The nine years I've been in New Middletown is just about a sixth of my life. The thirty-seven years I've been appointed to churches is 62% of my life. Add seven years for college and seminary and my ministry years account for 75% of my life! That leaves 17 years during which I was growing up in Leonard and Hazel Haire's home!
My season of ministry has been one of phenomenal change! I started with a typewriter and carbon copies. No computer. No secretary. I used the King James Bible almost exclusively for the first ten years of my ministry. I was required to make a certain number of visits every week; that was considered one of the most important things I could do. We had no PowerPoint. Using screens for slide shows was frowned upon. Movies in the church and even entertainment (like singing groups) was taboo.
For my first twenty years in ministry I felt like I was in constant preparation mode. I prepared a message for Sunday morning. Then I prepared another message for Sunday night. Then another message (usually a Bible study) for Wednesday evening. It was exhausting! The pastor was viewed largely in that era as a hireling. He was paid to do the work of the church.
It took me years to see that the Bible described a very different model. According to Ephesians 4:11-12, the pastor is to prepare God’s people for works of service. This realization was revolutionary! It redefined my purpose and my role.
Ministry took on a whole new meaning for me. It became exciting in a fresh way! I was challenged. It felt, to some extent, like I was beginning all over again. And things started to happen! People entertained is not the church! People deployed is the church!
Then another emergence took place. I began to see my role as apostolic. I was to be a recruiter and trainer of leaders. This fit like a glove. There is almost nothing I enjoy doing more than recognizing leadership qualities and calling them out in people! Seeing a person emerge with capability is so exciting! To see them realize that they can do something is a veritable joy! I live for this privilege!
I have every expectation of keeping active until Jesus comes. Will I retire? Probably, someday. But I hope I am always active in mentoring, training, evangelizing, influencing, discipling and some form of leading. I can’t imagine life without these challenges.
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