fancy schmancy

"How many (fill in the blank) does it take to change a light bulb?" No doubt you've heard those jokes. Well, let me ask this one; do you know how many friends and family it takes to throw a bon voyage shindig for a local pastor? A lot!

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Our church's founding pastor was given a going away party. The honor of serving as the emcee was awarded to yours truly. Maybe they knew how much I love being a mic jockey or maybe it was that after you eliminate all the distinguished guests and all the people serving in other capacities, I was the only one left.

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Whatever the reason, I feel a twinge of guilt, because the program was for someone else's honor and I enjoyed my part soooo much!

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That night, the honor went to the pastor and his Mrs, but the credit went to a plethora of volunteers. The morning after, I went through the pictures and I found myself wishing that I had captured more of this and that. We have a few shots of the servers as they waited on our tables. I wish I had the artists as they painted panels or created center pieces. The shoppers gathering all the supplies from different stores. The script writer looking for appropriate verses on the computer. The bands and choirs at their rehearsals. The cooks preparing the meals. The childcare volunteers in the other rooms. The sound and video teams. Who knows what else!

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All I did was strap on a necktie and get up front to read segments of a script (that somebody else wrote), but there was a whole lotta people that invested a huge amount of time into putting it all together.

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Mr. Big Shot Emcee over here will have a slice of humble pie now. :-)

passed your appreciation

The little boy often told him, "You're my favorite pastor."

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That's cute and all, but what do little kids know about it? Seriously. What can a little kid know about the fervency with which this man prays. About the integrity to biblical text, hard studying and deep richness of his expository preaching. Meeting the needs of the poor. Racial reconciliation. What about the passed-up opportunities for a bigger church or cushy (well-deserved) living? All these things and more. I expect that there's a lot that the little kid didn't know.

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Me? I don't care to list favorites among my mentors and brothers, but I'll tell you this: You'd be hard-pressed to find another man of the same caliber. (His wife is also exceptional, but I'll let him do all the bragging about her.)

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We were blessed to be under his shepherding for a while, and Sunday night we said goodbye as he is being called to a different ministry location. We held a great event in his (and his wife's) honor, thanking them and telling them how much they mean to us.

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Who knows? Maybe that little boy showed wisdom in that he openly expressed his appreciation in the pastor's regular, daily life. (By the way, October is "Pastor Appreciation Month.")

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Who do you appreciate? When and how do you intend to express it?

interim pastor

[About the photograph: This photo taken without flash from waaaaay back in the sound booth. (Zoomed to the max.) Most shots taken that way come out blurry, and preachers RARELY stay still enough for such a pic. A polarizing filter worked perfectly for one of the panes on the drum cage, but I couldn't get it to work very well on both parts visible in the shot, or even on the angled piece behind our preacher. The reflection on that sheet of plexiglass was bright and strong, because the side door was open, allowing cool, fresh air... plus intense sunlight.] The pastor who I respect and admire so much is being called to a different ministry. It can be a while before we get a new pastor, so in the interim, our pulpit belongs to this man in today's photo.

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So far, I have only heard him preach twice, but in that short time, he is convincing me that he is the right man for the job. What I like best is that he generously speckles his sermon with scriptural references. He will do an expository style, carefully unwrapping one passage of scripture, but then he uses other parts of the Bible to help clarify the meanings. I like that a lot.

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In his first message, he said that a new pastor might be inclined to tell his congregation what he wanted for them, but rather than that, he told us that he wanted to begin by letting us know what Jesus wants for us. More on that in a sec.

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As a little boy, our interim pastor heard his parents pray for him. I could imagine the little guy pressing his ear against their door. He listened, as they told God what they wanted for their little boy.

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Then, he directed us to John 17, where Christ prays to the Father for His followers. That's how we can know what Jesus wants for us.

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That was a very warm way to introduce this, which was really the Lord's prayer. (That which we usually call The Lord's Prayer is more appropriately entitled The Our Father.) Anyway, the message was biblically sound, and it tugged at our heart strings at the same time. What impressed me the most, was that my youngest child was able to repeat it back to me with impressive recollection of many details.

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I miss my former pastor. He is something special, and we can't exactly "replace" him, but at least the new guy's good preaching has taken some fear away from the unknown. May God bless both of these men and increase the effectiveness of their ministries, as they seek to make a difference for Christ.