KDs are designed/developed/inspired/mused/auto-suggested/indigested to make folks think; an especially uncommon experience among Democrats, Republicans, and jingoistic mainline denominationalists who continue to discourage dissent with their ever-threatening thought police.
If that's not
proving possible, my second goal is to break 45.
Buuuuuuut if I'm playing
horribly like recently, my goal is to refrain from tossing my clubs into the
pond next to the 9th green.
Billy, my
favorite Special Olympics world golf champion, and I play 9 or more every week.
Sooooooo Billy has watched
my most recent awful attempts at meeting my aforementioned goals.
Earlier in the
week, I blurted more than petitioned after an especially hideous approach shot,
"Sweet Jesus, help me!"
Billy:
"Maybe He's listening to somebody else right now."
Me: "I'm
sure there are more important things on His mind."
Billy rushed over
to me to initiate a fist pump.
Then I hit a
decent drive on the par 5 7th and blurted more than thanked, "Finally, a
good shot!"
Billy:
"You're getting closer to the fairway."
Me: "I hope
that's true for you, me, and everybody else."
Billy rushed over
to me to initiate a fist pump
Driving back home
after the round, I rationalized, "I think I'm not playing well because I'm
just not focusing. I'm thinking about America and the Middle East
and the denomination and..."
Billy:
"That's right, Pastor Bob. You think too much when you're supposed
to be playing golf."
Me: "You're
right, Billy, I've got to stop stressing out about all of the..."
Interrupting, he
counseled, "God will handle it. You just play golf."
Metaphorically
just meeting in Detroit in ways that don't stretch reimagination, the PCUSA has
just given the green light to same-sex nuptials and red light to anyone who
likes Israel.
While some have
been forecasting this for years about a denomination "irretrievably apostate
under current management" with decisions increasingly only coincidental to
its confessional heritage not to mention, which it increasingly doesn't, Jesus
by the book, an exodus from its annually decreasing membership is picking up
more pace than the fall of Iraq to religionists as close to Islam by their book
as the commissioners in Detroit have proven to be to ours.
Not to worry!
Detroit's
moderator has appointed a "reconciliation" task force to go to
churches and judicatories for "conversations about unity" and...
Puuuuuuuhlease!
Unity assumes
something about Someone to be united
about.
To reach common
ground, ya gotta have common ground.
The truth is
there is a decreasing minority in the PCUSA that still believes in Jesus by the
book and an increasing majority that kinda
does when it fits into their ideology with two feet planted firmly
in the air.
Sooooooo when someone
asked me how those who still believe in Jesus by the book supported by the confessions of the
PCUSA that used to, uh, "guide" us because they, uh,
encouraged faith and obedience to Jesus by the book were gonna
"receive" the moderator's reconciliation team, I said, "While I
embrace this gesture as well-meaning though naive and theologically inane and
intellectually dishonest, it is being considered laughable across the board by
most folks a little left of moderate to right."
When pressed, I
went on, "Actually, I think he's gotta be a few fries short of a happy
meal. Really, talking about reconciliation with
Jesus-loving-Bible-thumping believers after doing what they did in Detroit is
like a psycho uncle coming up to you after raping and mutilating your momma and
saying, 'Hey, I know you're a little miffed about this; but I'm sure we can
find common ground and stay just one big happy family.'"
Anyway, though He
may not mean much to 'em anymore by the book, I was thinking about what Jesus
had to say about reconciliation...
@#$%
Matthew 18:15-17
is our Lord's reconciling recipe.
Read it.
I really like
Clarence Jordan's paraphrase in The
Cotton Patch Version of Matthew.
Moretheless, here's the
plan according to Jesus by the book:
1. Try to work it
out face to face.
2. If that
doesn't work, bring along a few fair and objective folks who will tell the
truth to both of you while insuring neither of you is tempted to lie about the
conversation to others at a later date.
3. If that
doesn't work, try a committee, board, or bunch of good folks to sort it all
out.
4. If that
doesn't work, isolate and avoid 'em. Or as 8th graders say, "Just
blow 'em off!"
Now read Romans
16:17-20; Titus 3:10-11 for more context to #4.
Though our Lord
commands us to love and seek reconciliation with even the unlovable people in
our lives, He knows some folks are not reciprocal and will remain irrational
and irascible.
Now read Matthew
10:5ff.
