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THE PASTOR SHOULD EXPECT TROUBLE; NOT CREATE IT

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INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT TROUBLE FOR THE PASTOR

pastorBy Ken Blue

“And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.” Luke 4:13.

“He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.” Proverbs 26:17.

A pastor must be, both alert and restrained. He can’t afford to be naive, or meddlesome. If you are doing anything for God, the devil has you in the crosshairs. You don’t have to go looking for trouble, it will find you. Wherever there is light, you have invaded his kingdom. Expect trouble from him, just don’t create it.

If you are a pastor who is actively getting people saved, getting them to join your church, disciplining them, and sending them off to the mission field, expect his attack. The shocker about his attack is you never know where it will come from. In most cases, it will come from another pastor or members of your church.

Most attacks will be about your policies and procedures. Some will attack how you use money and what your methods of ministry are. Others will find fault with your preaching and standards. There will be those who have a pencil in hand every time you speak. They are ready to make a note of words you say, with which they disagree.

Then, your standards will be under constant attack. This will mostly involve music and dress. There will always be that few who are sure they know God’s will for your church standards. In fact, all they want is for you to implement their own preferences. Then, if anyone finds fault with these, you will get the blame.

Be slow how you respond to all attacks. Once you start chasing brush fires, you have stopped ministering. You don’t have to respond to every criticism. The more you become a man or woman pleaser, the more you will become a frustrated pastor. Pray for wisdom, seek counsel and deal with each problem as wisely and possible.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Jesus could not escape Satan’s attacks, neither can you.[/perfectpullquote]

The devil moves other pastors to be jealous of any success you have. As long as you have less, do less, and know less than them, they will praise you. But once you begin to make a dent in Satan’s kingdom, he will see that you come under attacked. Ignore it if you can, and understand its source and motivation. Jesus could not escape Satan’s attacks, neither can you.

Next, don’t create trouble for yourself. Many pastors think they are failing God if they have not made some church members mad at them. Thus they ensure that they do or say something to fulfill their prophecy. Don’t be stupid. Never pick a dog up by its ears, and let sleeping dogs alone.

Ask God to put a watch on your mouth so you don’t make brainless comments from the pulpit. Spurgeon said, “Pulpits are coward’s castles.” Satan will exploit every stupid comment you make. “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” Proverbs 15:1. “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones”. Proverbs 16:24. ”A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” Proverbs 25:11.

You cannot pastor a group of people without receiving some criticism or faultfinding. The devil will see that it comes. But, make sure you are being criticized for soul winning, disciplining believers, enrolling believers in service and sending out missionaries.

Remember, envy and frustrated ambition is the source of most of it. Don’t panic. Do as Jesus did; go to God in prayer, seek counsel and stay the course. So, don’t be surprised when trouble comes; just don’t go around creating it and then pretending you are a martyr.

“TRUTH IT SHALL MAKE YOU FREE”

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Truth
Open Door Baptist Church Easter Drama 2010

Note: The following report is from Pastor Jason Murphy. Pastor Murphy and the church membership proved once again that with prayer, hard work, and vision you can get visitors to church and many can be won to Christ. I challenge pastors to ignore those who preach that sinners cannot be saved, and that you are selfish in your attempts to reach them. Some of you should contact Pastor Murphy for some ideas and help on how to attract and reach the lost for Christ. Pastor Murphy said:

Truth
We had a great presentation of “Truth” written and directed by Brother Pat Halliday. Our cast and crew are all Open Door Baptist church members, who did an outstanding job memorizing lines and putting everything they have into such a great job, well done!

Our first service was Saturday night at 7pm and we had 281 in attendance, which is one of our largest Saturday night services. On Sunday we had 537 in attendance (over 100 came back from Saturday) so really we had just over 700 with the 2 services. We had over 140 visitors in the 2 services; most of which were invited by the people of Open Door! We had 10 people indicate that they accepted Christ as their Savior, and 15 that renewed their commitment to Christ!

One man came to me personally to hand me his response card and said: “This is the first time he heard the gospel so clear and Lord used that presentation to bring his guard down.” He said to me, “I prayed with you at the invitation and I know I am saved now.” It was an Amazing day, we serve A Risen Savior!

John 4:34-37 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

TRANSFERRED OR TRANSFORMED

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By Ken Blue

Churches should be adding new families on a regular base. I am aware that location has some bearing on ones effectiveness. However, the truth is that the only additions to some churches are transfer members. If this is the case, we are failing in our outreach to the lost. We should welcome transfer member, but they should not be the only additions we have. Do not become content to have only transfer members; this is like taking a dollar bill from one pocket and placing it in the other.

A church should keep records of who joins by transfer and who becomes a member by conversion and baptism. This information will reveal much about the evangelistic efforts and effectiveness of the church. It will signal where you need to make changes and focus your resources.

You will get what you go after. If you are content to have transfer members only, that’s what you will have. But, if you will concentrate on seeing the lost transformed and added to your church, you will see it happen. Evaluate your membership, is it built on the transferred or the transformed?

DOES YOUR CHURCH HAVE REVOLVING DOORS?

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doors
By Ken Blue

Some churches have little trouble gaining members. They are diligently spreading the gospel, and people are obedient to the Lord. However, most churches have trouble keeping members. They lose them about as fast as they get them.

It is a fact that many churches cannot break the “75 barrier” or the “200 barrier”. Both barriers are related to “group dynamics” (principles that affect people’s ability to relate to one another in a particular group). The problem basically boils down to this: growth does not continue, because people are not being assimilated into the “family life” of the congregation. Some pastors do not really care about church growth, being happy to maintain the “status quo”. The solution to the “revolving door syndrome” actually has several different elements. The key is the involvement of every member.

We cannot over emphasize the importance of every member getting involved in some ministry of the church. If you want the church to become more important to the member, he or she must become involved. This means the church must have an unlimited list of ministries where members can serve. If you can maintain a high level of involvement, the dropout rate will be lower.

A church must increase its ministries in order to grow. I observed one church that had a ministry list of four, one was the missions program, and the other was their Christian day school. This shows a lack of understanding or a lack of vision.

Every church should make a list of ministries where members can participate, and that list must be adequately communicated to the congregation. The church should then double or triple the list. In addition, there must be a strategy and plan as to how each person will be recruited and installed in a ministry.

Remember, everyone wants to be an important part of an important organization. Also, the old saying, “use me or loose me” is not that old. If you want to shut down the revolving door, you must provide important places for important people to serve. Those places must be important to them.

DO YOU REALLY NEED ME?

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By Ken Blue

A good friend of mine and a long time member of Open Door Baptist related the following story to me. He was a police sergeant in a nearby city. He had several men under his command who were accountable to him.

A situation arose that required him to take action and meet with his immediate supervisor. In the meeting, he asked his boss if he was really needed in his sergeant position. His boss was somewhat shocked and said, “of course I do.” The sergeant asked again, “Are you really sure you need me here?” His boss responded again with assurance and then said, “Why are you asking me this question?” The sergeant said, “I notice that you are going directly to my men and asking them questions about their duties and also given them instructions on how to do their job. If you are going to communicate directly with them, why do you need me?” The light came on, and his boss apologized for his actions and indiscretion. He assured the sergeant it would not happen again.

My question for pastors is, do your leaders believe you really need them, or do you go around them and advise their workers? Do you get involved where you have no business? A sure way to send the message to others that you don’t trust them or need them is to go around them and advise their followers.

Several years ago I was preaching is a church and an assistant came to me and said, “The pastor assigns ministries to me, and then he gets involved to the point I can’t do what I was ask to do.” That assistant has moved on and so will all others who believe you don’t really need them.