Being Very Serious (Part 43)

I read an article recently that someone posted on Facebook concerning things Christians shouldn't say anymore because of the controversy that they create within the hearts of non-believers. Honestly, I have to agree with one of those things in particular. I have seen too many Christians use this term carelessly and cause needless heartache and doubt in people who do not believe. In this critical age we must be careful how we phrase things in the pulpit and the outside world when it comes to speaking for and about God.

God is omniscient in everything and He can do all things. These are things we know and take seriously deep in our hearts. As a pastor I learned it's easy to say "Just pray about it" and take that as the final authority on all things. Prayer is powerful, but somehow in our crazy, mixed-up world we have equated prayer similar to that Staples button they use on their commercial. When we have had all we can stand we push that button (prayer) and it all gets better. But what if it doesn't?

Hang with me here. As a pastor I have prayed for the healing of several hundred, possibly several thousand people in 45 years. Some got better, some got worse. Some got up off their bed of affliction, some never did. Some of them that were supposed to die lived, but others not even close to death passed away. I prayed with the same diligence for each of them, had the same faith, and believed in the same way. For some prayer was the answer, but for others nothing really changed. The reality is no matter how many times I prayed and who I prayed for, the final decision wasn't up to me, but to God. He was the One that responded in His way and in His time. All the ones He raised up didn't serve Him even after their miracle, and then He took some of the best members that I ever had when I wasn't prepared to let them go. In every situation the key thing was "I prayed about it".  Each and every time I prayed, I believed; even though His answers to my prayers were not always to my liking.

Prayer is not our "Get Out Of Jail Free" pass. We need to pray about all things, but when the answer is different than we expect we don't need to get mad with God. Yet most non-believers or disappointed believers do exactly that. Hey, I prayed that I would never go through some of the stuff that I have in the ministry, but magically that stuff didn't disappear when I prayed about it. I have dealt with some devilish situations and people in my day, sometimes praying into the early morning hours hoping for relief, but it never came when I prayed about it. When I had to make a decision about retiring because my body and mind were not recuperating from the effects of my stroke, I had prayed for 9 months for complete healing, but it never came even though I prayed about it. What I've learned and am still learning is that prayer does work, but God's going to do what He wants to do to perfect Himself in us, through us, and with us. If that means learning I am not self-sufficient and totally dependent upon Him so be it. It's not going to stop me from praying and believing for the best, but I'm not going to get mad with God if He doesn't respond as I would hope.

Prayer does work. I am positive about that, but it doesn't always bring the happy ending you expect. It doesn't always change your situation, but you know God has taken the time to hear you when you called upon His name. That person that lied about you may never get what they deserve in this life. That church that did you wrong may never apologize. In fact there are days when you will feel alone, dejected, and deflated because what you prayed about didn't happen as you intended. Yet praying makes you realize how truly dependent you are upon God in times of distress and trouble. It soothes your soul just knowing that in spite of what God does in your situation, good or bad, at least you have talked with Him about it. Always remember He didn't bring you this far to leave you and He didn't lift you up to let you down. So whatever happens, be assured He's still in authority and somehow will bring good out of bad.

Being Very Serious (Part 41)

The cost of conducting business on an international level at our General Assembly escalates tremendously every two years. Since I am not pastoring now I am not sure of the amount asked by our AB for each church to provide for their pastor to attend. But I know many retired Bishops won't get to attend the Assembly because of limited personal budgets. I personally think the vote of any retired Ordained Bishop is just as important as the next man's, but again because of those financial limitations many will not have the opportunity to cast it. The same could be said of our bi-vocational pastors who cannot afford to attend.

We have utilized the technology for computerized voting on the Assembly floor for years and I'm sure there is some technology available that would permit qualified men to vote via the internet by computer or smart device-but somehow that technology is not yet incorporated into our voting system. Because of this the choices of many will never be expressed on the GA floor.