That's why I
wrote in a book that never sold much, "Trying to be rational with the
irrational is illogical; the ancillary being, being wrong invalidates argument and being right does not
necessitate it."
Simply,
reconciliation requires common ground for there to be common ground; for unity
assumes something about Someone to be united
about.
Precisely, polity
is not enough to hold a denomination together if a decreasing minority still
believes in Jesus by the book and an increasing majority kinda does when it fits
into their ideology with...
@#$%
If reconciliation
ain't really possible because of such an irreconcilable chasm between the
decreasing minority and increasing majority in the PCUSA, what's the forecast?
Apart from some
1st century Pentecostal thing or parousia - both of which appeal to me - I see
three movements.
First, the
denomination will continue to decrease in membership and cultural influence.
Second, the
triumphalists who are on a winning streak apart from Jesus by the book will be
increasingly strident and mean to folks who remain faithfully in the franchise
according to Jesus by the book and supported by its confessional heritage.
Third, the
increasing majority will increasingly conspire to drive out the decreasing minority
like the prevailing religionists in Iraq that kinda reminds me of what
happened to Bonhoeffer and...
Say it ain't so!
Can't.
Of course,
reading Jude contextually, all of this is quite...positive...in the end.
In other words,
the Jesus-loving-Bible-thumping believers of all denominations may be
disappointed as the apostates break His heart; but knowing who wins in the end keeps the salt
pouring and reflecting light shining.
With permission/encouragement
of the elders of First Presbyterian Church in Belvidere, Illinois, the
following statement will be read at both services on Sunday (6/22/14), included
in our next newsletter, posted on www.belvpresbyterian.org and www.koppdisclosure.com,
and broadcast over www.bnnsradio.com.
We are also giving permission to www.churchandworld.com, www.layman.org, and www.pcusa.org to post it at their discretion as an encouragement to sister
particular churches and judicatories within the PCUSA who are called to remain
faithfully:
"You've probably heard disturbing news in recent days
from Detroit about our denomination. Our elders remain steadfast in
declaring, 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' While our
denomination increasingly drifts from Jesus by the book, we will, depending
upon God's grace, order our life and ministry on the corner of Lincoln and Main
with prayer, proclamation, and passion for Jesus by the book. While
confessing our sins against our Lord and each other, we will not affirm,
condone, or cooperate with any actions of our denomination that insult God's
holiness as personified by Jesus and prescribed in Holy Scripture.
When we are wrong about Jesus by the book, we will confess and repent.
When we are right about Jesus by the book, we will remain steadfast.
Please join us in praying for the knowledge, wisdom, strength, and courage to
look up, stand up, speak up, and act up for Jesus alone as above all others."
A special edition of our weekly Deeper Discipleship (Wednesdays from 5:30 -
7:00 p.m. in the summer) this Wednesday (6/25/14) will allow for Q&A and
prayer regarding the ramifications of GA decisions for our family of faith.
Personally as your undershepherd
to the Good Shepherd, I remind everyone that I have spoken and written
consistently and extensively about my call to remain faithfully and I remain faithful to that call in
the spirit of Luther, Bonhoeffer, McCord, Gillespie, and others concomitant to
our Lord's high priestly prayer in John 17.
I will not hide, run away, or quit.
I will salt, shine, and allow for correction according to
Master Jesus according to our manual Holy Scripture.
My trust is in the Lord alone (Psalm 62) whose ultimate
triumph is certain regardless of our/my/their stupidities, sins, and
apostasies.
"Judas watched for an opportunity to betray Jesus to
them."
@#$%
We talked about
the whats and whys of this week's GA in Detroit.
I expressed
shock; praying commissioners would reject apostate committee
recommendations in plenary.
Rhetorically, he
asked, "Why are you surprised by what's going wrong at GA? Don't you
remember it was self-serving narcissistic civil and ecclesiastical bureaucrats
who coupled then conspired to crucify Jesus?"
Oh.
@#$%
"Remember from where you have fallen.
Repent! If not, I will come
to you and remove your lampstand,...unless you repent!"
America and her
mainline churches are declining; and over and over and over again, You say,
"Return to Me and I will restore you."
Increasingly and
intentionally shutting You out of our civil and ecclesiastical governments,
classrooms, market, media, and entertainment, the rivers of living water that
refreshed the land are turning into trickles.
