Who Bakes for the Baker?

Who Bakes for the Baker?

I just read a fine article by Sarah Henson. In her article she

chronicles a portion of her life as a preacher’s daughter

experiencing the humanity of her father the Man, with the public

expectations of him as a Pastor. Using the story of famed pastor and

my buddy Zachery Tims as her case study, she prompts questions

and ideas of why Pastors alienate themselves and how this

alienation leads us down precarious paths. I appreciated this

article because it has sparked my own thoughts about my

personal Pastorate. It seems that there is a sense of alienation associated with every

success and every apparent move forward in ministry. This alienation can make

you the object of a great amount of adulation, but also the object of a great amount

of scrutiny. To some degree, one goes with the other, after all when much is given

(resources, influence etc…) much is required. However, one significant result of

the scrutiny that cannot be overlooked is the lack of transparency from Christian

Leaders. This is not a small issue because when things are not transparent, things

get hidden, and secrets abide. This has been the state of leadership period, let alone

in Christendom. Lack of transparency creates room for secrets and secrets create

room for hypocrisy, and hypocrisy for more lack of transparency etc, etc, etc… you

get the picture. The cycle breeds distrust, disrespect, and a need for a re-haul of our

approach to it. Sound familiar? If you live in the US it should!

So it leads me to some personal questions- if I were trapped in infidelity, with who

could I talk? What about porn addiction, or embezzlement, or if I realized I taught a

horrible doctrine? Who would I sit and express this to? Would I internalize it until

it spills over and destroys the integrity of what God has called me to do? Who gives

counsel to the counselor? Who pastors the Pastor? Who would do for me what I’ve

done for many? Who Bakes for the Baker?

If I were speaking to Pastors this article would be centered around self

responsibility, humility, accountability, safe relationships; etc… but I figured since

there are more congregants than Pastors, I’d give five ways the congregants can help

their Pastors and Leaders from alienation that leads to a lack of transparency and

hypocrisy.

Here are a few thoughts that I think would help us to help our Pastors:

1. Make it a point to grow as an individual Believer: Your individual

strength as a Believer makes it easier for you to go through the ebbs and

flows of your Pastor’s humanity. A strong and healthy Believer trusts in their

Savior at a fundamentally different place than they do their Pastor. Knowing

that there are mature people both in leadership and in the congregation can

relieve some of the pressure of having to be near “morally perfect” for the

sake of their congregants’ walk with Christ.

2. Help Grow and Mature the Church in Spiritual Health and not just in

Numbers- Pray, Learn, Serve

The worst enemy to a hurting Pastor is an unhealthy, spiritually immature

church. These types of congregations need, need, need!! While all of us need

something when we come to church, unhealthy congregations will demand in

an unbalanced way to have their needs fed even at the expense of the person

who feeds them. When the need is so dire, it’s easy to overlook the paleness

of the person feeding. Severe brokenness makes us all selfish and will cause

us to overlook the Leader’s unhealthy lifestyle and choices. A healthy church

will discern that their leaders are growing faint and will have the spiritual

strength to maintain while the Leaders recoup. A simple way to mature as a church

is for believers is to pray, learn and serve together. Each of these elements will help

build unity around the mission of God and not the leader or Pastor.

3. Demand that your Pastor takes sabbaticals: I know the word ‘sabbatical’

is almost a bad word in many ethnic churches because after all no one can

bring it like your Pastor! And Pastors, we are guilty as well, because we fear

attendance and finances dropping without us there. Well, this is a practice

we should work hard to reverse. Pastors and Christian Leaders are

in the business of bearing the deepest burdens of the human experience. Aside

from carrying their own, they carry that of the people they serve. This is an

extremely heavy emotional, spiritual and physical load to carry, and if not

properly shifted; it will crush everything that is important to that Leader’s

life. If a Leader is not able to take time to clear his/her mind and heart of his

parishioners’ gunk, he/she likely will not take time to do it for themselves

either. This will cause a great strain on everyone connected to the Leader;

their spouse, children, friends, co-workers and even worse, the leaders

themselves. The great Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi

once said that “fatigue makes cowards of us all.” Fatigue will drain your leader of the

energy needed to confront and deal with their own personal issues. Trust me, the

Church will not fall apart because the Pastor takes 2 weeks off a few times a year.

Prepare for it, save your money, get speakers lined up, and allow for some

time off!! The Church as a whole is better off when the leaders are refreshed.

Nothing can replace your Pastors quality time with God and His family.

4. Release The Grace to Fail- Pastors are under an enormous amount of

pressure to be right nearly all the time, especially when you are in the

morality business! When you are in the morality business everything is

scrutinized from that lens. So it seems that a Pastor cannot misspeak, give

erroneous data, have a bad business deal, make a poor decision, wrestle with

personal shortcomings, etc.., without it being scuritinized through the lens

of his morality or the lack thereof. So the Leader’s life is seen juxtaposed to

the perfect message he/she is called to preach. Listen folks, preaching for a

perfect God and living perfectly for God are two entirely different concepts.