Retired ministers and bi-vocational pastors get frustrated at not being able to be present to vote their choice or conviction. Some have been a part of this denomination for the majority of their lives.  Just because a church has a lot of members (bloated lists) doesn't mean they always have the money or means to send a pastor to these meetings even if they make the attempt. I do believe that every Assembly is an important one because of the elections, resolutions, and items on the agenda as well. However, many eligible voters will not be able to make it to Nashville even as close as it is to SC due to the expense that is involved.

To my knowledge we have never been given a reason in the past why the technology to vote through the internet has not been investigated or implemented by our leadership. Some would say it's too costly to invest in that type of technology. Huh? How much do we allot for GA's technology anyway? We've cut the overall cost of the GA by moving Teen Talent away from it as well as cut into our crowds for services. We rent the technology used to cast ballots and vote. We who have used that same tec both in general and state meetings know it' not perfect. In fact there is no perfect system out there. But if an attempt were made to include everyone in the balloting and voting that is qualified and unable to attend,  I believe it would show our membership that we really cared about having everyone's opinion on matters of leadership and doctrine across the board. To me the opinion of a pastor of a church under 50 is just as important as the opinion of a mega-sized church.

One of our nearby states took up an offering like we used to do to send their retired ministers to the Assembly. When they didn't get enough money to do so one of their churches offered to make up the difference. That's how important the ministers of that state felt it was to have representation present in Nashville. Several churches in other states are assisting the retired ministers who attend their churches to go. All of this issue could be solved and money saved if we could use internet voting. We can watch it on the internet, so why can't we use the internet to express our opinion and vote?

This may never happen in my lifetime, but it's food for thought for future leadership. Some will say, "If you really wanted to be here you would make the sacrifice." That sounds all spiritual and such, but as the old saying goes "you can't get blood from a turnip." When you get one check a month it's different than being on a regular payroll. I never anticipated having to give up my church early because of health issues, but it happened. That doesn't stop me from caring about the future of my denomination. I just pray that with the technology of today someone will come up with a plan that will include the majority of those eligible in the decision making process in the not so distant future.

Being Very Serious (Part 40)

Churches require a lot of maintenance year round. Whether it is the building itself or the grounds it is the responsibility of ALL the church members to make sure their properties are maintained. When the parking lot is full of grass and the yard's not cut neighbors begin to wonder if the people who attend there really care about their facilities. It doesn't matter the size of the structure, the layout of the land, or how many attend the church. What matters is that someone is invested enough in that local ministry to make sure their facilities are presentable to the public.

You can tell a lot about a congregation by how they take care of their facilities. I understand that the lack of money is the reason a lot of things don't get done, but just about anybody can use a mower, weed eater, or rake to make sure the grounds are taken care of. The same for pushing a vacuum or emptying a trash can. I would always cringe when I came to church on  Sunday and whoever was responsible for yard/church maintenance hadn't done their job. I always took it as a personal reflection on myself if the job wasn't done. I can't even remember how many times I just did the job myself because my workers didn't show up and do their job.

I was blessed at UCOG to have Brother Robert Austin do our yard maintenance for us and Brother Rick Boulware and his mother clean the church. I never had to worry about either because even when Brother Robert's equipment malfunctioned he made sure the work was done. John and Teresa Ramsey were great leaders and workers at DCOG because if they said they would do the work, it would get done. I could always count on their help in keeping the property and church maintained. Brother Tim Dabbs did the yard work for us at LCOG and did more than his fair share of extras to make sure the property was taken care of. Brother Stephen Seymour did the same for the church (and believe me it's hard to keep an eighty year old building clean). It's people like these that pastors need more of in their churches today to help them make sure the church grounds are properly groomed and the church facilities maintained.

The people that usually complain the most about unkempt yards or unclean churches usually never lift a hand to help do the work. Many think because they pay their tithes that's the limit of their sacrifices for their church. But if there's not enough financial support, as in many of our smaller churches, without volunteers many things go undone. Folks, the pastor cannot do it all. Somebody has to help him/her get the job done and it has to be more than just a few.

So the next time your pastor asks for someone to help with the yard/church maintenance don't be shy. Speak up, show up, and do what you said you would do. If everyone does their part it's easy. But if just one person fails to honor his/her responsibility, it throws everything out of kilter. What begins to happen is those few who are faithful workers get overloaded and burnt out. And when they get burnt out it all falls on your pastor and pretty soon he/she is so worn out they beg the Lord for a change of scenery.

