Okay gals, here are two ministry trends that get on my nerves. I'm just purely venting...and sharing my opinion...(is that anything new??!!) Didn't think this would be an appropriate "Nitty Gritty" or anything...just wanted to share pet peeves among friends on the board and see what you think. I'm looking forward to hearing what YOU think.
These are some trends in ministry I see that really just pure out get on my nerves:
1) People that pastor churches (or even staff pastor at churches) who are never really "there" the MAJORITY of the time, but just use it as a home base (mainly for regular income purposes) while they go out and evangelize or do missions, or conferences, conventions, or become a Christian artist. I think all those things are noble...and great full time callings, but let's be real...if you are a Christian artist on the road, or you are evangelizing most Sundays of the month, or you are away at conferences even half the time...how can you effectively pastor? (I mean truly pastor, where you are actually the one leading the church, or the segment of the church that you are supposed to be leading as a staff member). I think many people pastor for other reasons other than truly having a heart to pastor because they "need it to make it." In other words, they are not pastoring to help the people, but for personal reasons. And I don't think that's integral. I really respect people like John Maxwell, who, once the leadership ministry grew to a certain point, he realized it was not fair to the people that he continue to pastor because he couldn't devote the time he needed to really be a "pastor" and not just a figurehead dropping in once in a while. He truly cared about the people. I know one pastor who admits he is not really called to pastor, he is called to be an evangelist but he says he can't make it on the income of an evangelist, so although his pastoral income is not large, he pastors just to have enough monthly income to be able to go evangelize. (But he's an ineffective pastor, and the church really suffers.) So, because of his need, he continues to pastor. But, is that really fair to the church? I don't think people should pastor unless they are truly called to be the spiritual mother and father of a church. What do you think?
2) People who are not black, but try to "sound" black (or Spanish, or Southern, or whatever) for lack of a better phrase when they sing or preach, and they naturally sound nothing like this at all. (It's an obvious forced thing.) I'm not talking about people who really do genuinely have voices that may not "match their look" so to speak. (Like when you have a little tiny person with a powerful voice) I'm talking about totally faking it and being someone you're not. You can tell this because when they talk in a normal setting, they have another voice but then they are suddenly transformed into someone who sounds like Juanita Bynum or T.D. Jakes as soon as they begin to minister on the microphone. My teenage son calls these people "posers." To me, it's laughable. I mean, truthfully I have to tell you -- I tape T.D. Jakes on my Tivo every single day and I am crazy about his preaching, but I would NOT in a million years get up and try to sound like him or just repeat all the catch phrases he says. How can people think they will ever be effective being "someone else"? I know of one pastor's wife who is convinced so much she wants to be like a popular TV preacher that she has all but had plastic surgery to look, sound, act, just like her. It's soooooooooooo funny it's almost embarrassing to listen to. Have you ever wondered when people will just get the hint that they are best at who God has made THEM to be for His glory?
I have some friends who are evangelists who got to a church to minister and before service had dinner with the pastor. He was a nice "normal guy" from up north...very much a northerner in his mannerisms, speaking, tone, etc. They had a total blast with him at dinner. He was just "himself" and had no pretenses. As soon as they got to the church and the pastor opened the service, he rang out in this loud booming voice that had a southern drawl and sounded kind of like Jimmy Swaggart and he said, "Come on, let's stand and give Gawwwwwwd the glory!!!" And our evangelist friends thought this was a total joke since he was so different at dinner. They thought it was a practical joke so they burst out laughing and couldn't stop. Meanwhile the pastor looked at them like they had lost their minds. (He was just doing what he always did in the pulpit.) They were so embarrassed once they realized this was not a joke and was his usual demeanor in the pulpit. They said as soon as the service was over, he went to his "northern" voice and right back to the way he was at dinner. They thought it was the most hysterical thing they ever encountered.
But since hearing their story, I've realized it's not uncommon... I've met/seen a lot of people who do the same thing. In fact, I was just listening to a CD of a worship leader tonight who completely fakes a different sound and uses all the catch phrases of another culture, and listening to it, I really almost felt embarrased for them...know what I mean? I kind of wonder, do the "real people" in other cultures find it funny, or weird?
