HOW TO GROW A PASTOR

 As a young, novice pastor I faced lots of challenges without the benefit of a mentor.  In 1976, the use of mentors for pastors was a rarity - unfortunately.  I was leading a church in Jeannette, PA.  A nearby, experienced pastor - J. D. States - did reach out to me and we met a time or two.  He even suggested a pulpit exchange between his church [Penn Hills FMC] and mine [Penn Hills - at that time, was a thriving, growing church!].

Upon my appointment, the Pittsburgh Conference simultaneously went from three superintendents to one.  He was obviously overwhelmed as a result of this significant change.  Consequently, he never checked in with me during that first traumatic year.  

In spite of my struggling, the church began to grow and ultimately nearly doubled in size within two years.  [I had inherited a brand new building with a deeply split congregation of around forty mostly older people.]  However, the power structures within the church were overbearing.  They refused to allow me to bring these new converts in as members.  A key leaders' wife suffered from a self-declared, mental condition.  Sometimes she would greet me joyfully and praise my work; the next time she would be dark and threatening.  

I did reach out to a fellow pastor who was a bit older than me.  We met a few times and exchanged ministry ideas and prayed for one another, but it did not attain the level of support and help that I needed.

Sadly, the result of this dilemma caused me to ask for a move after only two years.  I have longed many times for a different ending to that story!  New believers were abandoned.  The church immediately plummeted back to forty people.  A few years ago, the Pittsburgh Conference sold that building with its ten acres of land in the middle of a developing community.  I mourn that fateful decision I made forty-eight years ago.

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Young or new pastors need support, encouragement and equipping!

Despite their giftedness, creativity and resourcefulness, they need coaching and an experienced guide to walk with them!  Leading a church is HARD WORK!  Opposition abounds!  We hear little about this, but the church is one of the largest operations in the world to utilize almost exclusively volunteer labor!  

I had a highly successful businessman in one of my congregations at a time when the church I was leading had doubled in size.  During one of our occasional lunches I told him that I envied him.  He had a perplexed look on his face, so I explained.  

You own your business and hire your employees.  When you tell them what to do, they do it, or you fire them.  In my work, I have to recruit, train and deploy people to do the work of the church without the incentive of a paycheck and without any direct line of authority.

 As (if) a church grows, a pastor does gain respect and an increase in influence.  However, a congregation's resistance to change is persistent and highly frustrating to a determined leader!  

• Fast-adaptors are few - probably less than ten percent of a congregation.
• Convincible adaptors will support new ideas with a measure of interest and a hopeful attitude.  They are not quick, but they are willing to see the benefits that can come through change.  They probably make up about thirty percent of the congregation.
• Late adaptors may eventually come along after much evidence is presented and deeper trust in the leadership is developed.  Until they are thoroughly convinced, however, they are oppositional!  They likely make up another thirty percent of a congregation.
• Resisters rarely adapt and remain oppositional and negative even when the changes have proven effective!  They typically get left behind and resent the new people who are becoming significant to the growth of the church!  

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Are you seeing the struggle that pastors deal with regularly?

Although the church did not provide me with mentors and coaches, or even attentive leaders, I did have a few consistent and dedicated prayer warriors who stood faithfully behind me!

The value gained from this kind of persistence cannot be fully appreciated!  This is why I survived!

First, there was my mother.  I rarely write about her, but she was THE MAJOR FORCE IN MY LIFE!  She taught me to pray.  She cultivated in me a love for the Lord.  She modeled leadership consistently through the years through her impact in the Women's Missionary Society, Coffee-Cup Evangelism, Christian Business Women's Association [although she wasn't a business woman] and a dedicated prayer life that impacted the lives of hundreds of people!  She eventually re-covered her Bible with pockets that she packed with prayer lists!  I knew that every Sunday morning, she was interceding for me!  

