REFLECTIONS BEFORE MY LAST SUNDAY

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. 

PEACEMAKERS DON’T MAKE GOOD LEADERS – III

[This is the third of a series.  You might want to read the first two articles first!]

I received my call to ministry when I was seventeen.  It was re-confirmed when I was thirty in a way that was so convincing, I will never doubt the reality of my call again!

I have one relative who was also a pastor.  His name was J. O. Archer.  He was my Grandma Haire’s brother – which made him my great-uncle.  However, he was more like a grandfather to me!  I loved him dearly! 

He was honored by the Pittsburgh Conference for fifty years of active ministry in the Free Methodist Church.  He was stepping out of ministry just as I was stepping into it.

Interestingly, Uncle James was also a peacemaker!  In his day, pastors were moved frequently – as often as every three or four years.  The conference leadership had recognized his peace-loving ways.  They repeatedly sent him to churches known for unrest and division.  Uncle James had a way of restoring peace and love among the members of the church.  He was a calmer-of-storms, a healer of relationships.

There is a place in the church for the peacemaker!  Like Uncle James, I have served churches that needed healing.  Two of them had experienced pastors who fell due to sexual misconduct.  One had been torn apart through the pain and tension of a building program.  Another struggled to survive because it was located mid-way between two highly visible mega-churches.  Another was torn over the decision of whether or not to build a new building. 

In each case, I worked hard to restore peace and establish unity.  In each case, the church grew significantly.  In each case, finances were strengthened.  In each church, new people were introduced to the family of God. 

Certain pastors are known to have a healing ministry.  They are solid in their faith and above reproach.  They earn people’s trust and bring people together.  These pastors almost always see convert growth, however, rarely at a level that ignites ‘break-out’ growth.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Peacemakers don’t make good leaders, but they do make excellent pastors!