I may get in trouble for this one b/c it seems to be very popular these days to use in the pulpit, especially in a very charasmatic church, but honestly, the "touch your neighbor and say..." really gets on my nerves when overdone. It seems that every preacher is saying "touch your neighbor or slap your neighbor a high five." I understand congregation participation and wanting to keep the people awake but really, is it necessary to go on this way? Then I think, if I'm in a service where this is being repeated and I don't participate, I'm being rebellious, so sometimes I do it just because...
My husband and I , along with a missionary friend from Chile were discussing this the other day. We were laughing about the telling people to stand up then turning right around and telling them to sit down "cause I aint done yet". I mean, I am SSOOOOOsick of hype. I know the Word of God can bless our emotions and stir us up. But I believe by looking at what all the Word says scripture is good for, correction, reproof, ehortation and one other that slips me at the moment yoiu get the impression that 3 out of 4 times the Holy Spirit speaks to you through His word it is going to be corrective. Sometimes it is the people. The preacher falls into the trap of giving people what they want. And someone hear dsomeone say a phrase and they pass it on. I have become so disgusted with this sort of thing myself that it has caused me to turn off so much christian tv. I just can't take it anymore. And I am kind of Joan of Arkish about truth and here's something that gets on my nerves to the utmost. (Sorry if any of you do it ) But I just am not convinced about all this numerology that people use and especially when taking up $$$. I know God used seven as a number. ANd there are some valid things like that in scripture. But having people give $365 to have a new anointing for the year 2004 or whatever is just wrong. What ever happened to not giving as out of compulsion? And why is it that these tv stations always get the same people to come raise money? It just can't be right. I have gone from giving to big ministries to giving all my $ to missionaries and smaller ministries that I know I can trust. It's a turn off. Call me jaded. But don't try to finaggle me to give, don't try to hype me up on emotionalism. Give me truth and give it to me straight. I know sugar helps the medicine go down, but phoniness and hype only makes people more comfortable and GOd knows that is already a bad enough problem. Wow, that was a pretty opinionated peice huh?
You guys have me laughing so incredibly hard right now. Thanks -- I needed this. I had an extremely busy day today and just needed an all out laugh. It feels so good.
You bring up excellent points all of which I agree with and share your sentiments. There are so many over-used phrases or tactics as you might call them. And many times it's not truly worshipping the Lord, it's just whipping the congregation up and has nothing to do with truly connecting with God or entering into His presence. I am hungry for the presence, the power of God. But not just something that has been regurgitated from another preacher. There is nothing "sinful" about the phrases used or the methods but they are just over-used and they get old. That's just like when pastors get up and scream, "GOD IS GOOD" and expect the congregation to scream back, "ALL THE TIME." It gets tiring. And when it it used that way it loses it's impact.
As you mention, I do not like it when evangelists get the crowd on their feet and then after telling them to get on their feet scream back, "sit down, I'm not done yet." My dh and I once traveled to visit a large mega church that you often see on TV. We were excited to experience it. But when we did, it was a 2 hour sermon where the pastor yelled at the crowd to stand up, sit down, raise your hands, slap your neighbor, etc. You almost felt like you were playing Simon Says rather than being in church. I don't know why I feel this way, but something inside me tells me that is arrogant and manipulative. And the whole number thing -- you're right. It's overkill and turns the offering into something it shouldn't be. I am a true believer on sacrificial giving and our church is a huge missions supporting church and we strongly teach faithfulness in the giving of tithes and offerings but I don't believe we need to turn it into something mystical. Just share the Word of God...that's all it takes.
These people that get up and beg for you to send them money or they will be off the air -- maybe they aren't supposed to be on the air if they can't pay the bill. Money follows ministry.
I must admit, we have our own "catch phrases" in our ministry -- in our preaching -- and in ou church, but they are just that -- "our" phrases, unique to our church, not something we got off of somebody else and just recycled it and spit it out to work people up.
