Confessions of a Middle Aged Pastor

With the celebration of yet another birthday this week, I have officially started on my third year past the half century mark.  I suppose I am complimented by the term “middle aged” because I have reached that central season of life with exceptionally good health, with my sanity intact, and I am still enjoying attempting to fulfill my calling.

However, it does occur to me that the way I see life and faith and church through the lenses of a middle-aged pastor is rather unique.  I am neither a militant traditionalist or a rabid post-denominationalist. I was mentored by some of the great pastors of the 1950’s and 1960’s.  And I appreciate many of the innovative and creative non-traditional approaches to pastoral ministry that I see working in suburbia and around the globe.

In the rural context of my home church, I “felt the call” to ministry at age sixteen and preached my first sermon two weeks later.  I started serving part-time on a church staff at age 18 and was serving full-time by age 19.  This year I begin my 34^th year in pastoral ministry.

If nothing else, thirty four years of service on the staff of Baptist churches means that I have a little durability.   Although there have been hurdles and a few monumental challenges along the way, overall I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve alongside some great, yet imperfect churches.

Supposedly everyone entering middle age goes through a stage of re-thinking life.  For some, it is a painful agonizing struggle, often second guessing important decisions made along the way.  For some, it is a time of re-direction, often resulting in a change in vocations, hairstyles, automobiles, and occasionally, even spouses.  For me, however, middle age, so far, has been a time of reflecting, thinking about how I’ve changed and how much more room I have to grow.

If confession is good for the soul, maybe I will be more healthy if I confess where I am and what I believe about church and ministry at this point in my life as a middle-aged pastor:

• Other churches and other ministers as my colleagues, not my competitors.
• Being the church is more important than going to church, but I cannot fathom how we can do one without the other.
• Authenticity as a pastor is more important than the authority of the pastor.
• Ministry energizes me.  Trying to keep others focused on ministry exhausts me.
• What we do inside the doors of the church should make a drastic difference in who we are outside the doors of the church.
• I continue to discover the family of God to be much more inclusive and much less exclusive than I previously imagined.
• An open Bible and an open mind always trump a closed Bible and closed mind.
• As a pastor and a Christian, I am to be priest and prophet, not judge and jury.
• Church should be a clearinghouse where talents and gifts are blessed and sent, never a warehouse where talents and gifts are counted and stored.
• In the Christian life, I believe the local church is where the action is… where faith is nurtured, where community is cultivated, and where missional service is launched.

Actually my pastoral confession of faith is much more lengthy.  At this point in my life, I have more questions than answers.  I get frustrated far too easily with petty complaint and criticism. Yet I realize that I have far more to learn than I already know, and far more to do than I’ve already done.

Even during my middle age years, I love serving as pastor.  I have the privilege of walking alongside folks from the moment of birth to the moment of death and all seasons in between.

Paul summed it up this way: “I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:13-14 NIV

Although I have not arrived, I am intent on enjoying the journey of growing forward.

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday in worship and Bible study as we dig into the resurrection story in John 20:11-18, 24-31.

(Check the pastor’s new blogs at http://www.barrysnote.wordpress.com/ and http://www.fbcpnotes.wordpress.com/.)

Celebrating the Good Things

One of my goals for 2012 is to spend more time celebrating the good things and to spend less time worrying about the trivial things.

Our church family has a lot to celebrate in 2012.  Last Friday, we made the final payment on the Paul Royal Recreation and Outreach Center.  This means that we paid off this $3.4 million renovation and expansion project in less than five years in a pretty challenging market.  Thank you for your generous and faithful giving.  Now, let’s utilize the ROC as a prime gathering place for all ages.  And let’s make it a place where we are continually “sharing the story.”

And speaking of giving, we ended the first quarter of our fiscal year in December above our budget goal. You may recall that our church adopted a rather aggressive budget goal for 2011-2012 so that we could continue to grow our mission giving.  With all of our folks “giving the firstfruits of our labor” as we bring our tithes and offerings into the storehouse, we can surpass our goals for giving to missions and ministry during 2012.

Our First Baptist Family continues to be blessed with dozens of guests and prospective new members.  Even through the holidays, we have continued to meet new residents in our community and new faces in our congregation.  As followers of Christ and members of FBCP, we are called to be greeters and recruiters for the kingdom and for our church family.  Join me in providing a friendly welcome to those who visit worship services, Bible studies, and other activities on our campus.   Many of our guests are looking for a word of good news, and we’ve got a story to tell.

I continue to hear good things about our series on The Life and Times of Jesus. This Sunday we are looking at Luke 9:18-27 and “The Great Invitation.”

For many this is a holiday weekend, so I urge you to make it a priority to be in worship and Bible study. 

And this year, let’s focus on sharing the story and celebrating the good things.

When the Church Comes to Life

Last year I re-read a book that was written in 1987 by one of my seminary professors at New Orleans, Dr. J. Terry Young.  The book is titled The Church: Alive and Growing and it begins with this assessment:

There are churches of all kinds, mediocre churches, indifferent churches, “average churches,” big churches, little churches.  And then there are effective churches. Nearly any church can be an effective church if it will do three things:

• Maintain a vital, faithful relationship to its head, Jesus Christ.
• Have a proper self-understanding of what the church is, and what it is to do.
• Follow sound principles of conducting its ministry.

In describing what he means by effectiveness, Young contends that “size alone is a poor measure of effectiveness.”  Rather, he says, Effectiveness is…

• Doing an excellent work of ministering in the community where the church exists.
• Adequately meeting the needs the church sees within its membership and its community.
• Doing well what that church ought to be doing. (For example, using our unique strengths and our gifts.)
• Producing a steady stream of converts who are guided into maturity and led into productive service in the work of the church.
• Make a telling impact on the community surrounding the church so that it is a better place because of the presence of the church.

As we begin 2012, I am excited about life and ministry at FBC Pensacola, not because we are doing all of the above to perfection, but because we are making progress in many of these areas. 

I am also excited about our emphasis on Sharing the Story.   I believe that knowing the story motivates us to live the story, and living the story gives us credibility to share the story.

As we continue our joint Bible study and sermon series on “The Life and Times of Jesus,” I want to challenge each of us to do three things:

• Know the story.  Participate in worship and Bible study each of the 13 weeks of our series.
• Live the story.  Ask God to help you put  these teachings of Jesus into practice in your daily life.
• Share the story.  Engage a friend, classmate, or colleague in conversation and share with them what you are learning about Jesus and how Jesus teachings are at work within you.

First Baptist Church is a good church, a friendly church, a caring church, and welcoming church.  In 2012 I am praying that God will grow us into a more effective church.