme difficulty of this situation when in John 14 he tells his disciples to “not let your hearts be troubled and neither be afraid….” He was about to leave his “church” as far as physical proximity was concerned, and he felt the need to address this issue with them directly. Scripture, unfortunately or perhaps fortunately depending on your perspective, does not give us a detailed insight into the multitude of questions that pervaded the disciples thought processes when dealing with the emotions of this coming separation. However, I feel certain that among the emotional responses were such feelings as anger, fear of what lies ahead, a sense of abandonment, and probably a massive amount of confusion. What would this drastic change mean for them in their lives? I also feel certain that some of your brothers and sisters at Alabaster are feeling some of these same emotions (not at your present Pastor I hope, afterall, he is retiring). However, each individual needs to understand that Christ is not only intimately aware of this situation in His Church at Alabaster, but that He is also Sovereignly at work to fulfill His will for the Alabaster Church of God.

Which leads me to my next point–that we must all, at all times, remember that it is ultimately Christ who we follow and it is Christ, as the Chief Shepherd, that we must trust to place the right individual over us as Pastor. If, as Paul says, that it is God who is raising up and and bringing down our leaders on a global governmental level, then how much more can we trust God’s choice as it pertains to the appointment of pastors over His church? I know, and have expressed it myself in times past, that we receive governmental leaders that we do not prefer, likewise, pastors are selected that would not necessarily be our first choice. However, we must ask ourselves,who are we truly following– Christ and His wisdom or man and his wisdom?

Sonny, you said it oh so correctly when you stated that sometimes, “we put too much emphasis on our own wants.” For some, this might be the result of a selfish immaturity wherein they can be constantly heard saying “I want…or I need….” We can see this evident in the Corinthian church where Paul had to deal with factions within who declared allegiance to Paul, and some to Apollos and yet others to Peter. Pauls response was to say, “are we not all of Christ?” In other words, does this church belong to God or to Paul and his followers, or Apollos and his followers etc…

For others, this attitude may be the result of a concious or unconscious lack of trust in God’s awareness of and involvement in the life and needs of His church. When things don’t go as we think they should or even as we believe scripture teaches that they should, do we then feel a need to help God out? What God wants from us is, first and foremost, our submission to His authority over our lives. If every member of a church would focus on their own need to submit to God, then we would eventually realize that we are all marching in step with the heart of His Spirit.

Confused, I want to encourage you to make a covenant of servitude to God first, and then to the body of which Christ is the head. If you are looking for the “perfect church” of which to be a part, you frankly will never find it. As a result, you will find your self detached or cut off from one of the greatest sources of God’s blessings and grace in your life–your brothers and sisters in Christ. I am 53 years old and have been a believer for 33 of those years, and I can definitely state that one of the saddest and unnecessary tragedies that I have observed is watching believers wander from church to church because they are dissatisfied with the imperfections or blemishes of the church that they attend at any given time. They live the life of a spiritual tumbleweed and never become rooted (mature) and are of little or no benefit to the Body of Christ because they are constantly entangled with and distracted by the failures of others.
I realize that the Church is made up of some people who’s spiritual warts make them, what we called in Ohio, “BONE UGLY”, but maybe that is the very individual that God has chosen to minister to– through you. All of us need to take our eyes off of problems with denominations or other individuals which can become a source of “stumbling” in our lives, and get our eyes on Christ–the author (source) and finisher (completer) of our faith journey. When I look into the mirror of God’s Word and His Holiness I immediately understand why Isaiah in chapter 6 cried out “I am undone” or “I am UTTERLY UGLY” (my interpretation of his emotional and spiritual state) and yet God loved him and he equally loves us–thus we ought to so love others! You are needed by your brothers and sisters and you also need them. We are to be, as Paul said, fitly (a term used to describe stones joined so tightly together that they are in essence one stone–a work that only God the Master Craftsman can do) joined together so that eventhough we are individual stones yet together we become the dwelling place of God–the Temple of God. Note that Temple is singular–we are not many temples but joined together to comprise the one dwelling place of God. For it is “truly good when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity.”

Please excuse the length of these “few comments” but I desperately hope they in some small way help.

God Bless

March 3rd, 2009 at 10:55 pm

Sonny

Thanks for all the responses so far.

Love you all

March 3rd, 2009 at 11:46 pm

Shannon Mimbs

What role does age play into your choice?

- I think Heath had it right in stressing to vote for the person, meaning that age is not the end-all factor.

Do you think a couple with children living at home would be a positive or a negative choice? Why?

-This probably could go both ways. I can see how a pastor having kids at home may keep her or him more in touch with what’s going on in the contemporary scene. Yet, I don’t think this has to be the case; as some Pastors have no physical children of their own but a heart for kids’ well-being nonetheless. Also, many churches (especially in the CoG) are structured in such a way that the Pastor has so many responsibilities in the local church that she or he has no quality time available with her or his kids. All the more reason for a shared pastoral task (e.g. Elders and Deacons). This isn’t said in order to support a Pastor not being a committed shepherd. However, I think in so many ways we (in general) misunderstand the Pastoral calling and demand things that should rest on the shoulders of the believing community.

