02.04.08

This is Love

Posted in Ministry, Lifestyle at 10:36 am by Anthony

I hope to resurrect this blog to post things that I believe will be encouraging to our church family and any others who might be checking in.  Today I was incredibly moved by this article/video about an American soldier who returned to Iraq to adopt a handicapped child.  I think you’ll be blessed by taking the time to read/watch it.  (The article is primarily a transcript of the video, depending on your internet connection.)

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05.17.07

Pastor is a Verb

Posted in Church Life, Ministry at 2:30 pm by Anthony

I’ve never been very comfortable with the title “pastor.”  The biggest reason is that we just didn’t use it in my Church of Christ upbringing.  Another reason was that in Africa it tended to be a title that could only be worn by those who had a certain level of theological education, and was often worn with a certain amount of pride and arrogance.  And then there’s the idea that the biblical usage is interchangable with elders and overseers, whereas today it’s usually reserved for a credentialed and salaried church employee. The idea of a “Senior Pastor” or “Associate (junior?) Pastor” just doesn’t seem to fit the biblical usage.

I spent some time yesterday and today looking more closely at the biblical use and it occured to me that, with the exception of Ephesians 4:11, the noun pastor does not appear in the New Testament as a title for anyone.  In the Ephesians passage, it’s part of what would be better rendered a hyphenated “pastor-teacher,” or “shepherd-teacher.”  As Lynn Anderson says in They Smell Like Sheep, “These leaders ’shepherd by teaching’ or, conversely, ‘teach by shepherding’” (p. 83).

With the exception of this occurence, however, the word pastor, as applied to church leadership in the New Testament, is a verb.  In both Acts 20:28 and in 1 Peter 5:2, ”Be shepherds,” as in the NIV, or “(to) shepherd” as in the NASB, is one word in the original text.  The KJV translates it as the verb “feed,” and  that is certainly involved, but to shepherd or to pastor involves more t han dumping food out.  It implies tending, nurturing, treating wounds, rescuing, caring for, and leading, as well as feeding.

Pastor is something to do, and not primarily a title to be worn.  Those who do it best will probably never wear the title.  And to them, titles are more scorned than sought after.  Last night in our class on shepherding I asked those in the class to write down the names of three people that they could go to in a spiritual crisis.  I didn’t ask anyone to reveal names, but Sister Tincy, our very sweet  octogenarian, wanted to honor those who shepherd her by naming them, and they were all sisters in the church who she could always count on.  There wasn’t an “office holder” among them.

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03.31.07

What is the Gospel — Really?

Posted in Blogging, Ministry, Mission at 2:19 pm by Anthony

If you’re new to the Clay Pot Journal, you may be wondering what all those links are over in the side bar.  Those are blogs of friends of mine, some of whom I’ve only met in cyberspace.  One of those that I deeply cherish is Dee Andrews.  Dee is a remarkable woman and you can read some great stories on her Finding Directions blog.  Recently she celebrated the birth of a new granddaughter, one born into a loving and secure family.  But not all children are so blessed.  Dee tells the story of one of those and challenges us to greater discipleship.  What she says about her little town in southern Mississippi could easily have been written about “the coolest little town in Texas.”

For instance - just a couple of weeks ago in our Sunday school class one of our young ladies who works for the county social services system said that she’d had a sad and needy case come in that week.  A black lady who is a grandmother had come in with her brand new infant granddaughter who had no name.  The baby was born beside the road up a ways from here to the lady’s daughter, who is a crack addict.  So is the baby.

The woman hadn’t had any contact with her daughter in some time and didn’t have any idea where she was or that she was pregnant.  The mother of the baby was hauled off to jail, the county sought out the grandmother and brought this tiny baby to her and left.

When the grandmother showed up seeking help where she could she just had the baby lying in the back floorboard of her car because she had no infant seat and no one she’d contacted as yet had been willing to help her out at all!  The young woman in our class quickly remedied that situation by making a couple of calls to fellow church members and found a used car seat in excellent condition that they brought to the grandmother.

This young woman helped the grandmother all she could with county and state and federal aid (WIC program, etc), but asked us to help out, too, as individuals in the class and as a church.  The grandmother had no clothes or diapers or anything.  I wrote out a check for a sizable amount of money and gave it to them to go shopping for the baby.  What less could I do?

That was last week.  This week she said that the grandmother now calls the baby Lily.  Baby Lily, she is.  Here’s the clincher - the state has now brought the grandmother the three other children by the daughter - all boys - ages 11, 8 and 4.  The four year old the grandmother had never seen.

She - the grandmother - is without means of support herself and how can she care for these four hungry kids, including a small infant?  She still has a 16 year old son of her own who lives with her.

These are the people the church needs to be reaching out to around here in this small Mississippi town.  This grandmother should be at the top of our list when it comes to “missional” thinking.  I mean, this is a very religious town, over all.  There are dozens and dozens and dozens of churches of all varieties and all full of good people. 

They don’t necessarily need “converting.”  What would we be converting them too?  Showing up at a different building every Sunday morning because we sing accepella and they don’t?  Are we going to proselytize from other churches who may not agree with us in 100% of our theology but who worship with great faith as well as we do?

It is the poor and hurting people of this community - the unchurched, the neediest of needy people we should reach out to in Christian love.

Let us not grow weary in well doing, nor lose sight of who it is we should be doing well for.  

I’m happy for my new granddaughter and the life she is being born into.  Exceedingly happy.  But how can I not want as much for any other baby born into either my family or a family near by?  

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03.20.07

Visitation

Posted in Ministry at 10:08 pm by Anthony

Occasionally I’ll hear of a minister who thinks that hospital, nursing home, and home visits are somehow tasks that are too mundane for their high calling of a “Ministry of the Word.” I do not want to be judgmental of these people because I am seeing how quickly schedules can fill up and hard choices have to be made. But while finding the time to visit can be difficult, I find such opportunities to be one of my favorite aspects of ministry. Because I’m “the preacher,” people can easily see my life as being different from theirs, and our paths may not cross on a day-to-day basis. When a crisis arises, however, “the preacher” often finds an open door to be involved in people’s lives in a more intimate way, and I have an opportunity to validate the words I preach through living out the ministry of Jesus, who is the Word. In that sense, putting into practice the ministry of Jesus is the only true “Ministry of the Word.”

Today I traveled to Dallas with Robert and Emma to visit Monte and Sheri. Emma had a doctor’s appointment as part of the follow-up for her surgery last December, and we all wanted to see Monte and Sheri after Monte’s quintuple (is that the right word for “5″) bypass surgery last week. He finally got out of ICU and in to a room yesterday and seems to be much better. Monte asks for our prayers for his continued recovery, and for the ability to make the lifestyle changes necessary.

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