While our part of
the Kingdom known as PCUSA gets smaller and smaller and smaller in size and
cultural influence, claiming 1.7 million on rolls that translates into about a
third of that in really active worship and ministries, we rejoice with the
elders meeting in Detroit this week who remain true to You as a remnant of what
we were yet can still be if we seize this GA meeting moment to confess,
repent, and return to You through Jesus by the book as compelled/chastened by
the Holy Spirit.
Mustard seeds
come to mind.
Gospeling
leaven that mixes in to make all better generates existential hopes for eternal
envisionings.
We thank You for
predestining commissioners, smaller in number yet poorer in spirit, who will
look up, stand up, speak up, and act up for Jesus by the book with enthusiasm
and without equivocation; and though the darkness blurring sight will
strategize to marginalize if not silence them, we trust resurrection for all
who remain faithful during these meantimes.
Your saving
sovereignty as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit regenerates our strong calm sanity
to worship You alone, work for You alone, and witness to You alone with the
Bible as our manual and Jesus as our Master in whose name we pray.
GA starts meeting
on June 14 at the Cobo Center in Detroit and ends on June 21.
GA is short for
General Assembly - the biennial meeting of the Presbyterian Church (USA) that
is supposed to make decisions that will advance the Kingdom "on earth as
it is in heaven" as supposedly guided by a Book of Confessions and Book of Order supposedly
based on the Bible.
Of course, for
many Christians still remaining on the rolls in the franchise aka
denomination increasingly decreasing in membership and cultural influence,
connections between recent decisions along with unchecked constitutional defiance
from left and right seem startlingly coincidental to its books.
Indeed, many
Presbyterians who still love Jesus by the book hold their breath as recent GAs
seem determined to "amend" the answer to the first question of The Shorter Catechism: "Our
chief end is to horrify God,
and to annoy Him
forever."
Simply, it almost
seems recent GAs are darkly determined to drive off as many people as probable
who love Jesus by the book by actions antithetical to Jesus by the book.
@#$%
@#$%
This year's
docket continues the lamentable trend.
Commissioners - ruling
elders (non-clergy) and teaching elders (clergy) in theoretically equal numbers
augmented by bureaucratic staff/watchdogs programmed to make sure the elders
don't drift too far from "their" priorities - are being asked to
allow member churches to host same-sex weddings, replace the Biblical
understanding of marriage including a woman and man with "two
people," create some kinda task force to keep talking about same-sex
marriages until the PCUSA pastors who don't think so wear out or walk out to
allow those who think so to preside at 'em, divest from companies who do too
much business with Israel because it hasn't been very nice to Palestinians,
abandon the Biblical "covenant" of affirming Israel as special to God
as Holy Scripture is revised again to fit into the most popular ideology
masquerading as theology, advocate female and
just-about-any-kinda-sexual-lifestyle for leadership in the Boy Scouts of America,
and...ad nauseam.
Parenthetically,
I keep wondering why some franchise jingoists - mindless drones who embrace any
decision from GA regardless of correspondence to Jesus by the book - wonder why more and more
and more folks are withholding or redirecting contributions and
"voluntary" per capita apportionments as they just take the lead from
them about divestment from companies/organizations/tribes that tick 'em off.
@#$%
@#$%
Be that as it is and seems will be
until the franchise's thanatos libido is totally satisfied, I'm
asking you to join our friends in Presbyterian Elders in Prayer (www.presbypray.org) to encourage everyone
everywhere regardless of franchise to pray for the rebirth of the PCUSA
according to Holy Scripture in the name of Jesus as chastened to confession and
repentance and compelled by the Holy Spirit in a Romans 12 kinda way.
Forget renewal.
Ya can't renew something/someone
that ain't been newed.
@#$%
@#$%
I'll probably be
called a troublemaker for what I just wrote; noting I've often thought I'd rather
be called a heretic by heathens than blasphemer by people who still pray and
labor to love Jesus by the book.
I'll probably be
accused of upsetting the peace, unity, and purity of the franchise for what I
think; noting I have no heaven idea what "their" standards are for
heralding peace, unity, and purity because I was called, nurtured, examined,
and ordained to undershepherding
by previous generations of Presbyterians who prayed and labored to love Jesus
by the book and books based on the book (viz., BC and BO).
I'll probably be
called some kinda theological Neanderthal for still thinking Christianity is
only about Jesus by the book rather than books about the book that always seem
to rationalize us away from Jesus by the book to satisfy the twitchings
in apostasizing heads, hearts, guts, and, uh, loins.