I read a survey not too long ago about how churches attract and keep visitors. One of the first things new people considered before attending any church was how the property looked. They also considered how the restrooms were kept in the church before they decided to stay. Those things may seem trivial to you, but apparently they are important to somebody. So if you don't want the job, give a little extra in the offering for the purpose of hiring someone to do it. What a wonderful surprise it would be for everyone in the church to pull up on Sunday and see everything inside and out clean, comfortable, and cut. If you take care of what you have, God will supply you with even more.

Being Very Serious (Part 38)

The Conway Church of God will always be special to me. I haven't been to Conway in a number of years now and the church has grown tremendously under the direction of Pastor Stuart Jacobs and is in a new location. The parsonage I grew up in and the old building have been replaced, but living on North Crabtree Street was special back in that day. I remember so many people that influenced my life while my dad pastored there.  Even though I was born in Walterboro, I still call Conway my home town because I was 12 when we moved there and 17 when we left.

Life was simple and far less complicated back then for all of us. I remember the day we moved to McColl from Conway and thinking as I was driving about how great my life had been while living there. We always moved on my birthday because that's when the new church year started. September 1, 1970 was the day when I left so many of my friends behind and 46 years later it still seems like yesterday. Several of them have passed away now and many of my peers have retired or moved away, but my life became fuller because of the great church and the people there.

Our Lord never promised us that our lives would continue to be simple as our lives continued, but He let us know that our life is special. It is more than just existing or breathing. It is more than just counting your birthdays while your body gets older and weaker. Life isn't some race towards some distant goal, but a simple walk you take each day seeing all the wonder and beauty around you. It isn't some balancing act where you must be perfect or lose everything, but a stroll down a narrow way where if you fall off you just smile, laugh and jump right back on. It isn't some worrisome counting of every penny you make, but about smelling flowers, smiling at sunrises, playing with laughing grandchildren, and collecting priceless memories along the journey. Life isn't what happens to you, but is rather the choices that you make all through each day and all through your life.

Those daily choices you make bring you the joy you seek and the love you need. It is the Heavenly choices that bring you the oneness with God you desire and allow you to smile and forgive instead of stewing in your anger when someone hurts you. It is these choices that allow you to laugh and love instead of despair when things go wrong and allow you to give joy and goodness to others instead of always trying to get things from them. Cherish your life, your loved ones, and all your memories. Let life be a blessing instead of a curse by the choices you make.

I thank the Lord for Bishops Bobby Johnson and I. C. Morris, Jr. choosing me to work with them when I was a young minister. I thank God for the congregations in Lancaster, Powdersville, Laurens, and Union along with others that allowed Becky and I to serve them in our journey. I can honestly say it's the precious people we served that made the difference in our ministry. Again, all of life comes down to our daily choices. Let's choose to fill our lives with love, joy, peace, happiness, goodness, delight, and oneness with God. Let's choose to bless the world, help others, and bring truth, joy, love, and light to everyone we meet. A life filled with good choices equals an eternity with our loved ones and the Lord.

Being Very Serious (Part 39)

We seem to have a lot of sore spots in the church today and it appears to affect the way many treat their spiritual leaders. Again, this is just my thought, but I have experienced some of the same junk that many pastors are facing today. I'm hoping that knowing someone else has been there and has dealt with these sore spots might help another pastor know they can do the same thing.

There are some people who are so brave that they hide behind the word "anonymous. They complain anonymously about your ministry, to your Council, or Administrative Bishop and never sign their name to the letters that they write. They are so brave pointing out your faults and complaining about  your inadequacies as a leader, yet never speak to you personally or privately about their problem with your leadership because the want to remain unknown. They cause a ruckus hoping to drive you away from your church or damage your influence with your members. Then even get more personal by attacking your character and family. I am not saying that we ministers are above wrong doing, but there is a Biblical way to handle disagreements. Sadly, most pastors cannot be Biblical in many of these situations because usually the troublemaker(s) refuse to co-operate and work out the situation.

