FOR SEASONED PASTORS…WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT HAVING OTHER STAFF PREACH ON SUNDAY

Pete Alwinson August 29 2011 - 1 Comment

Axioms I brought into being a Senior Pastor with me from day one of my ministry (a long time ago)…

“Don’t give up your pulpit easily to just anyone”. Some preachers look for opportunities to not prepare a sermon. It’s hard work! Give up your pulpit often and easily and your people will think you’re not doing your job during the week. They’ll think you’re lazy. Also, you never know what kind of a meal your guest speakers will give your people. You teach your people.

“Sermon preparation is hard work but it is also your core work. A SP should never give up his core work.”

Now those aren’t the only things I brought with me into the pastorate…but those are two axioms that probably kept me from allowing my staff to preach much in the church I serve as Senior Pastor. As I have gotten older, more tired, more secure, as I’ve seen the patterns change among churches where there is more shared preaching than my era promoted, and, and as I am moving into more of a coach’s mentality where I see that the baton is passing and must be passed to younger pastors, I want others on my staff to speak. It surprises even me, but it’s a good thing this change! This past week as I was listening to a great sermon from our Assistant Pastor Curt Moore, I jotted down some benefits to having other staff preach on Sunday…why it’s good for our church and for me. Ok, so in writing this down during the sermon I missed some of his sermon. But I sat through two services, so…I DID listen to him too and got it all…

Here’s what I learned about having other staff preach…

1. The Father wants to speak to me in the same way He wants to speak to my congregation (Ok, it’s not “my” congregation; it’s the congregation I serve as pastor. But pastors are kind of like fathers and “my kids” are “mine”…fathers are possessive, so it’s “my congregation” only in so far as its first Jesus’ congregation. Whew…I was worried about some pastor calling me on the theology of “my”.) Back to my point. It’s really good for me to sit under the preaching of the Word of God and for my people to see me sitting under it, and taking notes and nodding encouragingly and laughing when appropriate, and in general being supportive of our staff. God wants to speak to me in church too I learning, rather than just speaking through me. I love being a learner and it’s a great place where I can grow too. When I permit other staff to speak, and I do think it’s the Senior/Lead Pastor’s call who preaches, I/we send the message that we too believe in preaching and want to hear from the Lord in that context.


2. It gives my staff an opportunity to grow as communicators in a real life context. I have taught communications in a seminary setting, but obviously seminary is not a real life church setting! In seminary we gain tools but not experience and certainly not expertise in preaching. All seminary grads have an MA or a Masters of Divinity, but in reality when we graduate with the monster 3 year full time M.Div we’re masters of nothing when it comes to practical ministry. As a younger pastor myself I was developing as a communicator and didn’t want to share my venue. Selfishness and competition got in the way. Getting older, I feel like a coach more, and appreciate the younger guys, and want them to succeed. I’m not going to be in my SP role forever, and want good guys to succeed after me. Why not help my staff feed my people better? I’m slow, but learning. I’m also learning how to give constructive advice without being condescending or demand that they do what I want them to do in communicating. Steve Brown has modeled this consistently to me and for me. What grace!


3. When my staff preaches it gives me an opportunity to encourage them with what they did well and right in preaching, and it draws us closer as a team.


4. When my staff preaches I get a break! I need weeks where I don’t have to study for and write up and then communicate a sermon. Sermons take a lot of hard work, and should be given the best part of our weeks. But we all know how many other things we need to do, and some weeks off preaching give me as Senior Pastor a break. Some, like Andy Stanley, will prep a sermon even when he’s not preaching and that makes sense too. He’s got three sermons prepped already and in the bag and reviews this week’s upcoming sermon on Saturday night. That’s great if you can do it. When I line up another staff member to speak, I can work ahead on a sermon, read another book on the topic on which I’m preaching, find better illustrations…and think more about it. Ah…more thinking and praying are what I need for every sermon. I was living large this past week. I love preaching but only had to do welcome and announcements, baptism and the Apostle’s creed. I was able to give myself to those elements of worship without worrying about my message.


