Run a What?

Let me show you something from the book of Hebrews that was pointed out to me in passing by a friend and mentor. His statement was short and to the point but not developed. I wanted to see if his suggestion held up upon a closer examination. So I went digging in the gold mine that is the word of God and uncovered a beautiful nugget of truth.

Fired Pastor #4

The articles were written by my wife and posted here in hopes that someone else who may be going through a similar issue will be encouraged....

After my husband was terminated as pastor the people found out about my possible cancer. Suddenly we were getting cards and calls from the people who had so campaigned for our demise. How do you respond to someone who clearly treats you with contempt and then turns around again and tries, not to reconcile, but to assuage their own guilty conscience? I would have rather had one legitimate offer of apology, rather than any amount of calls from them. I was unprepared on how to respond when the members would call and say they had thought and prayed for me. Mostly because there is no truth in putting a family of six out on the street and I could not condone their actions of hate, while listening to their litany of prayers on my behalf. I wanted to scream “God doesn't work that way!” I wish now that I had called out the lies when I saw them, but I didn't in that moment because I was struggling to keep a handle on my temper. I remember the command of Christ to be kind to those who persecute you and pray for those who use you! And we pray for the church then and now, individually and as a family group. Our realization of their lostness has certainly grown over time, a church without hope is a sad thing to see.

Fired Pastor #3

The articles were written by my wife and posted here in hopes that someone else who may be going through a similar issue will be encouraged....

For about a month we were threatened with job loss. “Stop preaching what you are preaching” and the more he preached the word clearly the madder they became. These threats basically boiled down to stop truly believing that the word was true. We saw firsthand that there are two reactions to the preaching of the word: Anger (often times hate) and repentance. Unfortunately, anger was most prevalent at this church. I began to appreciate more the reformers and also the covenanter preachers and other martyrs who had continued in the face of such adversity. I began to remember what Dr. Patterson told us when I was sitting in Southeastern's Chapel one day "If you have never been fired from a Church, you must not be preaching the Gospel." I had formerly thought this statement was dramatic, but it’s true. And the national average for pastors being 18 months with 1600 ministers losing their positions every month began to seem more realistic and less lame. One of the deacons at M*** even admitted that their church was a pastor abuser.

Fired Pastor #2

The articles were written by my wife and posted here in hopes that someone else who may be going through a similar issue will be encouraged....

The process of church discipline lasted around 3 months and finally concluded with Will advising the church to remove this woman from membership. This was obviously voted down by the church body, but it also made public an opinion in the church that "We fire pastor's not church members" a statement that was made to me by a member of the church. It was now we learned that two of the last three pastors had been fired or were forced to resign and the one preceding our ministry had "reached an agreement" with the deacon who was coming so hard against us and causing most of the issues. Many of the issues we were dealing with were blown out of proportion by this wayward leader who would visit people after Will had resolved a problem to undermine him. These visits were not known by us until after the fact and often done illicitly. Scripture teaches (2 Tim 3) that one way a person shows they are a false teacher/leader when they are not open about their visits to people in the church body.

Fired Pastor #1

The articles were written by my wife and posted here in hopes that someone else who may be going through a similar issue will be encouraged....

It seems a funny thing to think about, that those "confessing" Christ would be the same ones to punish the people of Christ. But that is my experience. And I have found it to be more common than not. When our family first went to M**** we were amazed at how mature they “seemed”. We allowed ourselves to be flattered by their friendliness and we were convinced that they wouldn't pick us for their church. When we were called back for our second and then third interview, we were shocked. Our naiveté is almost laughable now, but we were certain that words equaled commitment and we had a flawed view of depravity. We believed people to be totally depraved but only later realized that we (at least to some degree) functionally ignored it.

Persecution....

The following are references from the NT pertaining to a subject that  I have been contemplating for about 2 years, the role and definition of persecution or struggle in the Christian life.

On Crosses and Slaves

I have often been amazed (though not surprised) by the manner in which the truths of God get subverted. You might think I mean the ways people creatively explain away certain verses that make them uncomfortable or ignore a clear, contextual meaning of a verse in order to say something radically different than the precious truth God originally intended. Though these subversions are rampant, there are some just as sinister and even more calculated rejections of truth. Unfortuantely, they are widely overlooked and accepted by even strong evangelicals. So much so that we need to begin to wake up and recover some important realities that have become numb to us for decades. Let me illustrate what I mean.

Jesus Was a Loser

Matt 10:38-39
“And whoever does not take is cross and follow behind me, is not worthy of me. The one who has found his life will lose it and the one who loses his life because of me will find it.”
I hate success. Not because I value being a slacker or approve of mediocrity. I hate success because more often than not it asks me to be something I can no longer be. When I look at Jesus I don’t see what the world would even remotely classify as successful. You would never see Him on an election ballot for the simple reason that when it was all said and done his popularity would have tanked. His crib would never be featured on MTV since he was homeless. He would never have made the front or even back cover of Forbes because he was penniless. I could go on but I think you get the picture. Jesus was a loser. Those in the first century recognized it and if He lived and walked among us today the world would conclude that no one could possibly be more politically, financially or personally unsuccessful than Jesus.

Justification Chart

Do you Out Source your Theology?

These are tough times for theology. Good doctrine seems to be assaulted on every front. From the church to the seminary, men and women, boy and girls have neglected the study of God. But this neglect on the part of the church might not be the kind of neglect one might expect. 

Lately it would seem that this neglect is not of the active sort. Theology books are selling like hotcakes. It would not be a mistake to say that there has been a sort of resurgence in reading theology. Between the advent of E-Readers and the publication of a plethora of good books on God, many people can become and, indeed, are becoming theologians. On one hand, this is good and commendable. Pastors long for their people to understand theology and actually enjoy studying it. So this soaking up of theology is certainly not all bad, but it can be neglectful of God and His truth in a very real and profound way. Let me explain.