Boasting In Him

As of 1 second ago, I am done with Seminary.

What a blessing and a joy. I’ll miss this place.

Today was the last day of my preaching lab. It’s quite the milestone. I had the opportunity to preach in front of my esteemed professor (Dr. Montoya) and it was a thrill. I finished my New Testament consecutive series on 2 Peter 2 and concluded with 2 Peter 2:10b-22. This semester has been a huge blessing. I had to chance to preach in front of Dr. Rick Holland, Dr. Bargas, Professor Green and finally, Dr. Montoya. They’re all great godly men that have valuable insight into the trade of preaching and were so pastoral in their advice and their comments. I wish I had more time to pick their minds about the skills of preaching and to fine tune the art of preaching. I’m seriously considering going back and getting my D.Min.

Overall, the experience has been so worthwhile. I was really blessed and was put into a great group of men (10) that was really encouraging in their comments and lovingly honest in their comments that really helped me to get better in my preaching. It was awesome to see men–that had no preaching experience–grow in their oratory skills. There’s just a close bond that develops over the weeks as you hear message after message and expose yourself for comments and critiques. I would hear a message during chapel and then right after chapel I would hear a couple of message (2 or 3) every Tuesday and Thursday. In total, I heard 40 messages over the course of this semester! 40! Take into account Tuesday/Thursday Chapel, Friday Bible study, and Sunday morning and I’ve been just gourging on God’s Word.

As far as my message today, it went okay. I know I needed to improve in certain areas (especially my introductions) and it was pointed out by Dr. Montoya that I needed to find current historical examples of faithful men that have gone apostate (cf. 2 Peter 2:10-22). He said, “had you done that, that would’ve been the cherry on the top and made it an excellent sermon. It was good already, but that would’ve been the cherry on top.” I made it through the class without being “that” guy in class to receive one of his famous comments that really last till the end of time. *phew*. It was just reaffirming to receive the stamp of approval from such a respected man and preacher.

This week was unbelievable.

In short, I took  my first test in New Testament Introduction, completed my Old Testament Prophecy Preaching section, and preached at the college fellowship. Then, I got the call Saturday morning. Pastor Jeff had fallen ill and I was taken into emergency service. However, Praise the Lord for my preaching labs, because I had a sermon ready to go and I was ready to preach it.

It was a good taste of what the future may hold; honestly, I was a bit exhausted. My level of respect grew for all the pastors that tend to a small church (or even those big ones) and I realized that ministry can be downright draining. I mean, after preaching on Thursday in my class, I was ready to take a long nap! My preaching was only 30 minutes too (Also, for those that do not preach, the preparation takes a long time. Re-reading the text, making observations, noting grammatical highlights and then referencing a multitude of commentaries and then summing it up in a format that is intelligible, clear, precise and applicable. After all that, you put it on the back-burner and let it simmer.  It’s about 20+ (at least) hours of preparation. So, the next time you see Pastor Jeff, give him some words of encouragement. It’s a time consuming study.)!!

How tired was I? Well, I missed football practice on Saturday. That’s how tired I was; normally, I don’t miss any type of practice, but I was exhausted by Saturday. I had a few guys call me and wish me well and even inquire if I was doing well. They figured I had a long week since I wasn’t present at practice.

What were some lessons I learned?

• Respect the man in the pulpit because what he does, it’s not a simple task. As I draw near to the end of my seminary “career”, it’s slowly dawning on me that I will be responsible for the lives of my people and their spiritual walk. More often than not, the questions they have do not pertain to the some of the more nuanced aspects of theology, textual criticism, or even homiletics. They just want the word preached (accurately, mind you) and their souls ministered too. It’s challenging. The Pastor has to stand in so many different worlds: academic, pastoral, spiritual, the present world, and the past.
• Second, rely on the Lord for strength. He is truly your stronghold and your fortress. The sheer act of preaching is emotionally, spiritually and physically draining. But the Lord is gracious and He allows the Spirit to minister through the preacher to the people. It’s an awesome feeling and sight.
• Coffee doesn’t hurt either.
• Always have a sermon ready to go. If you’re at a small church, you should always have a sermon ready to go so that if the pastor falls ill, you can step in and be ready.

It was a good week. I’m reminded of what one of my professors said, “You can be tired from the work of the ministry, but you cannot be tired of the ministry.” I think that was resonating strongly within me this week. Stand, be tired, but be joyful for the small blessings that can be found.

Addendum: For those that are interested in more details.