Uh, I'm used to
it.
After four
decades of undershepherding,
I've been called so many things; and, really, I'd rather be called a fool for
Jesus by the book than a fool for whatever foolishness is masquerading as
Christianity with only coincidental correspondence to Jesus by the book.
@#$%
@#$%
Truth is sooooooo many people are sooooooo offended by just
about anything from anyone that everybody's a troublemaker of some kind in sooooooo many people's
estimation.
Everybody's a
troublemaker to someone about something.
All ya gotta do
these days is look at someone the wrong way or not look at someone the right
way or not yield the right of way or yield the right of way the wrong way or just quote Jesus by the book and
you're considered a mean, nasty, and abusive troublemaker.
It's like I tell
young pastors who want to be liked by everybody in their churches: "Forget
it! And look up what Jesus said about being liked by everybody! I
don't think so! Here's the vocational deal. You're gonna be damned
if you do and damned if you don't. What a liberating reality!
Knowing you're gonna be damned if you do and damned if you don't, forget about
doing that damned kinda stuff and bring some heaven into your church by talking
about Jesus by the book. Give 'em the Gospel! That'll shock 'em!"
@#$%
@#$%
Sooooooo what kinda
troublemaker are you?
Against Jesus by the book?
For Jesus by the book?
Are you one of
those folks who see God in the mirror and declare during deliberations, "I
know that's what Jesus and the Bible say; but
I think..."?
Are you one of
those folks who bow your head, heart, guts, and loins before Him and confess,
"Lord, I know I'm a sinner; but I will not confuse my sin with Your will
as personified in Jesus and prescribed in Holy Scripture. Your not my will be done 'on
earth as it is in heaven'"?
@#$%
@#$%
Elijah comes to
mind.
He was called a
troublemaker because he refused to go with any flow that wasn't within the
movement of the Spirit.
You know the most
famous chapter in his story.
He beat up the
bad Baal religionists who were no match for him because, as Jesse Jackson likes
to say, "God+you=majority."
Whoa.
My favorite part
of the story is when Elijah shows up and says to King Ahab who always seemed to
have a Jezebel of a time staying faithful to God and the people of Israel who
always seemed to be bantering and moaning about something/someone and then
getting mesmerized by their idolatries that distracted 'em from fidelities by
the book, "How long will you go limping between two different
opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! If Baal, then follow
him...and go to hell!"
Whoa.
If that doesn't
sound like GA 2014 - die
Abfall oder die Erweckung.
It reminds me of
Dr. McCord who often talked about the state of mainline franchises like the
PCUSA - BTW, this story has parallels with all
of the current increasingly apostate sisters to the PCUSA - by
telling a little story about two guys at a cocktail party.
First guy:
"I don't know who I am, what I'm doing, where I'm going, or what it's all
about."
Second guy:
"Don't worry about it! Your pastor and church are going through the
same thing!"
Whoa.
I'm also reminded
of Bill Thompson, long-time stated clerk of whatever franchise preceded the
current one, who said to me in 1975 when I asked why he turned down a
nomination to become a federal judge, "There are many federal judges; but
only one stated clerk."
Whoa.
Then there was
this meeting in Aurora, Illinois a few years ago with about twenty of our
presbytery's most out-spoken theological Neanderthals like me. One of 'em
who must have been stoned or trippin' kept going on and on and on about how we
could reverse the increasingly apostate trends in the franchise by educating
the membership about Jesus by the book. Two others who have been on the
wagon long enough to be sober about it all said simultaneously, "We've
lost! Deal with it! We're never going to get it back. The challenge
for us now is to protect our congregations from the wolves at our doors while
trying to be personally faithful in a denomination where faithfulness no longer
exists."
Whoa.
Here's another
one with metaphorical value. I attended a presbytery meeting in Sterling,
Illinois on Tuesday (6/10). I had been up since 3:30 a.m. and asked if
the coffee was loaded. The hostess replied, "We only serve
'Presbyterian' coffee here! Decaf." Selah.
Whoa.
I guess it all
comes down to this for Presbyterians and sister franchisers who still love
Jesus by the book and seem to be outnumbered in their neighborhoods.
