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Reflection, then Press On

seagullsW2During this busy time of year, it is hard to take time out to reflect on the year. We are too overwhelmed, rushing to purchase stuffings for the stockings and gifts to place under the Christmas tree, lists to check twice; then, before we know it, the New Year rolls in, with those resolutions already broken.

So, it has been helpful for me, and perhaps will be for you as well, to take a moment to reflect about several developments this past year in our church community, from the perspective of office manager and ministry admin assistant.

1) Land Closing and Events – In March we closed on land which we trust God will use to bless and serve our community. Then in May, we held our first Worship Service Celebration on the land, concluding with an outdoor picnic lunch. This fall we had our first fundraiser, “Horticulture Heaven,” with all proceeds supporting our land fund. Now, at year’s end, we are making good progress to paying off the land! We thank the Lord for all He had done to accomplish this, and how He worked through the generosity of so many of you.

2) Missionary Send-off – This year we sent off our first home-grown missionary family, Derek and Laura Dougherty, MTW/Peru. Through our prayers, support and co-sponsoring “Music for Missions Benefit Concert & Auction”, we are thankful that we could be part of their “‘key moments” that God orchestrated in their lives calling them into the mission field.
(http://afewkeymoments.blogspot.com/p/about-us_7.html)

3) New and Improved Website – This year we introduced to you our new brighter, more navigable, mobile-friendly website, http://www.crosscreekchurch.net. The website was designed for both the new visitor and the Cross Creek member/participant. Directly from the homepage you can quickly link to pages to learn who we are; what it means to “Grow in truth, Live in community, Serve in the kingdom;” when things are happening at Cross Creek Church; where and how to become connected. The homepage also highlights current events and photos of activities in our church community.

4) New Pathways for Financial Giving – We also researched and implemented systems for additional pathways of financial giving besides traditional check and cash. Now you can donate online directly from our website under the Contribute link on the homepage. By setting up an account you can contribute just one time or create recurring giving schedule, view your history for online giving, edit your profile. We also offer mobile app giving, by searching for and downloading “Shelby Next | Giving” from your app store. All these are done securely through Shelby Systems, Inc. cloud based program, “ShelbyNext Giving.”

5) Welcoming New Members – We host membership classes as needed throughout the year. It is a time to learn about the vision of Cross Creek and how to Grow, Live, Serve. This year we welcomed two classes. It is exciting to see how God is working in and through you, using your gifts and talents to grow His church.

We had several ‘firsts’ this year and expect more ‘firsts’ in the coming years. We continue with those tasks that make our church ‘run’, pressing on to the calling God has for each one of us.

Wearing many hats in our office, I am so thankful to be of help to our church family, always with the thought of how best to use our resources, in helping and serving our members and our community – all to God’s Glory!

“I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.” (Philippians 3:12-14, The Message)

Pastor’s Job Description – Super Star or Hired Hand?

As our church works its way this Fall through the letter which the early church leader, Paul, wrote to the Christians in the Greek city of Corinth, we’ve seen a church possessing much zeal coupled with considerable confusion. As a result the congregation in Corinth apparently struggled in a number of ways – everything from the nature of the resurrection, to the role of women in church leadership, to mishandling of the Lord’s Supper, and misunderstanding marriage, and even their sometimes haphazard application of Spiritual gifts.

As we see in 1 Corinthians 4, it also shaped their understanding of what a church leader, a pastor, or in the case of Paul, an Apostle, should look like. Ironically, underlying their competition over which pastor/teacher to align with – Paul, Apollos, Cephas, was on the one hand an elevation of human leadership beyond appropriate consideration, and on the other hand a neglect on the part of the people to actually heed and follow the sound things that any, and all, of those leaders might say.

As a pastor, it is a little awkward to talk about the role of the pastor.  Yet even if it was not the next thing in our journey thru 1 Corinthians, it would be a good thing to consider, so members of the congregation can be mindful and prayerful to help our leadership stay on track as a church, and so us pastors can be mindful of what our task is and is not. As always, Paul seeks to correct their perspective by pointing them and us, to Jesus, and drawing a contrast between what we might call the Super Star and the Hired Hand pastor.

I’m grateful to Rev. Tom Cannon, for the seed of thought that I hope will bear fruit in today’s sermon, having heard him preach a message on this passage a number of years ago, where he drew this contrast.

I scarcely need to explain what I mean by Super Star pastor, and even in using the term I want to be careful not to be motivated by some jealousy I might have of other pastor’s skills. Indeed in some sense Martin Luther, George Whitfield, Charlie Spurgeon, and Billy Graham, could be called Super Star pastors in terms of their mass appeal. When I talk about the super star pastor, I’m referring more to the pastor who gains acclaim and following, not by force of the Holy Spirit in his ministry but by careful packaging of ministry strategies, skillful presentation of personal appearance and persona, that is not always rooted in readiness to boldly proclaim all the God’s Word has to say. The Super star has a lot of outward force to his ministry, but frequently lacks depth of character, sincere shepherding, and seems to have little place in his life or Gospel for sacrifice and suffering.

Likewise, when I speak of the Hired Hand pastor, I do not want to disparage the calling of other folks like me, who pastor small to medium sized congregations, and have little fame or notoriety. There is no shame in that. And in fact a pastor of a large church might operated as more of a hired hand. But instead I reference the Hired Hand as someone who might care deeply for the individual sheep in his congregation, and might genuinely desire to serve the Lord, but who lack’s backbone to actually lead. Indeed in its saddest form the Hired Hand pastor has an implied agreement with the congregation or at least the lay leaders of the congregation. We will make sure you are provided for, and can do the pastoral care and even the preaching you would like, but only as long as you don’t rock the boat too much, or attempt to lead too decisively. If the Super Star pastor misunderstands sacrifice, the Hired Hand does not lay hold of ministry power granted by the Holy Spirit.

Obviously the Apostle Paul did not use these terms but the ministry approaches are underlying what he says in 1 Corinthians 4, where he calls for pastors and ministry leaders, as well as their congregations, to embrace this truth – Since Jesus comes with power and sacrifice, we should desire pastors to be trustworthy stewards of the mysteries of God.  What is your view of the pastor’s role?  What is your pastor’s view of it?