Thirty-eight years and seven churches ago I wore a younger man’s clothes. When I graduated from La Sierra University in 1976, I was still a young Christian. I had been overwhelmed by God’s grace only three years earlier. For me, studying for the ministry was really a study of our awesome God. I wanted to know more about Him, His ways and His will.
Oh, and there was this “pastor thing.” I didn’t think much about it other than I wanted to dedicate my life to God’s service. I had no real image of what a pastor was or what they did. But this much I knew: another Pentecost was coming, possibly very soon, and I wanted to help bring it about. And I just knew that my fellow Adventists wanted it as much as I did. How hard could it be to get things moving in the right direction?
After graduation the Southern California Conference hired me so off I went to a church on the coast to serve as a new youth pastor. My senior pastor was a wonderful man, patient with me, wise and down to earth. These qualities were put to the test when I naively made a major mistake in youth ministry.
Wanting to provide an environment where our youth could feel at home, I surveyed our church plant and eyed an unused room that had once been the Dorcas (community services) room. We had a regular youth chapel with pews, one we were expected to use. But the problem was we couldn’t make it our own, rearranging things, bringing in bean bags, redecorating and more. So, we wanted the old Dorcas room, which had not been used in years.
We took it to the church board and our request was approved. However, a number of longtime members heard about the vote and forced a business meeting to take place. That day I was in the parking lot in my car with my senior pastor standing outside and chatting with me. An older woman approached to really let me have it.
"Don't you know a man worked hard in converting that room to a Dorcas room, and had a heart attack and died?”
We didn’t get the room after all. That was an interesting time, and it was potentially enough to cause me to rethink what I was getting into as a career pastor. But my senior pastor gave great counsel and I finished the course.
But here’s the main point: the church is full of sinners, not saints as far as character goes. That certainly includes me! And for anyone to be a successful pastor, you must love people. Let me emphasize this: you MUST love people! Everyone has admirable qualities, along with those not so admirable. Let your “default file picture” for each person be the one with the most likeable traits.
My sad discovery coming out of college was that people were not as focused as they could be on the things of God. And they brought their issues, many from childhood, into the church. But this is exactly the religious world where Jesus led His ministry. The church of Pentecost led through the same religious dysfunctions: greed, dishonesty, heresy, abuse of power and neglect of vulnerable people in their church.
If I was hoping for the sequel of Pentecost, what I got WAS the church of Acts, indeed. So what should a young pastor with idealistic expectations do when faced with troublesome people?
- Listen to the counsel of experienced pastors as many understand the surprisingly common problems faced
- Realize that your own issues can often get in the way
- Be aware that God is very interested and capable of helping us
- Pray for the Holy Spirit and be sincere about it
One of the greatest blessings of ministry is the insight into God that others won’t receive. Jesus is the good Shepherd. He is the good Pastor. You can feel God’s disappointment in people, but also see how He values them, too. He would leave the ninety-nine to save one.
There is no higher calling in God’s universe than to be a Seventh-day Adventist pastor. Meditate on that idea and see where it takes you! God will take care of expectations.
