For a period of time in my ministry I worked with churches going through crisis situations. This would be churches on the verge of closing. Before that, while still pastoring, I sometimes worked with pastors going through crisis situations. These were people who were on the verge of leaving the ministry. Usually, the church in crisis blamed the previous three pastors for their demise. The pastor in crisis, on the other hand, blamed his last one or two churches for his problems. Every once in a while I would come across a church that would regret some of their past actions and admit to their own faults and every once in a while a pastor would say to me that he had really messed up/ Although the church or pastor that was willing to accept the blame was rare, they were also the ones who could be helped. The church or pastor that pointed the finger at someone else was the church or pastor that was headed for a bad ending.

          There are those churches that batter their pastors. I knew a pastor once who had a knife pulled on him in a deacons meeting. There are pastors who wreck churches without a care. The pastor who takes the church into an expensive building program and then leaves halfway through to take another church that is bigger and better and pays more and was impressed with him for being 'successful.' But I have always felt that if the church goes into their search fully open to the Lord and the pastor goes into the search fully open to the Lord and then they meet each other halfway, they have a pretty good chance of success. There are some very good churches and there are some very good pastors.

          Then, of course, there are churches that think they walk with the Lord when they are only seeking their own way. One church was running over 200 in morning worship when their pastor left. The search committee sent around questionnaires asking the congregation what kind of pastor they wanted. There were questions concerning age, health, marital status, children at home, appearance, education, experience and some others. The people filled them out and turned them in and from that information the search committee came up with a composite for their candidate. Sounds pretty good. The problem with that, though, is that the church has laid out a template and then they want God to give them a pastor who fits that template. They assume God will honor their efforts when, in fact, God likely has other ideas. So it was at this church. The Lord sent them a candidate who exceeded most of their desires and met the others, except one. They wanted a pastor under 50 years of age. The candidate was 51. Therefore, too old. They continued the search finally finding their guy. He met their requirements and he was only 49. He lasted just a few years. the next pastor lasted only a year and a half. The church is struggling with around 50 on Sunday morning, their once fine Youth group is gone and they are approaching the church in crisis stage. The pastor who was to old by a year has been richly blessed by the Lord and is in a wonderful place of ministry. The same can be said about pastor. The pastor who went to the just mentioned church was looking for a stepping stone church that would take him higher. Now he is part time in the ministry. 

           Earlier this week I talked about Dr. Bill Wilkes. A fine man who richly blessed my ministry. I have known many good men in the pastorate. One character that sticks out in my mind was a fellow preacher I met while pastoring in a medium sized city in Ohio. Big and boisterous, he was a former motorcycle gang member who found the Lord and became one of the best preachers and pastors around. Still loved his motorcycle, though. One day his wife and he were on the bike going to look at a new sign that was being made for the front of their church when a drunk driver hit them. The wife came out of it okay, but the pastor was severely injured. In the end they had to take his left leg off just below the knee. That, along with some nasty internal injuries, laid him up for a long time. Finally, he was able to get back to his pulpit and his parish.                                                                                                                     

          He had always had a tremendous sense of humor, but his ordeal had understandably toned him down a bit. Another thing he had always been known for was his killer game of golf. That also seemed doomed now.

           But, in time the annual clergy tournament came around, which he had always won, and he announced he was going to try to play. Remember that here was a man with a wonderful sense of humor. (He had once been playing a round with a group of pastors and had hit a goose that was swimming in a pond. The bird got it in the head with his tee shot. The unlucky fowl died immediately. Everyone was shocked, but he just shook his head and said it was the first time he ever heard of someone scoring a birdie on a tee shot.) Anyway, several years before his son had given him a pack of three golf balls filled with talcum powder as a gag gift, and our hero had fallen for the gag once and thought it was very funny and had never used them again. Now, however, he hobbled out to the tee with one of those balls in hand. "I hope I still have something left in me," he said. All the pastors leaned in a little closer to see if their friend could indeed hit the ball. It was a solemn occasion. He selected his driver, teed up and drew back for a mighty swing. At the point of contact the ball exploded and talcum powder filled the air and coated everyone that was close by, including the hero of this story. As the powder settled he looked down the fairway as if he were following the flight of the ball and said with great satisfaction, "Yep, I still got it." 

           We are limited only by ourselves and that usually comes when we decide we know best. Many want to serve God, but in an advisory capacity. Let Him lead you and you will do great things.