When the Pastor finishes expressing the perfection of God, he/she is now

called to live that message with the same pressures of life as any other

human being. It’s one thing to accept your Pastor when the manifest presence of the

anointing of God is on them, but are you willing to accept them after the power of

that moment lifts? No, God does not give your Pastor any “special” graces to handle

life that are different than yours. He/she has to discipline himself and stay near

to the Cross just like you. So release the grace of God on your Pastors and Leaders to

have human frailty- release the same grace you cry out to God for everyday, because

remember, if it was not for the grace of God, where would any of us be?

Wake Up Ur Dream!

21 Day Fast Reflections: Opportunities

Tomorrow will be day 20 of our churches annual 21 day first fruit fast. For 21 days each January we only eat minimal proportions foods from the earth, restrict our media intake and folly and reserve ourselves to prayer and devotion. Its a time where we collectively humble our hearts and bodies to posture ourselves to hear from God concerning the upcoming year.
Im not much of an eater so I thought that as it related to food, this year would be a relatively simple year for me. Aside from the general blah redundancy of veggies, fruits and lentils, I figured that if I could time my allotted meals I could make out fairly unscathed. You know, lose a little holiday weight, add some prayer and boom! it'd be January 31st before I knew it. Well, I can report that I did lose some weight, about 12 lbs to be exact so far, and I did some prayer...actually, I did a lot of prayer, and henceforth, this blog. This fast was not difficult because I couldn't eat, it was difficult because of what I could eat. I never thought that what I could eat in a fast would bless me the way it did.

First, let me digress so you'll understand what I mean. About this time last year I was returning from a South African missionary trip where some of the nights were, lets say, less than spectacular. We spent a few nights were we slept in mud huts where there was no furniture, electricity, toilets and things of the such. A few of the days I suffered terribly from diarrhea bc I accidentally drank my juice from a cup that was washed in the local water instead of from our bottled water. There was even a night I actually saw the chicken we ate for dinner when it was still alive (gross!). Many of the nights we ate unfamiliar meals in unfamiliar environments. We were away from all 'normal' conveniences like running water, indoor restrooms, sinks to wash before we ate, etc. At one point in time I was so uncomfortable, so inconvenienced that I remember thinking to myself that next year I would take an easier trip-a much easier one; one where I had a hotel to sleep in EVERY night!

One particular day after a long day of serving we were served this porage type mixture consisting of corn, beans, and rice. It wasn't esthetically appealing, let alone tasty. But I was so hungry. My mind kept telling me how I didn't want 'this stuff' but my stomach reminded me how much I did. Taste didn't matter most days. Even when we went to a town store, it still wasn't what I was used to, it was just better than what I had. I gobbled down the food and made due. That day and next few days I was never angry about the food, just ungrateful. However, with that meal an interesting thing began to happen with each day. As I pondered my conveniences at home, the more my heart felt for my African brothers and sisters. Not pity. They didn't want or expect pity. It wasn't because of the food or lack there of either. It was because at the core of who we all were, we were all just people. We loved our families, treasured our relationships and desired to celebrate our God. These folks were intelligent and as savvy as any one of my most scholarly comrades. While food is just my example used to exemplify our differences, the differences weren't the food at all it was in our opportunities. We are so blessed to be afforded opportunities for education, employment, sustenance, to sell and idea, etc. and how many times do we take for granted opportunities? In light of this thought, I was perplexed because the inconvenience that initially made me bitter, was making me gentler.
I saw things differently after that meal. Their hospitality in mud huts reminded me that you have nothing to be ashamed of as long as you are doing the best with what you have. At dinner the prayers were spirited and all joined in, reminding me that food is not automatic, but a blessing. I had over 100 US dollars in my pocket and had no place to spend it, and it reminded me that where there are no resources money doesn't matter, faith does- and they had plenty of faith!

I shared this story because around day 17 of this fast I found myself at my kitchen counter with a similar meal that turned my month long missions trip around: a bowl of corn, beans, and rice mixed. I was a little pouty because, well being 17 days into a fast can do that to you. But while my wife brought my bowl to me, I was reminded of the story I just told you and more importantly the lesson I learned about me: the more inconvenienced I was, the more gentler I became to those affected in the area I was inconvenienced. I wonder if this was the thought process of Jesus when he came to share in the earth experience with us. Did he compare our conditions it with where he came from? Did the stark differences compel him to hurt for us? Weep for us? Care for us? Want to help us? Did our condition make him gentler?

I have no answer to that but I do know that before we ate dinner that night my wife and I held hands and thanked God for the food and opportunities.

Whether you participated in this fast or not, its important to remember that if you eat any kind of meal more than three times a week, you eat more than nearly half of the population of the earth eats. If you have running water, electricity, a chair in your abode, and a 3rd grade education you are among the elite in the earth. Perhaps maybe not among the elite in your circle, but considering, you are blessed. These annual fasts remind me that our blessedness should produce kinder, gentler people, not arrogant ones. I need this fast every year. I need mission trips. I need to remember this feeling, because these experiences birth from me a genuine compassion to those I serve...

"for we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched by the feeling of our infirmities..." Hebrews 4:15