God told me something in prayer about our church this past week, and I had never heard it anywhere else about another church and I shared it with our people Sunday morning and they really responded to it and got excited. But that was for our church, not just any church. Whatever happened to pastors hearing from God for THEIR church and not just recycling somebody else's message, mission, vision, etc.???
Agree with ya gals, you're preaching to the choir!!! I think we all are. Well, there we go with another catch-phrase..."preaching to the choir..." Ha!
Hey, let's come up with the top 10 ministry catch phrases...here, I'll try my best at a few attempts...as many as I can think of after this tiring day...
1) You may be seated IF YOU CAN!!
2) God is good -- ALL THE TIME!!!
3) Turn to your neighbor and say...
4) If you'll just send us a seed faith offering of...
5) And everybody said... (Amen)
I'm tired, I'm going to bed. G'night.
Love ya'll right back, (I'm a southerner now too, Cassandra!)
Not sure what happened the first time I posted this, i will try again.
I belonged to 2 churches where the Pastors got caught up in trend 1.
Church A: an independent Baptist Church in Md. Pastor C, I will call him, was very charismatic, southern and opinionated. He was great! Preached right from the Bible, always. Appeared to be a good leader, and even poked good natured fun at times, at the TV preachers. He would always say to his assistant Pastor in the middle of a sermon, "Now Brother T_____, is that good preachin'?". Pastor C became very popular. His wife came down with "environmental allergies". Allergic to the world.(I'm not being flip) We laid out 10,000 dollars to build a booth onstage for her for worship times. We then laid out an obscene amount of money to biuld them a special home. Soon, he stopped counseling, began to forget who his own parishoners were when we would call, get very upset if you called him at home, even in an emergency, and soon left altogether for evangelism full time around the world. Mostly in very nice places which we paid for. enough said.Oh, I heard the home was sold to pay for their travels.
Church B: a Southern Baptist Church in W. Va. Pastor R was very charismatic also. A good man. His wife though was not as interested in the HARD WORK AND SACRIFICE of being a Pastor's wife, as she was with the prestige of the title. Pastor R and some families raised up a church in the middle of a cornfield. It soon swelled to 300 around the time we came. Soon, Pastor R began to stop greeting people. He had a private entrance/exit built so he would preach and quickly leave with no interaction allowed. Only the most talented kids or kids of the rich were allowed to participate in the Sunday School Programs. ALL events were paid ones. R soon announced that he wanted to be a superchurch and be on TV. It was not long before he became a real celeb.. R soon had a dozen assistant pastors wether we could afford it or not. He changed his home #, and only gave it to 2 people in the church. Church directories were only for the rich so we poor folk would not bother the wealthy with money problems. R would no longer counsel or meet with anyone except a perspective member who had money and insisted on it. He had 3 secretaries full time and you could only see him if you got permission from all 3. hE BEGAN TO TRAVEL ALL THE TIME AND WAS AROUND LESS AND LESS. Last I heard, he was divorced and working on a book in the woods somewhere with little hope of getting published. It was very sad to see this rapid dissinigration of 2 churches i loved, and the pastors who went astray looking for fame and fortune.
