Outdoor Ministry Affects on the Church

Voyageurs Lutheran Ministry reports "We give thinks to God for the number of VLM staff members who have heard God's call to ministry. A number are already serving as clergy and youth directors. Of course, many more do ministry within congregations as active lay members. However, at this time,VLM has an astonishing 14 former staff in seminary study. We give great praise to God for touching their lives and calling them to service in the church."

As a child and teen camper, I looked up to my counselors and aspired to be one of them one day. It didn't happen. I certainly didn't have the right personality and verve as a young adult to do that work. But I know so many young people who got interested in Christian service and became counselors. Or maybe it was the other way around.

It is hard to attract counselors because the camps can't provide pay that is competative to what the young people really need to finance their college education. And camps struggle with attacting enough campers due to all the competition out there for kid's attention. Camps also struggle with fund raising, since in many areas with a high concentration of Lutheran churches there is declining/aging population.

The church as a whole needs to continue to subsidize camps because of the fine Christian support and friendships developed there for the campers and because of the seeds that are planted, both in the campers and in the counselors.

Nurture these seeds. May God bless us with a big crop of pastors!

Pastors in Worship

I attended a short worship/communion service today. There were 12 pastors and 5 lay people. Besides being a meaningful service, it was great because several of the pastors had great singing voices and they also were using their "public" voices during the worship, even as 11 of them were in the pews. So the Amens and other prayer words were loudly proclaimed.

Could it be that pastors wish that the usual lay people in the pews would speak up more?

The danger of spiritual isolation

Haggard and the Challenge of Finishing Well

"In his book The Making of a Leader, Dr. Robert Clinton of Fuller Seminary notes that few leaders finish well…including less than 30% of leaders in the Bible! Even many of the biblical figures who did finish well--Jacob, Moses, Aaron and David, to name but a few--experienced significant moral lapses in mid-race that undermined their ministries......."

Pastor's Appreciation Month

The Bible tells us that our good works do come back to us. Here is a little true story about how appreciating and helping a pastor came back to help our family.

Some years ago, my mother's church got a new pastor who had a very young family. My mother volunteered to take care of the kids while they moved into their house. She continued to help with the kids off and on while they were preschoolers. Because of this, my mom became friends with the pastor's parents, who, it turns out, have a summer home in my town, so we sometimes saw him here.

Two pastorates later, this pastor's new church was in the city down the road. When my mother would visit me, she would stop to see this pastor, and when she would drive through another city, she would stop to see the pastor's parents. I urged my son to meet up with my mom at these peoples' house. He got along well with the pastor's parents and did chores for them. He became friends with another son, who, two years later, did some networking to get my son a coveted internship in a business in a large city.

Meanwhile, when I was hospitalized, that pastor visited me in the hospital because it was in the same city as his church.

I doubt that we would feel this close to a pastor that my mom had so many years ago if she hadn't gone out of her way to help him.

I copied this (see below) from Singing Owl. No matter what our job, there can't be too much appreciation.
From http://www.pastorsretreatnetwork.com/ via Singing Owl http://pastoretteponderings.blogspot.com/

12 Ways to Appreciate Your Pastor

When we look at our pastor or minister what do we see? A spiritual giant? Someone who can go it alone? Someone who works a day and a half a week? A servant of the congregation? Someone who does it all?

The truth is that clergy are real people with real families, dreams, needs, desires and gifts. And like all of us, they shine best in situations where they are appreciated and supported. Here are a dozen ways you can bring out the best in your pastor:

1 Write a note of appreciation.

2 Pray for your pastor regularly.

3 Stop the rumor mill.

4 Invite him or her out to lunch, golfing, or some other shared interest, without an agenda.

5 Offer to baby-sit the kids so pastor and spouse can have an evening together; even better, offer them a gift certificate to a restaurant they enjoy.

6 Honor his or her day off – allow time for rest, personal renewal and family time.

7 In times of loss, offer sympathy, care and practical help.

8 Consider holidays and other family days – if the pastor is far from their family of origin, invite them to your celebration – no strings attached.

9 Ask him or her how you can help and then follow through.

10 Tell him or her what you’ve learned from their sermon.

11 Go to http://parsonage.org/cam/index.cfm for ideas on how to celebrate your minister during Pastor Appreciation Month.

12 Consider a sabbatical time for your pastor and find a way to provide one as needed.

Pastors Retreat Network provides pastors and their spouses with a five-day, self-directed retreat experience that is free of charge. It is a time to rest, spiritually renew, and reconnect with God and spouse. Consider how an experience like this might benefit your minister. For more information, please visit our Web site -- http://www.pastorsretreatnetwork.com/

Who is qualified? ......

In the sermon introduction last Sunday, the pastor listed the job descriptions of several of the Bible Heroes and the qualifications that they actually had before they got the job. Interesting contrast.

I saw one of our former pastors last weekend. He had been a carpenter before he became an ordained pastor. He never went to college. Who ever heard of a carpenter becoming a preacher?

God doesn't call the qualified; He qualifies the called.

Originally posted 01/26/2006