5. Your congregation will view your staff with a higher estimation because of the preaching role. People connect with their pastors in the communication process and if they minister to the flock well through their sermon the flock will esteem them and support them better in their staff position. That of course is good overall for the church! Clarification: If the staff member is not a good communicator, and isn’t making progress in communication and doesn’t have the preaching gift/or really like to preach, then they will generally do more harm to themselves and the ministry than if you force/allow them to preach. Be a lion about this. If you have a staff member who wants to preach but just can’t “bring it”, don’t let them preach. Take the flak you have to take for the good of your people and ministry. When it comes to visitors: “You only have one opportunity to make a first impression.” A really bad staff preacher can hurt your ministry. Your call. Did you hear that? It’s your call.


6. Your staff in their preaching can convey the church’s vision, your vision, with their own “take” on it and this will help unite and move your church family ahead.


7. Having other staff preach forces you to have your security and identity in Christ and not in being visible or the center of attention. Allowing your staff to preach periodically can be a spiritual discipline which enables you to not feed but actually starve the sin of pride and ego. Our role as Senior Pastors is about and was always really about Jesus anyway.


8. Allowing your staff to preach reminds you how exhausting and taxing preaching is! When they’re done preaching and are tired, and you actually have energy for the rest of Sunday and feel like doing something with your family, you’ll remember that what you do every week is monumental and challenging, even though rewarding labor. Preaching is why you need to take time off to relax and recuperate. It’s why you get irritated in meetings sometimes and just want to run away. I think a lot of us are running on empty a lot of the time. Partly, it’s because we’ve not gotten proper rest after preaching. Spurgeon had it right…something about preaching yourself to death and then allowing God to breathe new life into you. Leave it all on the court…er..worship center. But make sure you give time for the Spirit to bring you back to life again. I use Monday as a flex day to recover. If I don’t, I won’t just burn out, I’ll explode.

Well, those are some of the things I learned this past week. I’m sure there is more…other…better lessons.

Those of us who are a little older as senior/lead pastors have a great opportunity…to coach! What have you learned by letting your staff preach?

You take it to heart!

Pastoral Mistakes and the Sovereignty of God – If You’re Not Dead You’ll Make Mistakes!

Pete Alwinson July 11 2011 - No Comment

It’s axiomatic that all pastors, at times, make mistakes. Are all mistakes sins? How do my mistakes and the Sovereignty of God go together? Let’s think together about this; it might help us stay in the game as ministers.

So, a young pastor is struggling to provide for his wife and small children. His salary has been reduced because of the recent years of financial turmoil in the U.S. and his congregation’s giving is half of what it was. His book allowance, travel, professional development and hospitality budget have vanished along with the church credit card. His work load is up, his salary and perks down. He’s struggling not to be motivated by his earnings, but it’s hard for a guy not to be motivated by potential reward! But, he’s got an ace up his sleeve, he thinks: he’s got $10,000 in a savings account thanks to previous years of frugality. Instead of dipping into the 10 k to pay his mortgage, he decides to make a risky investment of this money to make a cool half million…and loses it all. His wife is angry, and now, not only does he have to deal with his mortgage, he has to get a second job to buy food and pay other bills, thus keeping him from spending time with his children who he dearly loves. Now, he clearly made a mistake. He shouldn’t have made that investment.

Was the investment not only a mistake but a sin?

Pastors nearly all struggle to hire and or call staff that fit into a well rounded team. So Bill hires Mark as his assistant pastor after doing whatever “due diligence” he possibly can. It only takes a few weeks for Bill to see that Mark was not all that he thought Mark would be, but like most pastors he’s an optimist and does all he can, devoting more and more time to Mark to bring him up to speed in his position. Some progress is made, but Mark cannot be motivated enough and never really produces, but builds a support network as all staff do, and when it’s clear to Bill that it’s not going to work out and Mark has to leave, Bill has a fiasco on his hands because Mark’s supporters think he’s great.

Was hiring Mark not only a mistake but a sin?

I think I’ve come to see that pastors are mortal, like everyone else even though we think an M.Div means we’re really “Masters of Divinity”! Like all fallen people, we have finite intellectual, emotional and decision making equipment and we do make mistakes in judgment. We err. We make bad decisions. The young pastor above made a mistake for sure. He could also have sinned in that greed could have gotten ahold of him and motivated the investment. He might not have gotten any sound counseling from godly Christians before he made the investment. He also might have been simply tricked by a smooth salesman. Pastor Bill above made a mistake most probably in hiring Mark. Did he do all he could to find out about Mark? Did he check references? Was Bill just too overwhelmed with his own workload to do a thorough search for a staff member? Did Bill’s optimism cause him mistakenly to ignore the few red flag warnings that popped up during the interview process?