Mark lowery told me you should only walk through doors in Ministry that God opens. Never force them open on your own. My pastor and I spoke about this just yesterday. He has had offers of fame, but he said that he is but a servant, and he has never felt released from our church so he has never believed he's been called to go. He said a call will be accompanied by a feeling of being finished with one job before starting another. Good advice I think. But this is disturbing, this trend. I am not saying that Joel Osteen is not where he should be, I can not judge that. But too many good pastors are leaving to become stars of the show, and the people left behind are the ones suffering for it. love, lw
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...... Then they came for the Catholics, and I was a Protestant, so I never said anything. And then, they came for ME, and there was no one left to speak up. Martin Neimoller, German Pastor, WW2
I do get very annoyed with all the begging for bucks. That is why I do not watch too much Christian TV. I have been on the 700 Club twice, but have not donated because I have never been very comfortable for some reason. My ministry bills seem to get paid. I do have a few outstanding ones still, but as we do more engagements, we get more of them paid. We used to spend most of the money on long distance bills because I would talk to these women for long periods of time helping them get through an admittance to the hospital at 3 AM. We paid all of that ourselves, then we would go to a speaking gig, and the love offering would often be just what we needed. God can work if you let him do it. i do not think hitting people over the head is ever a good idea. That bugs me! lw
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...... Then they came for the Catholics, and I was a Protestant, so I never said anything. And then, they came for ME, and there was no one left to speak up. Martin Neimoller, German Pastor, WW2
The scenarios of church A & B that you mention are very interesting indeed. I have been privy to watching several such situations unravel myself, or in some cases being the one to bring healing to people who have been scarred by such situations. It's very sad. Most pastors out there are just good men and women who love Jesus and love people. They are not as you describe in situation A & B, but there are enough A & B's that they are making the rest of us look bad! And giving people plenty to be skeptical about!
Sad to say, but some people use God's glorious church as a "stepping stone" to get them somewhere else, as if the church could possibly be a stepping stone. They use the church as a stepping stone to a TV ministry or a record deal, or getting a name for themself as a full time evangelist. As far as I'm concerned, pastoring God's church is the most incredible thing one could ever do with their life. (Not to downgrade other callings or make them seem less noteworthy, I just happen to have a passion for this greater than anything else cause it's what I'm called to! So of course I'm partial!) I would feel like I was taking a huge step back (or down) if I left the church. I think if doors open for people in ministry, great -- walk through them. But not at the expense of your church. If things open up so much that you are gone more than you're there -- then give up pastoring for the sake of the people. They need more. Give them a shepherd who cares enough to be around and give direction to the flock. Even in a large church where you are not in touch with all the people like you would be in a smaller setting this still applies because they need you there for vision, leadership, direction. I think it's very admirable that certain mega church pastors will travel, but insist on being back in their pulpit for the weekend. I have had several speakers here for my women's events that insist on flying back asap after the service so they can be in their Sunday service with their people. I think that is very admirable. As for me, my dh and I worked out an agreement that I can travel and minister up to 6 Sundays away a year. That's really not a lot considering there are 52. I do not take advantage of the 6, by the way...unless I feel I "have to" to make the ministry time effective. For example, I only have plans to do that once in 2005 as of yet, and hope I don't have to do it any more than that. If I'm asked to do a 3 day women's retreat for instance -- I'll stay and do it...to make the flow of the weekend complete. He encourages me to go when invited more frequently during weekday times but even then I greatly limit it because my primary focus is on what God is doing in our church. How can I really give my insight, direction, leadership if I am just breezing in and out as I feel like it? I couldn't. No, I'm not "in touch" with everybody even so, but I'm able to touch as many as possible. Because of my priority commitment to the church and my love for them...they bless me when I go "once in a while".
I think fat cats as I call them hurt the rest of us by this behavior because quite honestly, I understand wanting to change your home number although I wouldn't do it! I understand wanting more time to recharge and rejuvenate. Really pastoring is a high demand thing...you have lots of people wanting your time. Most pastors out there are not "fat cats" and are truly loving the Lord and loving their people and leading them into the fullness of God. Most pastors really DO need a quiet evening without the phone ringing. Most pastors DO need somebody to protect their schedule a little bit and give them time to seek God. (I thank God for our asst, and receptionist who make this possible!) But people who take it to extremes hurt the Kingdom of God, and hurt their colleagues.
But it's fat cats like you describe who make it hard by giving a bad rep to pastors who just need a little quiet time to seek God (or re-group) once in a while.
I just cringe at some things I hear. Ministry first and foremost is about loving people. If we don't want to love them and spend time with them, it's time we get out of the ministry.
Wow, what a statement my friend. I just wish that all in ministry today had the same servant's heart as you and your wonderful DH! And no one thinks that a pastor should not have a quiet night. I know there are times here that I can't stand to hear the phone ring. But then, I find it's another Mommy who has a baby in the critical ward, and I am at peace knowing God has sent this woman to me.
