According to the Bible, what determines whether or not someone should be / is a pastor?

Is it education? College Degrees? Age? Meeting demoninational standards? Popularity? Experience? Gender? :-)

What determines whether or not someone should be a pastor, elder or spiritual leader in God's Church has everything to do with the calling, choosing and anointing of God Himself!

 

How did the mainstream church's thinking get so twisted in this country? How do people rationalize what the Bible says verses the way we've 'institutionalized' God's church?

Jesus called His disciples.(And He still does.) He 'called' ordinary, uneducated people.  Their credentials weren't from some name-dropping institution.  Their credentials were that they had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Their credentials were that they had been personally called and then trained by Jesus Himself.

I'm not anti-education by any means.  But I do believe that there is an over-focus on formal...

My family gave me a Kindle a few weeks ago as a birthday present.  I wasn't sure if I was going to like it at first, being that the writer in me LOVES holding books in my hands!  But truth be told, I quickly learned to LOVE my Kindle!

I love the fact that I can instantly download any book!  And it's so easy to be reading 5 or 6 books at one time without cluttering up much space.  I've downloaded about 10 church leader type books in the last few weeks and I'm absolutely thrilled to be absorbing so much great information.

My absolute favorite book so far is a book called "Sun Stand Still" by Steven Furtick. (Subtitle: What happens when you dare to ask God for the impossible.)

All I can say is, WOW, what an amazing book!  It's a wonderful reminder of what it means to have a HUGE, God-sized faith and vision for what God can do with any of us, if we'll just believe God to do the impossible.

It...

I recently listened to a webinar where yet another senior pastor from a growing mega-church (down south) describes the 'magic formula' he used to make his church a huge success.

There are tons of church leadership books, conferences and seminars out there where these pastors and churches are lifted up like rock stars and they can't wait to tell all of us how to build a megachurch just like them.  The implied message from them is that if we too will simply apply their strategies and magic formula on how to build a church, we too can have a megachurch and be a rock star pastor, as if that's what we're all striving to be.

There's so much wrong with the message they are sending out to pastors and church planters in America.  We have let the corporate America thinking penetrate the Church at large and it's so not what God has called the church to be.  I just wish it hadn't taken me so long to figure out because it has corrupted my thinking for too many years.

Way too many church planters go into...

There are so many different parts and roles of being a pastor.  I (in the flesh) would never, ever have chosen this life or this role in life for myself. It's hard, even impossible most of the time (without the power of God). 

Senior pastors today are expected to be great leaders, shepherds, care-takers, preachers, technology experts, teachers, developers of leaders, savvy business leaders, financial experts, administrative gurus, biblical scholars, writers, evangelists, visionaries, vision casters, recruiters, and on and on it goes.

I would not do this if I was not totally compelled by God and completely convinced that this is what He has called me to do!

Yes, there are many parts of being a pastor that I truly love and absolutely enjoy doing! But there are other parts about being a pastor that I totally dislike and so wish I could get out of doing.

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This past Sunday, the message was on the vision of the church. I must have put in 20-25 hours in writing that sermon.  In some ways, one would think this would be one of the easiest messages for me to write.  There is no other message that I am more passionate about.  I think constantly about the vision that God has for His church.  It's so incredibly beautiful and there is nothing like it in all the earth as far as I am concerned.  But it is for this reason that I find it so hard to find adequate words to describe it, especially to do it any justice in just one sermon.

The reason I am so incredibly passionate about the local church is because I truly believe it is the living, breathing Body of Jesus Christ (just as the Bible says) and that makes it indescribable in my opinion!

I suppose it is all part of my calling from God, becoming both my gift and my burden from Him in my ability to have such an intense, crazy, overwhelming love for His church. This burning passion of mine to want to see the local church become all that I know God desires it to be feels like a double-edged sword to me personally. 

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I recently updated our list of BHCC ministry teams and Nano (small) groups and was pleasantly surprised to see we now have 18 teams and groups. I was suprised because we've recently been trying to be be very proactive in building more Nano Groups and have been a little frustrated in the slowness of getting some started.  I think one of our best strengths is actually in building Serving Teams.  12 of the 18 teams are Serving Teams and I think that's awesome!

I think it shows that people are growing in their faith at BHCC in the fact that so many have a desire to serve our Lord here.  Nothing excites me more than seeing people mature to this level in their faith.  They go from being very 'me' focused to being 'loving-others' focus.

Recently I feel God is showing me a more sharply focused discipleship strategy for BHCC.  It fits perfectly with the foundation we've always had here at BHCC but it takes it to a more precise level.  There are four stages to discipleship and all four are based on either the Great Commandment or the Great Commission..

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One of the greatest challenges for any senior pastor is to continually work to develop other leaders.  Without leaders, churches (or any organization) won't grow.  There is a direct correlation of the number and maturity of leaders to the size of any organization. Churches are no different. 

I feel incredibly blessed to have the leaders that we currently have at BHCC.  I am continually amazed at the unity and friendship that exists in our Lead Team, pastors, and Ministry Team Leaders.  God has done an awesome work by building a foundation with these leaders.  Through the years, I've seen much growth in each and every one of them. All of them have incredible hearts and impeccable character.