Anyone reading these fictitious case stories can find logical responses to what I’ve written and shoot holes in them for sure. But my main point in all of this…is, that…

What helps me as a pastor is to see that not all of my mistakes as a pastor are sins. There is it seems to me, warrant in making a distinction between making a mistake and sinning. I have made many mistakes in ministry, and if I view them all as sins then my guilt is overwhelming because I have sinned against Jesus and His church! That’s tough to handle. If all of my mistakes are sins then I want out of the ministry because there is no room for me to be human. We make mistakes in listening to people’s stories in counseling, in hiring staff, in confronting someone in sin, in planning a program and in a thousand other ways. We’re GPs and there is no way we were trained for the broad range of duties that we as pastors have every week. There is absolutely no way we pastors can do our work without making mistakes…it’s too big, too grand…to overwhelming. I’m not the Lord of the Church, and mistakes help me remember that!

Some theologians might well say that because God is sovereign, we really can make no mistakes because God’s will is predetermined. They might say there is no such thing as a mistake because God’s sovereignty over rules our actions in every case. But, can we talk? Surely, I have made ministerial mistakes and so have you. Not all of these mistakes are sins. It helps me to be able to say, “I made a mistake” and not impugn the Sovereignty of God. Check it out:

Proverbs 16:1-9 (ESV)
1 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. 2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit. 3 Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. 4 The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. 5 Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished. 6 By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil. 7 When a man’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. 8 Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. 9 The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

Charles Bridges on this text says:

A fine description of the Sovereign government of God! Inscrutable indeed is the mystery, how he accomplishes his fixed purpose by free-willed agents. Man without his free will is a machine. God without his unchangeable purpose ceases to be God. (Mal. 3:6). As rational agents we think, consult, act freely. As dependent agents, the Lord exercises his own power in permitting, overruling or furthering our acts. Thus man proposes; God disposes. Man devises; the Lord directeth. He orders our will, without, infringing our liberty, or disturbing our responsibility. For while we act as we please, we must be answerable. We observe this supremacy, in directing, not only an important end, but every step towards it; not only the great events, but every turn; not only in his own people, but in every child of man .

I like what Bridges says, but he leaves out the clarification that we really are not free-willed agents this side of the Fall, but sin bound agents, and fallen agents. We can only do what our nature dictates.

William George Jordan said some interesting things way back in 1909 about mistakes:

• “There are only two classes of people who never make mistakes-they are the dead and the unborn.”
• “An oyster never makes a mistake-it has not the mind that would permit it to forsake an instinct.”
• “Mistakes are the growing pains of wisdom, the assessments we pay on our stock of experience, the raw material of error to be transformed into higher living. Without them there would be no individual growth, no progress, no conquest. Mistakes are the knots, the tangles, the broken threads, the dropped stitches in the web of our living.”
• “Mistakes are always a part of learning. The real dignity of life consists in cultivating a fine attitude towards our own mistakes and those of others. It is the fine tolerance of a fine soul.”
• “Let us thank God when a mistake shows us the weak link in the chain of our living.”
• “Omnipotence cannot change the past, so why should we try? Our duty is to compel that past to vitalize our future with new courage and purpose, making it a larger, greater future than would have been possible without the past that has so grieved us. If we can get real, fine, appetizing dividends from our mistakes they prove themselves not losses but-wise investments.”
• “Musing over the dreams of youth, the golden hopes that have not blossomed into deeds, is a dangerous mental dissipation.”

The Gospel changes everything…certainly our sins and especially our mistakes! Thank God for Christ! My mistakes are not fatal, God is not surprised, and Romans 8:28 is true.