And you should know, that even those of us hurt by the "fat cats", we all know that they are not the majority! Hearts like yours ARE!!! We know this. I know what is in your heart, and your DH's as well. And I am certain that your flock knows as well! They are so lucky to have you both!
I have no problem with Pastors who travel, only when it becomes the norm and not the exception. Our Pastor may be gone 4 sundays a year. One, just for a week vacation, he is a family man. We love him and Cindy very much, and we usually have to MAKE THEM GO!!!!! lw
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...... Then they came for the Catholics, and I was a Protestant, so I never said anything. And then, they came for ME, and there was no one left to speak up. Martin Neimoller, German Pastor, WW2
We have a pastor, wonderful man, but a real worka holic. His wife is looked on as a single mom by so many because his schedule is so evident. Some people EXPECT him to be at every little problem. I am talking about people who have been there for years. I personally wish the man would spend a night at home. I know what it would mean to his wife. If my dh wasn't such a help, he truly would not get a break. But as the pw told me, even if people cut him some slack he wouldn't take it becasue he was that way before when he was a basketball coach. He is such a driven person. He expects that of everyone. My dh has felt the "spiritual competition" about getting up at 4am like pastor and going and going until 11pm and 12 visiting people. He actually got up at 1am the other day and starting working. I feel so sorry for my pw. My point is that he gets invitations to speak and won't go. He has this complex (he has admitted to dh) that he has to have his hand in everything. He just can't trust people and let it go. He worries about wether the toilets get cleaned every Saturday. He calls dh about the lawn getting watered on top of hospital visits and all the other stuff. He actually just left for a trip and I can't believe he missed the pm service Sunday night. He has a geniune pastors heart. My other pastor was like don't call because she needed her time and was always praying. No balance at all. Was totally unapproachable. And what happened was I have seen so many minsiters start using true spiritual authority as nothing more than getting followers to do what THEY want because they have a control problem or it gives them a superior special feeling. Not only do people use one kind of ministry as a stepping stone to another kind of ministry. I get the impression some people feel like if they can't make it in the secular world they will come to the church.. like church fame is better than no fame. Sad but true. My husband is serving our pastor until he knows what God has us do. Whether it be pastoring or traveling. But my husband has a heart to travel and I worry about him getting restless in a pastorate. I think that happens to. But back to my point, our pastor kind of threw a slur at dh for wanting to travel to other countries. And he started bragging in how he had only missed so many services in x amount of years. Dh felt like he was trying to make him feel bad. This ought to be good for a laugh. If we were still in early church days, Pastor Timothy would miss a whole lot of church for one speaking engagement, becasue it took months to travel to places and Lord forbid he missed his ship! lol You ladies are right. I can't stand stepping stone mentality. I can't stand church fame is better than no fame (Nashville has beens and Motown wannabes? Preacher catch phrase. Sorry couldn't help it.). Here is my last thought. It was something God spoke to me right afte Sept. 11. I had always prayed and thought that I wanted to leave my mark in this world. I wanted to matte. I wanted people to KNOW it when I was gone. Then He showed me that there would be Billions who never knew me. He spoke these words to me. "Do you want to leave your mark on this world or do you want to leave my mark?" I knew what the correct answer was supposed to be. So as selfish as I know I am. I will be the first to admit. I am SO selfish. But I know deep in my heart that people and true service and devotion to them is what Jesus is looking for. Jesus never misused His spiritual authority to us. He earned our trust and showed His loyalty in the most amazing way. And He was our example. It is just is so upstream and counter culture. He never flaunted His title. He earned it. Who are we to use our titles to beat sheep. He cannot be pleased with spiritual abuse and pride in His leadership. Oh well I should get off my soap box before I lose all ability to fall asleep tongiht. This has been good. This board is always something to think about. Thank Deanna and ladies for serving God and His people. May God strengthen us in our service to Him and help us to be faithful.