Second, there was my Uncle James Archer [actually, my great uncle who was more like a grandpap].  Officially known as JO, he was the only other pastor in my family.  He received his first appointment without being consulted while he was a layman in the New Brighton, PA Free Methodist Church.  I remember my pride when he was recognized for sixty years of service while I was an emerging pastor in the conference!  Everyone loved to hear Uncle James pray in his deep bass voice and great intimacy with God.  Uncle James always assured me that he was praying for me EVERY SUNDAY MORNING!  This was a great comfort to me!

My sister, Beverly, developed into a replication of our mom!  Over the years, she was my first resource for prayer after my mom and Uncle James had passed away.  Through the years, I always knew - every Sunday morning - she was praying for me!  She maintained a deep and intimate prayer relationship with God that could be relied on.  Those who know her will concur that on Facebook, she was constantly assuring people that she would be praying for them!  And I can assure you that when she made these commitments - she followed through!  In recent years she has been deeply impacted by dimentia.  I miss her dearly.  She still sparks with enthusiasm at times when she speaks of the Lord and her dedication to prayer, but her memory only lasts for a few moments now and she needs constant direction and support.  I'm grateful for the love and dedication of my brother-in-law, Dick, for being at her side twenty-four/seven!  

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I've just completed an interim assignment at The Foundery Free Methodist Church in Wellsburg, West Virginia.  Finally, after over a year of waiting, the church has been assigned a pastor.  He will serve as an interim until he completes some necessary educational and denominational requirements.  Hopefully, by next summer he will be appointed as the Lead Pastor of the church!  

Bobby Westfall is an intelligent, creative, passionate leader who has placed his entire trust in the Lord to direct the affairs of his family.  His wife, Stacy, is a dedicated mother who is also a Local Ministerial Candidate with interest in working with youth!  Together, they are raising four beautiful children:  Arabella, Madison, Jackson and Charlotte.  

I cannot understate the potential of this emerging leader!  In his first week on the job [which is just ending], he mobilized the church to send much-needed-supplies to the hurricane victims in the south!  That's right, the first shipment has already been delivered, and more is being collected!  One week!  What's that tell you about the potential of this new pastor?  

Bobby has invited me to continue to meet with him as a mentor!  I am excited to have the opportunity to shape, encourage and prayerfully support this younger leader!  I make him a promise here-and-now:  Bobby, every Sunday morning - as long as I live - I'll be praying for you!  

May God bless and encourage you!  May He keep you clean and pure and dedicated to His work!  May He resource you with everything you will need to grow His Church and increase His Kingdom!  May He foster humility in you as you lead and see the accompanying growth as fruit for your labor.  May He keep you approachable and caring and with your family in the foreground [and not the background]! 

I'll be watching from a distance with expectation and joy!  God bless you man!  

Times They Are A Changing...

The annual session of the Pittsburgh Conference of the Free Methodist Church is set to meet at Kittanning FMC on June 3-4, 2016.  This year's event will not even last twenty-four hours.  That's quite a change from back in the 1960's, when it was a five-day event that was always held at the Tri State Free Methodist Camp in East Liverpool, Ohio.

Pastors, lay delegates, honored guests and others were lodged in dorm rooms and cottages.  There were always a few who preferred to pay their own way and stay at the nearby Best Western Hotel. There are legendary stories of snoring annoyances and allegations of making noise after curfew. Meals were served in the dining hall by the always-in-complete-control, Virginia!

The tabernacle was transformed into a place for the transacting of business under the leadership of the area bishop.  Reports were given, worship times were enjoyed, the bishop challenged the attenders, reports were given, special guests addressed the conference, the superintendent gave his 'state-of-the-work address', reports were given and the all-important appointments were read [some called them the 'disappointments']!

I grew up attending these events annually.  To a child, they were terribly boring.  However, as a youth it gave me another five days to be with my Rochester District friends.  For most of my youth years, I served as the dish-washer for the over three hundred attendees.  

My father was always one of the lay delegates from the New Brighton church.  He seemed to almost always share this role with Morrison Baker. Morrison was for many years the song leader at conference.  His skill and ability at leading worship was a spiritual gifting that blessed anyone who sat under his leadership!