Some conclusions I would draw in talking to people who make mistakes…and to ourselves as pastors:

1. You made a mistake. We make mistakes in a broken world, since we are broken, even if regenerated people. What factors led to your making such a decision? Did you get godly counsel? Enough counsel? Why did you make a bad decision in this case and what would you do differently next time? You may not be able to marshal the reasons why you did what you did. Such is our own human complexity. But try.
2. If there is sin in it, you need to repent of your sin (greed? Or?) And then ask for forgiveness, which would certainly be granted you in Christ.
3. Accept Responsibility for your mistake. Don’t blame any body but yourself. “A real man rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously, expects the greater reward.”
4. Seek God’s grace to deal with the long term effects of your mistake, ie, working two jobs, accepting your wife’s legitimate anger. Realize it may take years to dig yourself out of the hole caused by this bad choice you made.
5. Be a living example to others not to make the same mistake. In other words, seek to turn your mistake/failure into a ministry opportunity.
6. Deal with your anger. The longer you have to live under the effects of a bad decision, the more anger you will feel from time to time. Be careful not to take it out on your wife or kids or God or other people. Do not become so angry at yourself for your mistake that your whole life is defined by this mistake.
7. Pray for Deliverance. It may be that God will miraculously bail you out of your financial hole. Normally however our mistakes come from fallen thinking, incomplete knowledge or information or hasty action, and God normally is not the God of bailout.
8. Remember that God is not surprised by your mistake, but in some mysterious way, knew what you were going to do and incorporated this act of yours into His plan for your life. While you may be tempted to assign culpability to God for knowing you would make this mistake ahead of time and did not stop you, realize that Scripture does not give us this freedom. It may be that you wish to assign at least some of the blame for your act on God. Realize, We are responsible for our mistakes and sins. But God will turn your mistakes which He knew of ahead of time, and which is a part of His plan, into spiritual growth opportunities that can indeed turn out for good (Rom 8.28), in the way of your good and His glory. Wait on the Lord, depend on His grace, and play the man!

Well, there it is. I’m going to go and lick my wounds from some recent mistakes. But I’m still in the game, and I hope you are too.

Strength and Courage!

Pete Alwinson

MINISTRY FAST AND FURIOUS

Pete Alwinson May 10 2011 - No Comment

It’s a Friday morning, at 7:00. I’m taking Jessie to school and we’re a bit late out the door. I’ve already had several cups of brew (coffee…coffee…come on! Not that…coffee is a vitamin, God’s organic gift to the world) and I have to be at the airport at 9:30 for a 10:30 flight. I haven’t shaved yet, I’m not fully packed, and I have to meet Caron at the auto shop to leave her car to get worked on, bring her home, and then go with her to the airport. She needs my truck while I’m gone cause…well you got it, hers is broken.

So we haven’t figured it out yet…but after dropping my daughter off I call Caron and tell her, cause I’m hyper efficient, that I’ll meet her at the auto shop right after I drop Jessie off. I get there and Caron’s not there yet. I’m there cranking out some emails on my iPhone when she calls, annoyingly interrupting my emailing…”Where are you?” “I’m at the place…where are you?” “You’re at the wrong place. Different shop.” “Ah…I’ll be there in 15 minutes.” I was there in 20 or 22 minutes, being that it’s morning. But I always over promise and under deliver when it comes to time. Always. I’m still trying to be realistic with time. Why haven’t I, spiritual giant that I am, gotten my time under control?

Driving to pick up my wife: I’m nursing some definite frustration with HER because she didn’t tell me where she was taking the car and why she was taking it there when we never take the car there. Never. I haven’t felt like really yelling at any body like that in a long time.

But I’m going (if I ever get out of town) to speak at a men’s retreat and one of my points is going to be that as a man it is my responsibility for setting the tone in the home…not my wife’s. I’m the spiritual leader of the family…right? Ya…I should love my wife as Christ loves the church, as a prophet, priest and king. Sacrificial leadership. Servant leadership. I believe that and try to practice it. And my leadership role which I love was bearing in on me. Something’s gotta change…I have got to lead better than this.

When I rolled up into the other repair shop and we saw each other we were both calmed down (can you imagine it…she was frustrated with me!), and we both said practically the same thing: we’re too busy and we merely assumed that we each knew where the car was going to be taken. We’re too busy, we didn’t talk, we assumed too much. The morning (and weekend) all worked out with no time to spare…I flew out on time…whew…no one on this plane knows me and I have no responsibilities for two and a half hours.