I agree with everything you've said. By the way, I think missions trips are a different category. I think more pastors should be taking missions trips, and taking church people with them. It revitalizes your church, and besides I don't think any church can grow without being a missions supporting (giving AND sending) church. I think it's good that Barak goes on missions trips abroad. We have to keep a world view when it comes to the gospel...America aren't the only ones that need Jesus. We need to keep going til' the whole world knows.
You are right, it's about balance. People are often one extreme or the other. I understand your pastor's worry about things getting done. It's difficult to "let go" unless you KNOW for sure that somebody IS handling the details that you describe. As a for instance, with the facilities people we have now, as well as landscaping, we NEVER give it a moment's worry, not even one second's worry about whether it's done. But with some that we have had previous, I have to confess, dh and I had to really "police it" and make sure it was done to specification. And before one event, I found myself cleaning the toilets...as I mentioned in this months' article. It was not that I was too good to clean toilets, no not at all. But my point was, I had to concern myself with this and work "overtime" so to speak because a previous person who used to be on staff dropped the ball. So, "somebody" had to do it at that moment, and the person was me. Now we have someone that I don't give a second's worry over. They do more than they are supposed to do. I think pastors can learn to "let go" when they have people that they know they can count on no matter what -- that if it takes that person to go the extra mile or stay late, they will get the job done no matter what. I know your pastor has Barak, and he can count on him at all times, but pastors need a team they can count on. An associate or associates can only work so much, too, and still be healthy. Perhaps your pastor is nervous that the person cleaning the bathrooms or mowing the lawn isn't going to follow through. I would pray that he would find some "finishers" as I call them -- people who won't give up til' they get the job done. The poor man needs some rest, as you mention, and some time with his wife, and your husband can't save the day on everything.
Thanks for saying my husband can't save the day on everything. I feel guilty sometimes for wishing he could slow down and not have gofer so much and all. And I must say Goad has been helping him throu the words of many seasoned ministers he "just happens" to be getting to meet who say the same things. Keep your family priority. It is sinking in. He is just in a situation that he can't say no to pastor when he calls about stuff. It's not always pastor. It's everyone else in church calling wanting to know can he go visit so and so or run and do this or do that and they don't KNOW how much our phone rings. So my husband feels like he workls for pastor AND the church people. And it has become such an issue he may not renew his contract at th first of the year. Even if we don't get to move to that church I was telling you about. (By the way they are trying out osmeone so it probably won't work anyway.) I just hate seeing my husband running so hard and it's different when YOU are the one driving you. It is SO much harder when it feels like SOMEONE else is the one driving you. I just don't know how long he can do and keep the right attitude. He is only doing it to please God that is for sure. Because he hs heard so much teaching on respecting spiritual authority he is hanging in there but it is rough. And I feel sorry for him sometimes. It feels good to get to vent this. I haven't talked to anyone about it. People just don't know how hard it is. They don't repect ministers anymore. ANyway. Thanks for saying that.
No need at all to feel guilty. You love your husband. You want him to be healthy. You want to spend quality time. My pastor leaves the machine on on Mondays. He just will not pick up! This is family time. We try to respect his Mondays.They only have one child, he is sixteen. So when they have time, it is easy to make it good quality time at this point. We only have about 250-300 members/reg.attenders. So we are smaller than some churches. We have a great youth Pastor with no other job but this. The youth Pastor has a great wife, who is very generous with his time. There are folks in the church like me and our lovely hospitality lady, and the electronics guy, and others that Pastor can call to solve immediate needs and issues. I feel this is important for the pastor and his family because this way he does not have to solve every problem. He loves to visit those in the area hospitals. He loves to counsel. He also enjoys helping with home repairs of the congregation. It's helpful to have others available to handle other needs. If we see him and Cindy getting stressed, we will sometimes just offer to take a burden or two to make things a little easier. They will not always ask, so we just will say "You seem like you are juggling alot this week, can I deliver this for you, or can I go there instead?" This can be very helpful at times. I hope there are enough folks like this available to your wonderful DH. I will pray for both of you tonight!love, lw
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...... Then they came for the Catholics, and I was a Protestant, so I never said anything. And then, they came for ME, and there was no one left to speak up. Martin Neimoller, German Pastor, WW2
You're truly a blessing to your pastor & wife. Know that this is one of the most important ministries in your church - lifting up their arms. I'm sure you've been the God-send they needed many times when they felt they couldn't take another step.
