“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
We heard that question all the time in grade school. And it was often followed by a statement that we can be and do whatever we desire to do. Even our Saturday morning cartoons were inundated with the message that we could do anything. I grew up drinking my daily doses of cultural Kool-Aid. Music. Television. Every where I went held that same message.
If you want to see this on full display consider the words of Teddy Bridgewater after going down with a season-ending knee surgery: “My faith is strong, my faith is unwavering and my vision is clear. My purpose will not be denied.” Ignoring the fact that it sounds a bit robotic—this is what it means to be an epic difference maker. We were all born with this destiny and if you want it bad enough you can get it. It’s yours for the taking.
Now what happens when someone steeped in that culture begins to sense a call to the ministry? This person, as 1 Timothy 3 says, “aspires to the office of overseer”. There are several books out now which try to answer that question for those trying to discern whether its really God calling them into the ministry or if it was just too much Taco Bell. And most of these books have the person asking that question to go through the list of qualifications in 1 Timothy and Titus.
But here is a problem I see. Us epic difference makers NEVER fail tests like this. If we want something there isn’t anybody going to tell us that we aren’t qualified. Mr. T already solidified our calling in first grade—we are going to be somebody and ain’t nobody else qualified to tell me that I’m not going to be who I want to be when I grow up. So I take that little test, I take a spiritual gifts test, and I jump through all the hoops. I decide I am qualified for ministry.
Next stop, seminary. Now for most schools in order to enroll in seminary you have to have a pastor/church sign off on this. Usually the young man wanting to go into ministry has to walk forward and say that he’d like to surrender to the ministry. Most people see his outgoing personality and his talents. Sure he has some room to grow and a host of immaturity issues but a bit of growing up in seminary will sort those things out. So the pastor asks the congregation whether they agree with this decision? Everyone gives a hearty “Amen” because nobody would want to stop someone from living out their destiny. Within a year he is darted off to seminary where the question of calling is all but settled. Now he is just going to be trained in how to do ministry—or in other words how to sharpen his skills and work on that God-given talent.
Graduation day comes. Now he is off to either pastor a local church or more than likely to plant his own church. And he succeeds because he has a ton of talent. His church grows and multiplies. His sermons are dynamic. His ideas are phenomenal. He starts selling books. Going on preaching tours. He has become the epic difference maker that he has been striving for since second grade.
Then he resigns. Maybe it was from some scandal. Maybe it was burn out. Either way his talent was still there but somewhere along the way the wheels came off and now we have another story of a celebrity pastor breaking the heart of a church.
I’m not intending to speak to any specific situation here. The fact, though, that a handful could come to mind shows the problem that I’m talking about. In our celebrity pastor culture talent seems to always trump character. And when that happens this stuff follows an inevitable pattern. Though the church at large is shocked on resignation day we shouldn’t be. This didn’t happen in a vacuum. The whole system is scaled to reward talent over character every time. We set this whole thing into motion when Podunk Baptist sent little Johnny off to seminary knowing he had character flaws but hoping that somehow it’d get worked out in the crucible of studying Greek participles.
The system is broken. But I’m convinced local churches can turn this ship around. It won’t be quick or easy, but it will be necessary.
Another Way
Do you notice something about that list of qualifications in Titus? It isn’t meant for the pastoral candidate to ask questions of himself. Don’t get me wrong—there is a certain self-assessment and even aspiration for the office of elder/pastor which needs to be there. But I’m convinced the norm ought to be the ones already established (like Titus) who are seeking out those to be elders. You don’t take those character tests on your own. You don’t decide whether or not you are greedy but another elder (ideally group of elders) watch your life and they see that you are qualified.
I know we live in a culture where we get really offended at the suggestion that somebody else might be able to determine God’s calling on your life, but I’m convinced it is the biblical way. Godly men who know about the difficulty of the eldership see character (and yes even talent) of those God has placed in the church and he disciples them and helps them grow into that role.
Maybe seminary happens. Maybe it doesn’t. But training happens in the context of the local church. We don’t send off a young man to an institution hoping that it’ll work out the character issues. No, we work those out in the context of a local church. We see how young Johnny interacts with the widows in the church just as much as how he leads a Sunday School class.
My goal here at FBC Marionville is similar to the goal I had at FBC Jasper. I pray that they never have to put out another ad in the Baptist paper looking for a senior pastor. Not because I’ve done so terribly they’ve had to shut their doors, but because we have raised up so many young men for ministry that they can look internally to fill that position. I want to do the slow plodding of raising up elders and equipping the church for the work of ministry.
The local church calls men to the ministry. The local church equips men for the ministry. We must stop this process where individuals steeped in a “be an epic difference maker” culture are the deciding factors as to whether or not they are called into ministry. And we must stop viewing seminaries as the place where ministers are made. That’s at the local church. Seminary is meant to come alongside the local church and strengthen what is already there. We must be diligent in making sure when we sign a paper saying a young man is called to ministry that we’d be willing to let him do actual service in our church on that day. We shouldn’t expect seminaries to create what should have been birthed and nurtured within the local church.
The answer to the celebrity pastor problem is the local church being faithful to her calling.
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