Pastors can be like mercenaries. They swoop in to the building, preach their slick sermons and off they go. Books to meet, people to sign. If you find a church where you have a true shepherd for a pastor then you have found a rare thing these days. We are blessed enough to go to such a church. We met with our Pastor for worship planning this morning and Phil Lineberger (our pastor) told us, in a passing statement, that he called an elderly man today just because he was thinking about him. The elderly chap had lost his wife of 65 years last year and Phil just wanted to make sure he was doing okay. The old man told Phil that it sure is a "whole lot different this side of the casket." At this Phil said he began to weep with and for the brokenhearted and lonely elderly man.
Phil is a man's, man. He's about 6'2 or 6'3 and he played college football for Arkansas back in the day. He is a big smart Texan and I have rarely met a man who has such a big heart. He will start talking about a little child he read about in the paper who was made homeless or a victim of war and he will become visibly moved and that compassion he feels is contagious. It is probably no genetic coincidence that his granddaughter wants to be the president of Compassion someday, and she means it.
His grandkids love him to death. He tells them "Papa" stories and they at times will include elaborate props. He also does this thing called "Papa's Kitchen" where he will make a menu for the grandkids and they get to order before they go to sleep.
I fear that Phil is part of a rare and decreasing breed of pastor where the pastor actually cares for, gets to know, serves, and loves his whole congregation.
Do you all have pastors like this? Is this a fading thing??? As churches get bigger and better it seems to be the growing trend. I hope not. Whatever the case, I am thankful that I have had this kind of teacher, pastor, and friend the past 3 years.
The true reason we get along so well is that we are fellow pranksters.
14 comments:
So true, I am encouraged that you have a man who models Incarnational Christianity. We all want to walk as our Master.
Hey Sheldon. Welcome. Thanks for stopping by and for the encouragement.
A fellow City of God fan??
I'm with you! He's a great friend, and great man.
I have a pastor like yours. But I do wonder if it's a dying service. I think I've mentioned before, that I used to be a member of a "mega" church, and at that time it didn't bother me that the pastor was more of a speaker/figure head/CEO. But the older I get, and since I've been a member of my present church, I realize the need for a pastor that actually pastors. I've realized how much it means to people when the man that brings them a word from the Scriptures, the man that leads the church with vision and authority, also visits them in the hospital, helps drive the parking busses, knows their names, their struggles and victories. To be known is of value unmatched by most things of this world.
"To be known is of value unmatched by most things of this world."
SO true. I can't count the times when I have been lifted by a person who took the time to care. Especially when it was someone who could actually help. I watch the Mother Teresa documentary and I see how these people and children were given hope only because someone loved them or cared enough to show the simplest acts of kindess. The most powerful thing about Our Lord to me is that He knows me so intamately that there is nothing to hide. No sin, thought, sorrow, or joy hidden. A naked soul. He knew the disciples so well, that he renamed half of them.
The hardest thing for an Atheist or believer to believe is that God is personal. It is what draws you to the person of Christ or it repells you.
I agree with you about Pastor Phil. It's so comforting to have a pastor that I feel like I can actually call if I have a problem or concern. All pastors should be that approachable and loving.
Seth - This is a very interesting subject. I go to sort of a mega-church, I guess, and the pastor is a great guy, but I can't even say I know him personally.
But that's why this is an interesting subject. Because, I do have a "pastor" inasmuch as a pastor is somebody with a shepherd's heart who watches out for a group of people. It comes from my small group. I think I've written about this before somewhere-or-other, but just to reiterate -- I consider the small group idea a very good trend in the church, the de-centralization of the ministry.
I don't have any problem at all with the old model of church, where one guy is "the pastor", and maybe as the church grows you have a youth pastor, a music pastor, and so forth. Our big church is still organized like that, and I've been part of that in many different sized churches and forms, and know many people who still are. The Lord can use that, and God is happy to show up anywhere that people seek him. :-)
But I can't possibly rant and rave enough about this approach that "small groups" bring to the life of the Body of Christ. I don't actually consider this a new idea, it's more of a return to the early NT church IHMO, but I don't like saying that if it sounds like I think it's some sort of formula, or some trendy church thing for hip people, or some snobby thing that the "better Christians" are doing, or anything like that.
This small group idea can take on many different forms. I heard great teaching from a guy who pastors an inner-city black church in Detroit, and as a principle, he said it's a great idea. But the people in his church just weren't hip to the "home group" concept, so he brought the principle to where they were.