Confession is good for the soul, even if it’s in black and white on the internet: I still do ministry too fast and furious. I have trouble saying no. While I plan my weekly schedule and teach my seminary students to plan their schedules well (“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” might be a cliché…but it’s still true a lot of the time), I still have more to do than I can do. My margins are horrible sometimes. Richard Swenson would look at my week and would shrug his shoulders at me and say something like, “You’ve read two of my books, what else can I do? You gotta get some margin in your life.” Ya, I teach your stuff man. Ministry, life too fast and furious. A lot of the time I’m only relaxed and focused when I’m not in town. My favorite place is an isle seat on an airplane ‘cause no one knows me (usually), and I if I can yank open a book quick enough no one will talk to me. Blessed freedom to think, pray, experience slow and peaceful rather than fast and furious.

Ministry too fast and furious for you? Can you relate? What’s your Friday morning story, or Monday or Sunday story? Ok, so no fixing you or me here, but here’s where I stand; I can do no other than to admit that I’m in a love-hate relationship with fast and furious. I like to feel important and I like to be busy but I just hate being too busy. I want to be alone from all people more than I care to admit. Love-hate. And I can do no other than to admit that I really am not busy so that God will like me as much as I am busy so that I will like myself and that others will like me. I get the Gospel 50%. I hardly ever try to impress my Father; He knows too much. Really, I’m not being spiritual, I’m being honest. I’m not a pastor to earn my way to heaven or to get His approval. I have it, I know. I’m His son forever because of His will and Jesus’ Cross and for no other reason. The other 50% of the Gospel is just now, at my advanced age, starting to sink in: I can’t fill up the abyss of my soul in this life by activity and people pleasing…only someone Infinite can do that. So the Gospel is starting to free me from others, and from frantic activity. As Pascal said, “All men seek happiness, this is without exception.” He doesn’t criticize us, he merely states the obvious. As Lewis says, our desires are not too strong but too weak…”we are too easily pleased”. (Go back and read the sermon, THE WEIGHT OF GLORY…you’ll love it). For me, part of the freedom for which Christ set me free, is freedom for too fast and furious ministry.

Oh, before I leave, I want to tell you a couple of things. Writing this took longer than I had planned. I thought it would flow more quickly. Poor scheduling again. But I had built in some free time after this so that I could run home and see my family before leaving to speak and hang out with the guys of our church. The other thing is I still like speed. Vin Diesel’s “Fast Five” movie, his, what 5th in 10 years just came out and when it comes out on DVD I’ll watch it. I know, I know, it’s not great theatre. There’s no message there. No redemption theme, I know. It’s just, I love speed. And the Father seems to whisper to me sometimes, “Look son, you can go as fast as you want, but you’ll miss me and your family and others. And you just don’t have to go quite so fast. Get the other 50% of the Gospel son. I’m here!”

He’s there for you too. Isn’t He a great Father?

BACK IN! CLIMBING OUT FROM UNDERNEATH IT…

Pete Alwinson March 15 2011 - No Comment

So it’s been months since I’ve written a blog…I know, I know. “Pete must have dropped off the planet, or been raptured.” The Rapture would have been nice for sure. No, I’ve been underneath it…and I am currently climbing out from underneath it. I’ve missed writing and hearing back from you guys. What happened to me? Mmmm…my guess is that what happened to me has happened to most of us pastors in the last few years (for many of us it’s been 2008 to the present). We’ve been underneath IT.

What’s IT? Since 2008 the ministry has not been the same for me…how about you? Budget restraints, watching every penny, staff cut backs with the inevitable questioning, “Well who will do these ministries now that Fred is leaving us?” (One church I know had to let go eight staff at the beginning of 2008, we lost one in fall 2009 and not replaced that person until recently.) Most of us as pastors are pretty “can do” and so, we do IT. IT being the Ministry…or ministries. “I’ll do that, and if you take that activity, I’ll also take these other three things.” So we do take on the duties of other staff who have left or had to be let go; we divvy up the duties, and before we know it we are underneath it…the ministry load. Frankly, I can’t stand merely maintaining and have never been good at only managing existing ministries and feel good with the status quo. I want to make progress…do more…and if we were going to do more it was going to be…on less. “Lord between you and me we can get ‘er done.”

I tried…and got underneath it…how about you?

Along the way, grace has come, and I’m getting out from underneath it, but since I’m writing this on Saturday you can tell that I’m not completely out from underneath the load.