Every pastor has had someone deliberately lie on them to impugn their name and character. It seems those involved in this activity think we are too stupid to find out who it is that is causing the commotion. Usually it's the same one's that have caused every pastor a problem that's been at your church before. Sometimes it even spans generations. I have seen that more than once as a pastor and a district overseer. Good does create good, and evil begets evil from generation to generation. Only by the power of God can that curse be broken over a family or a church.

The church seems to be the only place where people will do anything they can to have their way or gain some type of authority. They will use whatever means possible to exert their agenda over a pastor until he gives in or moves away. God gave us a five-fold ministry pattern of leadership and not one time did He say it involved someone seeking control over an apostle,  prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher. These individuals have a three-fold purpose according to Ephesians 4:12, but it's verse 13 that should stop every church boss in their tracks. Paul wrote that these in leadership, who fulfill their purpose, have an agenda of unifying the church. Members who attack a spiritual leader for selfish gain defeat that reasoning even before it can take place.

My grandfather faced this kind of behavior in ministry and so did my dad. Unfortunately I did the same. One of my doctors told me that the stress of dealing with these stupid situations over my years of ministry caused the health problems that forced me into early retirement. I cannot undo what has been done, but I can write about it and say that most every pastor tries to do their best to do what God wants them to do and to lead their church in the way God speaks to them about their mission. It may not be what everybody in that local congregation wants, but you will never know what God has in store for your church unless you make the effort to listen and try. Constant resistance and stirring strife is anti-Christ and anti-Biblical. The Word says that if you know to do good and don't do it, it is sin. If you have a beef with your pastor be man or woman enough to come out of the shadows and talk face to face with them. If you still disagree then be Biblical in the next steps. We are laborers together whether we agree on every thing or not. So the next time the anonymous spirit comes on you rebuke it and let God take care of the rest.

Being Very Serious (Part 37)

We always equate a youth movement with a fresh aspect on ministry? Hey, I was there 45 years ago when you had to preach a certain way and look a certain way or you would not be accepted in the ministry. I understood knowing your place back then as a minister in a state and where you were in the pecking order. I also knew the frustration of wanting change in leadership when I was younger and never seeing it develop because we wouldn't make those changes at the General Assembly or on the state level. It gets very frustrating to all young ministers when they feel their generation is not represented.

Yet, no matter how much we talk about change, from generation to generation, we always fall back into the same pattern. The names may change, but the scenario is still the same. We get certain people in leadership (regardless of age) and keep rotating them back and forth until they retire (if they ever do). It puzzles me that the ones that talk about change the most never do accept it or vote for it. Again, each generation has done the same thing year after year. So if we inject new blood into the system, it stays there on one board or another for more years than we care to remember. With the increase in tenures, before we know it, the same rules will apply to our standing boards and committees in our states. I loved Strom Thurmond here in SC and in spite of his faults he was a great political leader. But his tenure did not end as well as it should have. He represented us in Washington well for a long time, but almost too long.

Just as in my youth I hear today we need fresh leadership-younger men who are aggressive, progressive, and not as possessive of territory as former generations. They know the tech, how to draw the crowds, and how to motivate people by enticing them with various ministries. They have the education, the charisma, and the means to make a difference according to some people I hear talk. Guess what? We said the same thing 40 years ago. I was a young preacher when Contemporary Christian music was birthed, when YPE became FTH, when praise and worship began to replace the convention book, and when we started clapping hands during a sermon instead of saying "Amen". My generation was one of the first to incorporate technology into our services and endured the battle over music styles and the need for specialized ministries. We didn't have many mega-churches, but most of our churches were twice the size they are now. We said back then we would change the system, the way we operated, and the way we did business. But in truth what did it get us?