He organized various parts of the church choir (tenors, altos, sopranos, musicians, etc) into small groups, organized each of the different departments in the church into small groups, and simply changed the way they relate, communicate, and "do business". (He noted how common it was for people to be in the choir together for many years, and hardly even know one anothers' names!)
Now, each time they get together, they start off with social time (getting up-to-date with one another), prayer requests and praise reports, time of personal sharing and ministry, then some Bible study or teaching (if time permits and the other prayer and personal needs weren't more pressing) and eventually, the actual "business" of why they were there -- to practice choir, play instruments, stuff envelopes, whatever.
Understand that by "small group" we are talking about a devoted community. We are talking about regular people who are ministering to one another first and foremost, mowing the lawns of those who are sick or elderly, babysitting for one another, being the shoulder for one another to cry on during sad times, socializing and having fun during the good times -- basically just doing life for the Lord together. Encouraging personal discipleship, being accountable to one another, confessing openly about temptations, sins, hurts, shortcomings, fears, and stuff like that.
It fascinated me a lot to hear this guy speak about it working in his inner-city church, because his description of how they conduct their gatherings sounds so much like our home group does, just in a different setting and application of the same principles.
We've seen tremendous life changes in everyone. We've seen amazing healing, especially of broken hearts and unresolved hurts from the past. And most importantly, when you are living this way, the way that Jesus wanted us to live toward one another, then you don't have to act like a salesman when you want to talk to someone about Jesus. They see love in action. They see people who genuinely love one another, and are not perfect or unapproachable, but are real, and honest in wanting to serve the Lord.
Our group has grown a lot, and will probably have to split at some point, but that's a good thing. We've had block parties in our neighborhoods, met our neighbors, and found out that most people are more than happy to ask for you to pray with them when they see what's happening in your life.
All of this does go back to the big church, because everyone gets together every Sunday morning for praise and worship, preaching and teaching, announcements, baptisms, and so forth.
And there is a large body of elders and deacons to do a lot of the work that "pastors" typically end up doing in smaller churches, because with a larger congregation that just isn't possible. The big church also gives accountability to the small groups, which is also important, so that you don't end up with a bunch of weird little cults teaching errant doctrine or anything.
And this all comes back around to your idea of being known and cared for, Seth. It's about authentic community -- not always putting yourself first, but instead learning to put the needs of others first. I feel like I fall so short on so much of this, and even though I know a lot about the Bible and should be a "mature Christian", I feel like I'm just taking my first baby steps in living a life of actually dying to myself and living for the Lord. But hey, you have to start somewhere.
my pastor completely rocks. he is such a man.
C-Hammer,
I've heard great things about small groups. I've never been a part of one but can definitely appreciate the importance of them.
But ya know, there's something beautiful about the shepherd of the church personally serving and meeting needs of people in the church. As a church, we are all called as lay people to meet each other's needs. But something about the leader stooping down to serve and love. It's how Jesus lived.
In America, our churches are large. Some are not, but many are large. So we have deacons and associate pastors that do that work. And I believe God works through that, absolutely. America is full of Christians. The church of course shouldn't discourage the people from coming and believing just so the pastor can know each one by name.
Still, the large church seems to maybe just maybe give leaders the excuse to be less involved in the people's lives and more about the business. I don't know. On the other hand, maybe the leaders have to focus on leading and let the lay members do most of the getting to know you part.
Fancy - One of the guys in my small group is a close personal friend of the pastor at a big church in Birmingham Alabama, which just happens to be the "sister church" of our church here in Nashville. His pastor there and my pastor here are best friends, know each other from way back.
Anyway, he says that they both struggle a lot with being part of a big church. They did not start out that way, and did not want it. They both enjoy the personal one-on-one ministry a lot, and engage in it whenever they get the chance.
But even though they have both been tempted to leave the big church and go start a new, small church, both feel like they are where God wants them to be. They possess lots of wisdom from years in the ministry. They serve as a great example of what the younger leaders can emulate in a leader who is living for the Lord. So in that sense, they are doing a job that somebody has to do, and are leaving more of the personal contact to others.