How important is “style” to you? This is meant in relation to their preaching.

-My concern is foremost with substance. The “style” must be genuine and not detract from the clarity of the message. Preaching is a dynamic task, so I try to be as merciful as possible when I see someone genuine and studied attempting to share the Word. I think we should constantly strive to be better communicators of God’s Word (pastor or not).

Would you want someone you have known previously to be your pastor?

-Various persons can be impressive on a resume, interview well, preach well, etc. Time tells us their heart and vision as a shepherd.

How much education should the pastor have?

- I think we must acknowledge the fact that education is obtained in various ways. Just because someone has a degree (for passing however many courses) does not guarantee that she or he is prepared. At the same time, if one is not putting forth effort to hone skills requisite for one’s calling, I have to ask why. Personally, I think the training that we have available for ministers in the CoG (Lee and COGTS especially) are tremendous vehicles for theological education. If our Pastors can’t afford to go on their own, the church should consider aiding such endeavors.

Would you want a single pastor? Why or why not?
- I don’t think this qualifies or disqualifies anyone (unless there is some outstanding circumstances behind one or the other). Jesus was single.

Should someone in your local assembly (church) have the first shot?
- I agree with Wayne’s response to this question. If a person is being mentored for such a role, then I would consider that person a viable candidate. (Moses-Joshua, Elijah-Elisha, Paul-Timothy) Mentorship makes a difference.

Do you have any special requirements you are looking for? A Disciple-Making Pastor

To “Confused”:
-I would encourage you to consider prayerfully Mike’s (and others’) comments. Your place in the Body is vital. Many times our insights concerning the local assembly are opportunities for us to bring about positive support toward necessary change. Although we (as a church) have so far to go, there is progress being made. It is up to us to band together and selflessly consider the mission of God’s love. Echoing Wayne’s comment – “Hope you stay!” Blessings

March 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am

beth

“each individual needs to understand that Christ is not only intimately aware of this situation in His Church at Alabaster, but that He is also Sovereignly at work to fulfill His will for the Alabaster Church of God.” Thanks Mike, appreciate that reminder.

What role does age play into your choice?

I agree with Tammy, I was thinking younger only though because I dont want to go through this again 4-6 years when another pastor retires.

Do you think a couple with children living at home would be a positive or a negative choice? Why?

Um, that is harder, I think the pastors role can be hard on a young family, but that is their personal decision if God has called them early in life. I would say it depends on the pastor. Its not a factor that would make me vote against someone.

How important is “style” to you? This is meant in relation to their preaching.

I dont have a very broad reference point on this one. I have only had two pastors before. Not sure what to say.

Would you want someone you have known previously to be your pastor?

I agree with Wayne and Shannon. I dont personally have anyone in mind.

How much education should the pastor have?

Again, I agree with Shannon on this one.

Would you want a single pastor? Why or why not?

Um, not really. The pastors wife is a role hard to fill with someone not married to the pastor in cases where council is needed. Who would a single pastor use in this case? Not totally against it either.

Should someone in your local assembly (church) have the first shot?

Did someone volunteer?????????????? haha

Do you have any special requirements you are looking for?

Someone who is open to what we have and what changes can be made to make us better. Open, communicative, willing to change, willing to get tough when necessary…. God’s choice!

Sorry I forgot to login again…Sonny

March 4th, 2009 at 11:31 pm

Sonny

Beth,

Thanks for the comments. And you do not have to log in here. That’s on the Gathering. The forum, which because of spam I had to make it registered member only posting. But anyone can still read.

Love you all

March 5th, 2009 at 12:11 am

Nancy Massey

These are some very valid questions. I have thought about them alot lately so here I go.

Age–I think we can all agree that we want a pastor that is going to be around for a while. It takes time for the adjustment and healing of a pastoral change.

Children at home–I thinki that if the chosen pastor is skilled at time management this should not be a issue. Children are a heriatage to the Lord and so no one should be excluded if he is being fruitful and multiplying.

Style–He should definately have some. In more ways than one. The call to the ministry is a great honor. To love the Lord with all your heart and your neighbors as yourself enough to accept the call, walk the walk and speak the truth is a awsome responsability. Integrity and wisdom should walk hand in hand, along with love and compassion, knowledge and boldness and knowing when to apply each.

Previous person–If God has called them to ACOG why should we hold it against them just because we know them. Time changes all things. (just look in the mirror).

Education–I think it is important to know the word and how to rightly divide it. Book smart people are not always the most qualified even if they may think they are.

Single–Jesus was single and a great teacher/preacher. I agree with Tammy.

First Shot–I want God’s choice to get first shot, whether I know him of not.

Special Requirement–Reflective of JESUS, GOD, HOLY SPIRIT.

Confused,

I hope you are still here. If I have offended you in any way I am sorry. I have been here at ACOG for a long time and I often take things for granted. Please keep in mind that we all have our own oppinion and may not be as timid to voice it, this in no way makes you any less welcome or valuable to us. If I can help you in any way please feel free to let me know. I will be earnestly praying for you and I hope you will find what God has for you.

Love you all,

Nancy

March 10th, 2009 at 12:24 am