• I failed my NTI exam. I forgot my Greek UBS 4th Edition and that pretty much led to the downfall of my exam. One of the questions required the text as well as its textual apperatus. Doh! Silly mistake.
• I preached on OT Prophecy. Let me tell you, it’s hard. It’s hard hermeneutically. What applies strictly to the nation of Israel? To us Gentiles today? What are some historical points? Any didactic points? Application? What time period are we looking at? Crazy things to work out. I preached from Malachi 2:17-3:6. I’m going to guess and make a general blanket statement, the Book of Malachi isn’t all that familiar to all of us. Sadly, it should be. It’s a fantastic piece of work and it has some good warnings in respect to our giving, our worship and our hope.
• At the college, I preached from Isaiah 6:1-8. My goal was to make it under an hour. I did not accomplish that goal. Sad. I went an 1hr 12 minutes including opening prayer and closing prayer. So, if I were honest, I’d say I hit the hour mark. While I didn’t meet that particular goal, some of the college leaders told me that I had made it onto the list for some powerful sound bites. That’s cool. “Woe to you, woe to you, and woe to you. But, now, WOE to me.”
• Sunday, I preached on 1 Samuel 17. I love narratives. I love narrative preaching. I think it’s fun. It has its challenges because you can easily make an application that is falsely based on the narrative. My goal was to put the congregation in the middle of the battle and really paint a picture of the power of God. That he uses the weak things of the world to humble the proud people of the world.
• Communion went better. I didn’t say, “lets do it” rather, I said, “Let us do this in remembrance of him.” Humous story: The fellow that broke the pieces of of “bread” left some sizable chunks. Some people were winners (in that they got a huge piece) and I had to avoid some of the bigger pieces because I had to pray and speak. Let me say, while I was praying, I was also chewing and you can hear it in the audio. “Please bless…*chew chew* this time…*chew chew*.”
• Last, Pastor Jeff is doing better. He had some anxiety attacks in the past and recently it’s been bothering him. Sabrina and I think that it is a form of spiritual attack, so please be in prayer for him. The reason we suppose it is because Pastor Jeff has been on fire lately in his preaching! He’s been..just unbelievable. The last three sermons were crazy. His recent one, “The Darkside of the Gospel” was INSANE. Trust me, if you want a copy, ask. It was…wow. After that, you need to know more about the Hope we have in Christ. So, Pray for Pastor Jeff.

Part of the syllabus in my Pastoral Ministry class has a section on the
small church and it was…well, I’ll let you read a brief excerpt and
tell me if it isn’t characteristic of Harvest.

(1)      Understanding the Small Church
(150 people or less)

 

(a)      The small church is tough (hard to kill) *Harvest can testify to this*.

 

(b)      Usually built around a ministry of the laity (lay
runned)

 

(c)      The small church is a volunteer organization

 

(d)     The small church cares more for people than for
performance

 

(e)      The small church rewards generalists, and does not
emphasize or hire specialists. You’ll [Pastor] be the jack of all trades.

 

(f)       The grapevine is an asset in the small church

 

(g)      The small church has a different system for the
financial support of the congregation. 
It responds to needs, and not a storehouse fund. [You gotta’ ask.]

 

(h)      The small church is intergenerational.

 

(i)       
The small church
is relational. People orientated and not task orientated.

 

(j)       
The small church
uses an internal clock [people just know when things start/finish]

 

(k)      The small church follows a different calendar

 

(l)       
The small church
has a place for everyone

 

(m)    Kinfolk
ties are more important in the
small church

 

(n)     
Individuals, not
committees, often do the work in the small church (Pastor’s must graciously put
the committees to rest)

 

(o)      The small church is a participatory democracy

 

(p)      Social meetings dominate the agenda in the small
church (if you aren’t into social activity, then you’ll have a hard time at the
church)

 

(q)      The small church is easier to comprehend

 

(r)       A majority of small churches are subsidized (may
require you to work part time, operate a business, “tent-making”, and other
sources of income). (cf. Village Missions)

 

(s)       The small church tends to rely on an “attraction”
model in new member recruitment instead of an out-going evangelistic model (“Come
Visit Us!” rather than “We go to them!”; Attraction model is a slow death).

 

(t)       The piano/guitar often is the central musical
instrument in the small church (most likely the guitar now)

 

As we went over this section, I was cracking up because I thought it
accurately described Harvest. It’s comforting in some sense because I
know that the growing pains and the struggles are not something that
just happens to us, but a lot of small churches. For example, some of
the struggles of the small church are:

(1)      Major Concerns of the Small Church

 

(a)      Morale

 

(b)      Money

 

(c)      Members

 

(d)     Ministerial leadership

 

(e)      Sunday school

 

(f)       Youth work

Yeah. I responded to this with a mixture of sadness and a sly grin. I
don’t think we suffer from all of these issues, but at one point, we’ve
had concerns over these issues (some of them are ongoing!). Again, it’s
good to know that we aren’t the only ones that suffer or have these
concerns. There’s hope.

So, where do we go? How do we grow the church? Here are some suggestions:

(1)      How to Grow a Small Church

 

(a)      Alter the mindset.

 

(b)      Change to aggressive outgoing evangelism

 

(c)      Find ways to incorporate new members

 

(d)     Commit to long term ministry

 

(e)      Train lay people for ministry

 

(f)       Hire additional staff

 

(g)      Plan and delegate

Isn’t that neat? Isn’t it providential how we, Harvest, have been
slowly changing? I think we’re headed toward big and exciting things.
It seems like we’ve been doing these things subtly and it’s been a huge
blessing. I’m excited to do more training and to get new members to
serve.

Four years ago, we didn’t have a pastor. Praise the Lord because Pastor
Jeff came in and honestly, upon reflection, I think he handled us very
well. Obviously, there were some mishaps or things he wished (as well
as Core) could’ve done differently, but overall, he’s done a fine job
in guiding us. Is there room for all of us to grow? Certainly. Let’s
embrace that challenge and we can all grow. Pastor Jeff as a shepherd,
we as sheep and all of us as Christians.