But it's not because they like it that way, it's because God has them in that position. Very few people could really do that effectively -- very few would have the years of wisdom, the training and knowledge, the patience and all the other traits involved. It's a delicate balance, being part of a large organization and keeping it thriving and alive for the Lord, while not imposing too many of your personal preferences onto others, i.e. letting the Lord work and not try to limit it, or take all the glory for yourself, or whatever other pitfalls and temptations they face.
We should always be mindful to pray for people in these positions. It's a much more lonely and thankless thing they do than you would expect, being surrounded and looked up to by so many people.
Extremely wise points. Thanks C-Hammer.
Our church is growing, and I hear from our pastor that it's already too big. He seems to have the same mindset as the two pastors you have mentioned.
It's also good to reminded that these leaders are in the position they are because God has moved them into that place. That they are serving the Lord in the way God has gifted and ordained them to do so. And that many even wish to have a different role.
I've got a great pastor like that. Julie is the most engaged and sincere pastor I've had in quite some time if not ever. And I'm not sure it is a dying breed. It may be so among older pastors and older congregations, but I think younger churches and those within the emerging church movement want the shepherd, not the batallion commander.
Cach - I agree, and that's the beauty of the small group. The shepherd is right there, personally and one-on-one for just a few people. People are doing life together, not just hearing an inspiring message once a week and then living like a different kind of person the rest of the week.
In a way, when our country was a much less mobile place, say 100 years ago, people were often born and raised, grew up, worked, aged, and then died within a 50 mile or so radius. There were some exceptions, of course, but in general, this was pretty typical.
So when the pastor of the small hometown church met with the people in town, it was pretty much a small group just because it was small, and everyone knew everyone else's business. Families grew up alongside one another. Nobody doubted who you went to if you had family problems, or needed a wedding or funeral conducted, or needed a baptism, or whatever.
But today, we are nothing like that. We're almost all wanderers, live extremely fast-paced and mobile lives, move around often, and the sense of community that was once a pervasive part of our culture is gone. I hear it over and over and over -- "I don't even know my neighbors any more". We had a housewarming party when we moved in to our current home (my wife is very social and loves doing gatherings of groups), and families who had lived right next door to one another for literally over ten years didn't even know each others' names.
People have a completely different sense of what "community" means today than they used to. Perhaps this is part of the reason that internet communities have thrived so much. People definitely long for this type of interaction, but our culture today really doesn't tend to encourage or support it much.
I think it's important to understand that what I'm talking about is not an either-or thing. There can be small groups in a very traditional church with just one pastor. Like the pastor in inner-city Detroit, he didn't change the basic traditions of meeting on Sunday mornings, and singing in the choir, and having the one pastor of the church. He just changed the way that the members interacted with one another (and if you think about it, sadly, just getting church members to interact with one another at all is not a common thing).
By finding and raising up believers from among the flock who are shepherds, and are mature and accountable believers, and training them to help disciple a very small number of believers that they meet with often, the "head pastor" is simply multiplying himself, and able to effect real life change among his members.
I really don't know what else to say about it. I've been a Christian for over twenty years, and have tried all kinds of different things, all kinds of different approaches to walking with the Lord as a "layman".
But the difference in my own life, and of the lives of those around me, is like night-and-day when I compare my small group experiences to the times in my life where I only met people on Sunday mornings and maybe Wednesday nights, and didn't form tight-knit communities with any other believers.
Inevitably, I would eventually begin to drift into a bland sort of aimlessness, where I felt a lot of inspiration during the message being spoken, but couldn't actually seem to implement it in my own life with much effect. And it certainly didn't become something that others would want a part of, or want to come and join me in doing.
With this more community-based personal-involvement driven approach, which I've now been involved in at three different churches in three different states, I've experienced the most life change by far, and seen many more lives touched and transformed.
I want to emphasize again, in case I'm coming across as trying to evangelize about small groups as some sort of answer to everyone's problems, that this is not a formula or trend. I'm actually and honestly talking about what I believe is a quite plainly taught and demonstrated biblical principle and idea for the New Testament church.
Many people will be turned off simply because the Willow Creek churches or Saddleback or somebody like that is teaching this model a lot. I'm just saying that every time I've been part of this, it has been effective. The Holy Spirit shows up at our meetings, and He ministers powerfully to ordinary people, through ordinary people.
I guess if He stops showing up and blessing it, maybe it will have run its course as a useful approach to ministry. But until then... count me in. :-)
I am seriously encouraged to hear all of these stories. Maybe the pendulum is swinging back the right direction.
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