When the church first began, I was very proactive and intentional in developing leaders and creating an atmosphere where people cultivated a desire to become church leaders. However, I also made the 'classic' new church planter mistake of putting people in positions too quickly.  That led to some very bad consequences...

Just recently, I sense a change in the wind beginning for acceptance of women in Church leadership in America. Yes, a few Christian denominations have been supporting women for quite some time. There are other denominations that 'claim' to support them, but reality shows their support is often weak or close to non-existent at times.

Like my husband is fond of saying, talk is cheap. As much as many denominations and famous leading pastors want to say (when they're backed into a corner) that they support women as leaders in the church, there is often little evidence in their own ministries  to back up their claim.

To me, it's like the elephant in the room that no ones ready to talk about.

Why not?

Random, scattered thoughts....

I saw a show on the science channel recently about black holes and dark matter. I'm fascinated with physics and astronomy and like to study it in my spare time.  In High School, physics was my favorite subject and my average was 99 at the end of the year. Not sure why it fascinates me so much but I feel like it gives me a different view of God somehow.

Like many people at this time of year, I'm missing loved ones who've already gone home to be with the Lord.  I miss my Dad.  And I miss my life-long best friend Lauri.  She always called me on Christmas morning and I sooo miss that phone call.  Her birthday was Dec. 30th and we spent 80% of every new year's eve together since we were five. I will miss her every day of my life....

I threw out my back last week and it's been a painful week to say the least.  Sure hope this week is better.

I've really been missing being a creative writer lately.  I came across some short fiction stories I wrote ten years ago and it stirred something inside of me.  I also starting reading a novel I started writing ten years ago.  I actually thought it wasn't too bad and wondered if I should finish it.....

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About every six months or so, I go in to a time of deep prayer and ask God once again for an affirmation of what He's called me to do....

It often seems to happen when I'm going through a time of frustration or plain old weariness. Sometimes it happens when I've gotten hurt by others. I know when my attitude isn't right and I know I must go deep with God to surrender it and make sure I'm doing what He's asked me to do and not gotten off course.

Early last Spring was such a time for me.  I went to what has become my special God place at Mendon Ponds Park.  I read my Bible.  I worshipped.  I prayed.  I walked.  I talked.  I listened and once again, God spoke.

I was lifting my hands up to heaven and crying out loud to God: "Lord, what do you want  me to do?" 

I heard Him say, "LOOK!" I opened my eyes and right in front of me was a huge branch sticking straight up out of the snow.  I immediately reached out and grabbed the four foot branch.  As I stood looking at it, wondering what it meant, I saw my shadow on the parking lot in front of me.  The stick had a big curve on the end and my shadow looked like a shepherd holding a shepherd's staff. Wow!

I immediately got the message.  The same words I had been hearing from the Lord for years. "Feed My Lambs. Tend my Sheep (John 21:16). Shepherd My flock."

It seemed like time stopped as I stood there, staring at my shadow and feeling the power and presence of the LORD flow through me like waves of a strong electric current. It felt like God was recharging my weary soul somehow and that is exactly how I've felt ever since.

The Shepherd's staff now sits in the corner of my office as a reminder to me.  The enemy continually wants us to make it all about us and it's not about us, it's all about following Christ and doing what He's called each of us to do.

I believe everyone has a unique and specific calling on their life from God.  Too many pastors try to apply formulas to their lives or try too hard to be someone they're not.  God has repeatedly told me through the years to simply be who I am, who He has made me.  He tells me He made me the way I am on purpose for His purpose. 

Of course, we are all to continue to grow and mature in the Spirit. But God has created us all different and incredibly unique. 

It's taken me a long time to come to terms with some things.  So many voices out there tell us we should be this way or be that way.  Voices that say if you're not doing things a certain way, or seeing specific kind of results, then you've failed and you should give up or do something else .  One well-known author and pastor once told me that I should quit ministry all together. God have mercy on him because that's not what God told me! God said, persevere! Keep going! Love one person at a time! If you love me, tend my lambs and let me take care of the rest.

These days, I look out at our congegration and I praise the God who was, and is, and will always be the God of incredible miracles.  I can't believe how much our church has grown recently. I see so much growth in many individuals as well. People that have had victory over addictions.  People that have found faith in Christ for the first time.  People who have learned to forgive.  People who have been healed from so much heartache. Miracle after miracle!  It's absolutely amazing!

We feel like a wonderful, loving family of God and that is exactly what we have become, thanks be to God! He continues to breathe new life in our church every week.  I feel so sorry for people who don't have a church and are missing out on the most wonderful, incredible experience they could imagine.

Stay on the course friend.  Persevere through all the hard and difficult moments in ministry and life.  Don't give up!  Don't listen to the other voices in the world.  Listen only to what God's voice is telling YOU to do and just do it!  Be yourself.  Give yourself GRACE! And don't forget to ENJOY the journey because it is definitely a journey. God will be with you every step of the way and with His help, you'll be AMAZED at what He's building through your hands and heart!

Merry Christmas!

Please leave me a note on this blog if you were blessed by this!