Let me tell you a couple of lessons I’m learning. My ministry focus has always been motivating, encouraging, disciplining and developing men. The daily mantra for me is: “As the men of the church goes, so goes the church. A church will never get beyond the quality level of its men.” Businessmen have been my focus and I identify with the guy in business, but during these past months I’ve come to love and appreciate pastors so much more than ever before. Why? Maybe it’s because of the load we carry that few of our people really understand. The time load, the preparation load, the leadership load, the secrets of our people that we bear, along with their bad choices and the crazy stuff that happens in a broken world to them that inevitably intersects our world. We pastors really are in a unique role that few outside our world understand. And I love you for not giving up, for being courageous, for leading with a limp (as Dan Allender has written), for being an example to me, for messing up, repenting, getting grace and moving on, for being underneath the pile of ministry, IT, and slugging it out…I love you guys, and I want you to know I love you. I’ve been learning that while underneath it.

Another thing I’ve been learning as I’ve been underneath it is that I need the love of my friends and fellow pastors too. Steve Brown tells me he loves me and he knows more dirt on me than most. My friend Pat Morley (of Man in the Mirror), tells me he loves me, and he’s known me a long time…he shouldn’t but he does. Another friend called me the other day…Gregg…just to see how I was doing. I wince when guys say they love me, ok? I’m more comfortable with…”Hey I sure do appreciate you man.” That’s my line. Appreciate. Appreciate vs love. Mmmmmm…after being underneath it, I need more than appreciation. I’m going public with this: I need to be loved too. I’m not invincible, I’m vulnerable, I’m weak. I hate it…I need to be loved. I’ve got this friend Tom at church. Every Sunday he hugs me. I’m getting used to that, and like it more and more…but is it manly?! Live underneath it long enough, and your heart will break. God’s love through others becomes a glue of sorts that puts you back together. I’ve been learning that underneath it.

Ok, one more lesson…I’ve come to love and compete less with you guys…even the superstars. I went to a conference with my staff the other day where two superstar pastors talked about leadership and how they built their church to 3 million in attendance on a weekend…ok, not that many, but close. I sat there listening with so much less envy than ever that it surprised me. These guys are super gifted leaders and communicators and I’m glad they are on our side! It was so freeing to not have to be them, but to not compete with them either. In fact, yep, I love them.

Being underneath IT is good, I’m beginning to see, since it is teaching me to love and receive love. You’re right…you were going to say it…I know…I can write it in Greek but still learning it in English: “The greatest of these is love…”

I’m back. I’m out from underneath it and better for it. Let me know how you’re doing….

We’re in this together and I’m glad…and, oh yes…I love you.

Pete Alwinson

PS…A great read: Stan Toler’s Practical Guide for Ministry Transition, How to Navigate Personal Change Personally and Professionally Stan Toler, Wesleyan Publishing House. 182 pp

Maturity and Leadership…

Pete Alwinson May 04 2010 - 2 Comments

Let’s see now, how spiritually mature do I need to be to retain my position as a pastor anyway? One leader said: “I hate being a Christian leader when I stink at being a Christian.” Maturity and leadership…Christlikeness and being an undershepherd of Christ. Of course they go together, but how?

This past semester I opened each class session of Theology of Ministry at the seminary where I am an adjunct professor, with a character study through I Timothy 3 and Titus 1. The qualifications for elder/pastor are clear and while my theological tradition is heavy on the intellectual grasp of the great doctrines of the faith, the Pastoral Epistles emphasize character in Christ as the hallmark of spiritual leaders. Of course it is Christ like maturity AND a grasp of the great doctrines of the faith which much characterize a pastor. I get that. Contemplation on these qualifications has led me to some honest realizations…to wit (as Steve Brown would say)

…I’ve been a senior pastor for some 28 years and I still have a long way to go in spiritual maturity when it comes to these qualifications for elder/pastor. Specifically I am not fully “respectable” (I Timothy 3.2). I still lack love in amazing ways. I’ve found that new life challenges and trials can still be surprisingly difficult even if you’ve walked with Jesus and worked for Jesus for a long time. (more…)