I fondly remember coming home from Roberts Wesleyan College as a ministerial candidate in the conference.  For the first time, I was allowed to sit beside my father within the bar of the conference and actually participate in these deliberations.  In some sense, my father was my mentor in this process;  I was very proud of him!  He had come to be quite respected as a leader, having served on the Stationing Committee for over twenty-five years!  [This is the committee that appointed pastors.]

My mother was knee-deep in the simultaneous Women's Missionary Society (WMS) meetings.  For a long time, she was the president of the WMS and would go all out to challenge the conference leaders to prioritize missions in their local churches!

I was intrigued by the business sessions and often sat in on them even as a child between games of 'Careers' or 'Monopoly' with my friend, Denny Mitchell.  The thing that made conference special was the pastors!  They were as diverse as a box of chocolates, yet single-minded in their common love for God!

In many cases the pastors were the chairmen of the many conference committees.  Their reports were a continuous attempt to one-up the previous report!  I'm convinced that many of these men could have made a good living as a stand-up comedian.  Laughter - belly laughter - punctuated the sessions of the conference!  Some went to extremes to make their area seem like the most important thing to come before the conference that year! Names like R. S. McGrew, Paul Hazlett, R. D. Merkle, Harry Stevick, Paul Daniels, Ken Hilling, W. P. Jones, J. S. Mitchell, and so many more litter my memory! Pastors during this time period were highly respected and revered by the people.

Bishops were intimidating characters!  We were so rarely exposed to them that they seemed like authorities that were not to be questioned.  Most were quite serious, almost to the extent of seeming unfriendly.  Bishop Johns would instruct that no one was to leave the tabernacle while he was speaking!  Bishop Boyd was a tall man who spoke with a slight impediment - but with dynamic authority.  Bishop Ellis was passionate and a preacher who made you want to live better and work harder for God!  Bishop Kendall was a quiet man with an unimpressive manner but a deep, godly presence.  I was in awe of these men!

Conference also gave me an opportunity to see my great-uncle, J. O. Archer. His was always the first name called out with the conference roll call.  I was so proud of him!  Everyone loved to hear him pray!  He had a deep, resonant, bass voice that impacted everyone as well as his comfort in talking with God!  He was like a grandfather to me and I loved him dearly!

The annual sessions always ended with a  huge crowd present.  Two events marked the ending of these days of meetings:  the complimentary resolutions and the reading of the appointments.

The complimentary resolutions were customarily in poetic form  They were written by either a lay delegate or a pastor who had been elected to do so. The remarks were published and distributed after they were publicly read. [Later, I had the esteemed privilege of doing the complimentary resolutions myself on several occasions.]  The authors seemed adept at recapturing the greatest moments of the conference.  Any faux paux would certainly gain recognition!  Highlights of heated arguments would likely be mentioned. Humorous incidents would be reviewed.  Someone who grossly went over their allotted time to speak might be roasted.  Times when the Spirit moved would also be recounted.   The listener would literally be moved from laughter to tears and holy moments by these skilled writers!

Then came the moment we all waited for - the reading of the appointments. People crowded into the tabernacle with standing room only!  The bishop would always strictly admonish the crowd that there were to be no cheers, clapping or other outward expressions during the reading of the appointments. His admonishments were not always heeded!  This was the day when pastor's appointments were kept secret until this moment. Oftentimes even the pastor's children did not know they were moving until they heard it with the crowd!  Sobs and weeping often followed the appointments while other gatherings of joy took place in different corners of the tabernacle.

Even the best of bishops were challenged to hold the crowd in control until the final prayer had been prayed.  Pastors were surrounded by people who wanted to express their sorrow AND by people who wanted to greet them as their new leader!  It was a chaotic time fraught with deep emotions!

And then, cars were already packed and everyone headed home to get ready for the first Sunday of a new conference year.  New challenges had been laid out and there was work to be done!