This topic has been both hilarious and enlightening. I too get annoyed by people who try to sound or act "black" when they are teaching or preaching. I do not like insincerity. I also think that it is insulting to African-Americans, because not all African Americans talk they way people usually try to when they are doing this.
I think that more than anything, I hate to see the trend that pastors are becoming inaccessible to the point that people are not even allowed to get near their own pastors. I think that someone mentioned a pastor having an "escape door" as I call them built so that he could enter/exit the church. I think that this is really sad. I have been to conventions where really big name preachers were signing books and greeting people. I even heard Richard Roberts talk about how he has a healing line every time he goes to Wal-Mart. I think that it is a shame that some pastors are beginning to think that their members are beneath them. This is really sad. I do not think that pastors should get to the point that the only ministry that they provide to their members is from a distant pulpit on Sunday morning.
I realize that the mere size of some churches prevents the pastor from even knowing many of the members, but I think that there should be some time when the pastor can "touch" the people. If this is accomplished through breakout sessions once a year or some other method, I think that it would be good. As my grandmother would say, some preachers have gotten "too big for their britches".
Yes, I agree with you. I heard a tape by Willie George where he talked about the fact that even when your church gets to thousands and you can't greet everybody, even if those thousands of people see you greet 200 people after the service, it really makes a positive statement. Dh and I determined we would always do this no matter what.
Our church is such that we are not able to greet everybody each Sunday (unless they wanted to wait and wait, and most people are hungry or they have things to do! Other than stand and wait for their pastor for an hour on end.) Anyway, we are not a mega church, but even with several hundred people you can't greet them all. It's impossible. But the fact is...do those people know that the opportunity would be there? Do they know that you really care?
I have to be honest with you that most of the stuff that takes up your time during the week, are sales calls, evangelists, and all kinds of other stuff. Dh and I have strict rules to cut those calls out. We take calls from those we are expecting calls from (return calls), calls from our church members, calls from missionaries (we ALWAYS talk to the missionaries -- or call them back -- we are a serious missions supporting church), but as far as other stuff, we don't take our time on it. Our support staff tells evangelists that the process is to send us a ministry packet to review along with tape/CD and that we contact anyone we are interested in. We generally schedule anything over a year in advance. Missionaries get absolute first priority, and Larry, or Larry and myself are generally in the pulpit each Sunday morning except rare occasions.
With sales people, our support staff tells them that if we are interested in a service, we will call them. By just simply cutting out ALL the sales calls, and ALL the evangelist calls except the ones we review (on our own time) and call back...believe me that takes a huge load of time off of our shoulders. I truly believe most pastors, especially those without support staff, get "stuck" on the phone with all this stuff and that's part of the reason they shut themselves off. Larry and I have chosen to shut all that other stuff off so we can spend time on what's most important. Reaching souls (new people) and also ministering to our current church people.
It takes an excellent staff to field these things for you and make it possible for you to have your time freed up to truly minister.
But I do agree with you -- some people just get too big for their britches, and shut themselves off for no good reason other than the fact that they only care about themselves.
) But I just am not convinced about all this numerology that people use and especially when taking up $$$. I know God used seven as a number. ANd there are some valid things like that in scripture. But having people give $365 to have a new anointing for the year 2004 or whatever is just wrong. What ever happened to not giving as out of compulsion? And why is it that these tv stations always get the same people to come raise money? It just can't be right. I have gone from giving to big ministries to giving all my $ to missionaries and smaller ministries that I know I can trust. It's a turn off. Call me jaded. But don't try to finaggle me to give, don't try to hype me up on emotionalism. Give me truth and give it to me straight. I know sugar helps the medicine go down, but phoniness and hype only makes people more comfortable and GOd knows that is already a bad enough problem. Wow, that was a pretty opinionated peice huh?