Mountain Confessions…

Pete Alwinson January 27 2010 - 2 Comments

…Journal of a Pooped Pastor on a Study Break

The 6th Day…

It’s January 2010 and I begin this new decade with three decades of ministry laying thick on my soul. Thick on my soul. Heavy. Good and rich experiences and head shaking, “I can’t believe I went through that” experiences. Here I am physically healthy and mentally and emotionally, still quite tired actually after nearly a week in reflection, reading, prayer and study. Well, it’s been since last July that I had time away from hyper drive ministry. 6 months at it straight isn’t wise I know, but stuff happens in ministry and you can’t always get away when you should, if you can even afford to get away. I guess really it’s been 6 months and 30 years. I’m not complaining. I know I’m blessed. I’m at a friend’s home in the North Georgia mountains. I’m sitting on a soft couch in front of a nice fire place writing this. It’s sort of my fault that I haven’t come here before. He’s offered it over and over. Finally I took him up on his generosity. I wonder about my pastoral colleagues…you who might read this. I wonder…have you gotten away, by yourself…do you even have the opportunity I have had this week to do this? I want that for you. We in the pastorate don’t think we can get away or should take time off to study, even though EVERYBODY knows you need a break. (What about the pastor I know who takes a month a year off to study…he’s lasted a long time…mmm…no wonder)The complexities of our lives work against disconnecting ourselves from a very people/program/calendar connected life. We’re usually relationally and programtically overloaded. (more…)

Shutting the Doors for Good

Pastor Pete December 14 2009 - 3 Comments

When A Church Dies

Casualties of this economy are everywhere. The obvious tell-tale signs of economic death are the hundreds of empty offices with brown paper on the windows and trash in the entry ways, malls where your voice echos in the emptiness, and drawn faces of men with dark circles under their eyes who answer, “How you doing man?”, with…”Well…you won’t believe this, but….” No I believe it. Every one of us pastors has dealt with more sorrow in ’08 & ’09 than anyone really knows. Our counseling appointments are up, what 50-75%? More?

One of my elders is responsible right now for shutting down a factory in his hometown. He used to work there, his father used to work there, and many of his friends still work there. He took the assignment because he felt that he could bring about this death more painlessly than any one else in his company. Economic death.

Death is a reality all pastors have to deal with. (more…)

What’s Wrong With Me?

Pete Alwinson September 28 2009 - 1 Comment

“So what I want to know is, why do you still have a church and I don’t? What’s wrong with me?”

It’s a Thursday afternoon at Starbucks and I’m sitting with a 64 year old pastor friend of mine, uh, former pastor friend of mine, who three years earlier had been unceremoniously cut loose from the ministry he built from 70 to 400 people over 16 years. His leaders had done it all wrong, even illegally according to church protocol. I can’t help but think while he’s talking, “What good is a Book of Church Order if you don’t follow it? It’s supposed to work, and does sometimes. It’s supposed to keep us from slashing the heart out of the people of God. Ya, but you’ve messed up using the BOCO too Pete. Uh huh.”

“Why do you still have a church and I don’t?” (more…)

Noise Is Better Than Vomit

Pete Alwinson August 18 2009 - No Comment

So I’m talking to our worship director on Monday morning as he comes in to my office to work his magic and try and help me get my iPhone working properly again (one of his many ministries to me): “So Jeff how’s it going…how’s the family?” Pause…hesitation…uh oh. Yesterday was a great Sunday of worship. Jeff is a tremendous worship leader…the best…stay away from him. As Steve has said many times, my elders gave me a .45 and I know how to use it and will in the right circumstances. You stand warned. My sermon also went reasonably well Sunday. I didn’t have speaker’s remorse hitting the red zone this Monday. But it was Monday…another day.

Cutting to the chase it was a rough morning (more…)

Delayed Gratitude

Pete Alwinson March 04 2009 - 1 Comment

Did you say “Delayed Gratification”? Nope. Gratitude. Thanks. Attaboys. Confirmations that our ministry is on target and makes sense and is being used by the Spirit of God to bring about real transformation in people’s lives, specially when you have to say tough things to someone you love. I’m sure you get comments of gratitude and thanks for your sermons from time to time, like “Man you were on fire!”, “Have you been following me around this week?” (I always affirm that I have), “I was taking notes!” or “Good jokes pastor.” You might get positive comments every week, and that’s great. I don’t, but then Baptist preacher Calvin Miller said that if he gave 25 good sermons a year he was happy. That helped me be happy too with whatever I get. Steve Brown says that if you get 51% you chalk it up as success. I can live with that.

Back to gratitude. I like hearing that I’m getting through and that (more…)