Several of our churches are barely in existence today because the stuff we did then didn't keep our young people in our churches. Serving 4 different terms on the State Youth Board (yes, I was in that cycle) and working in Youth Camp for over 20  years I got to see a lot of our church kids grow up. Many of them as adults aren't in our churches today. We got specific in my generation with youth ministries, children's ministries, outreach, etc.-but many of our churches are just a shell of what they once were. As the older, committed generation has died off, the non-committed believers that have followed in most denominations go after the latest gospel fad or trend, the most charismatic pastor, or a louder music ministry. For some reason it has become popular to deemphasize the things that built our churches in the beginning so we could stay in tune with the times, but in doing so we bypassed many of the basics that built our churches.

So don't give me this junk about we need a youth movement in the COG leadership if we are to survive. What I'm about to say is not a coy answer, but the truth. We need to get back to being a praying church, a holy church, and whether you are young or old, a spirit-filled church. Without the power of the Holy Ghost we are in trouble. If we are lacking in any of these areas young or old leadership will not be able to help us in the long run. Politics are a part of the church just like they are in the world. Most people look at Camp Meeting schedules to see who the latest and greatest preachers are that are being pushed to go to Cleveland. However in 2016, the church needs to push aside the political machine and seek the face of God for our spiritual leadership internationally and stateside. If it's a young man God lays on your heart to vote for, then do it. If it's an older man, then do the same. Just don't vote for somebody because of their age or size of their ministry, but vote for the individuals God directs you to vote for. We can still change the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ regardless of who leads us denominationally, but it sure would help if they stand for what we believe and preach the full gospel. 

Being Very Serious (Part 36)

Church membership doesn't seem as important as it was 25 years ago. Many denominations started this thing called "adherents" about that time because we pastors needed something else to help us talk about how many people were affiliated with our local congregations. Lending institutions also began to use that word "adherents" when they considered loaning money for construction to a church. It became for many of us a numbers game more so than in my dad's day. In fact, the first thing I was told by two different treasurers of churches I pastored was the number of members we had before anything else. Membership in the COG is supposed to affect the pastors pay, but that doesn't apply in most cases. The last 3 churches I pastored had more members than we ran in attendance and one didn't have enough money coming in weekly to pay me what the membership bracket was. So the older I got the less membership numbers became important to me. They were just numbers-not people.

That's why I am thankful for the good church members that supported me in my ministry as a pastor. Without them I would have nothing today. They fed me, clothed me, and put a roof over my head. They loved me, prayed for me, and treated me with the utmost respect. There were at least 9 out of 10 everywhere I served that became like my family. They were good to me and my family. That's why I thank God for:

-Every widow who tithed faithfully.

-Every retired couple who gave above and beyond their means.

-Every Council Member who gave, not because they wanted position or power, but because they love the Lord.

-Every faithful person who supported our churches with the faithful giving and attendance, whose fellowship made it a joy to be their pastor.

Come to think about it, I also thank the ones who did not honor their membership vows or support the church as they should. They always expected more even they gave nothing. Membership to them meant entitlement without commitment. It was always, "the church owes me something", even though they barely darkened the door after they joined the church. To you who were non-faithful I owe a debt of gratitude because:

-It was you that constantly drove me to my knees in prayer.

-It was you that made me thank the Lord for all those who were faithful.

-It was you that made me never want to be a hypocrite or go back on my word.

So good or bad, church membership had an affect on me. It also has an affect on your pastor and your local church. Please don't tell people you are a member of that local church and you are not attending, supporting, or being faithful in your membership vows. If you are a faithful member then live right before your peers on your job, in your community, and in your city. Reflect the views of the one you represent and the church you are a part of. Just shine! Your light will identify which kind of church member you are-the one the pastor loves to see coming or the one that pastor loves to see going away.

Yes, we pastors are human just like you. We love and appreciate faithful members. We also love those who are unfaithful, but that's a love that is often made uncomfortable by the attitude of the unfaithful. Nobody, not even pastors, wants to be put in that position. Some good advice-Be the best church member you can. Respect her teachings and doctrines. Practice her disciplines. Love the pastor even if you don't agree on everything. Make every attempt to live at peace with those around you. If you have to take necessary measures, do so in the spirit of love and according to our Church Minutes, not your own rules. You will get the best pastors if you do this because your reputation as a church will be spread far and broad.