Do you/we have
the, uh, faith to
keep keepin' on and, like Elijah with a plethora of Biblical personal
parallels, tell the increasing number of apostates that they're, as Jesus said,
"making people twice as fit for hell as they are themselves" knowing
that we'll be called mean, nasty, and abusive troublemakers for the telling the
truth by the book in
the name of Jesus as compelled by the Holy Spirit?
@#$%
@#$%
Let's face it.
They've won...for now; buuuuuuut in the end, He wins!
Revelation 22:12.
Sooooooo following
the lead of heroes like Luther and Bonhoeffer and so many like 'em with
Jesus as the ultimate model/Master, let's not run away, hide, or quit.
Let's keep
salting and shining in the meantime.
I mean, uh, if
Jesus can go to the cross for us/them...
Besides, why
would anyone leave one stinking denomination for another stinking denomination?
They're all sooooooo human.
As Harold always
told people when they transferred their pathologies to us and threatened to
leave, "If you find that perfect church, don't join it because it won't be perfect anymore if
you do!"
Whoa.
Woe!!!!!!!
No wonder so many
of us find more comfort in predestination than volition.
It kinda frees ya
up to look up, stand up, speak up, and act up for Jesus by the book while too
many, uh, things are going to, uh,...
Yep, heaven is
for real and so is...
That's something/Someone
to keep in mind while praying or participating in the next GA or...
@#$%
@#$%
Blessings and Love!
Addendum
I asked friends who are familiar
with the franchise to prognosticate about the possible ramifications of
this year's GA; promising, "I will not identify anyone by name because big
brother will come after you if..."
Here's what I gotta say to anyone
else who responds, "You're not on your own. If you're with Him, He's
with you. It's among the most consistent themes of Holy Scripture."
Let's start with someone close to
me: "The PCUSA is irretrievably apostate under current management."
Mentor in New Jersey: "John
15:5."
Important Pastor in Bay Area:
"Our beloved mother church is about to shoot herself in both feet by
voting in gay marriage and voting out peacemaking in Israel; historic theology
and personal relationships remain our strength while common sense and
non-popularized and politicized thoughtfulness are pushed away as if by a
military zeal."
Pastor in South Carolina:
"Never have so few expected so little from so clueless."
Former Staff Member of our Last
Great President: "The pro-Islamist faction will finally succeed in radicalizing
the PCUSA as the first mainline church openly anti-Israel and boycotting
purchases and investments linked to Israel."
Pastor in Illinois with Clearing
Discernment: "To quote Saruman in the Lord of the Rings: 'So you have
chosen death.' The PCUSA/GA is like a Stage 4 lung cancer patient who has
decided that the best way to treat his pathology is to smoke twice as many
cigarettes, twice as fast."
Executive Presbyter: "The
darkhorse issue will concern the fate of the OGA/PMA."
Editor of My Favorite Website:
"Who am I to rule out the possibility that God in His grace will surprise
us as I believe He did in 2012?"
Christian Radio Manager: "The
church cannot duck these questions Scripturally."
Former Pastor in PCUSA: "A
continued and deeper descent into apostasy and depravity."
Proverbial Founder of the CCM and
Commissioner to GA: "This assembly will be the nail in the coffin.
Our evangelicals are but a remnant that can only provide a prophetic
voice. The denomination is lost and gone down the hedonistic path."
Buddy in Pennsylvania Who, Unlike
Moi, Gets Recognized by our Author Advocacy Group: "I believe the nearest
clothing store will run out of garments of self-justification in which we will
wrap ourselves."
Commissioner from My Favorite
Presbytery: "Whatever happened to obedience to the WORD of GOD?"
Photojournalist in Pennsylvania:
"How appropriate for the PCUSA to hold its convention in Detroit! A
dying denomination in a dying city!"
Lawyer in Pennsylvania:
"PCUSA? Is this even a viable organization? Or is it another
group like the Baptists, Methodists, UCC, and the like fighting for
institutional survival as their local churches fade away?"
Otherwise, nah;
for reasons explained in my non-best-selling I
Just Wanna Ride that you can get from me - only 7 first
editions left - for $250 per or www.amazon.com
for postage and handling,
Since first
mounting a Honda 50 in 1968, I've been hearing it about helmets.
Sooooooo I've got a deal
for folks who insist that I wear a helmet more often than not to prove it's all about the sanctity
of my life more than trying to control it.
Once you've
demonstrably documented your affirmation and advocacy for the sanctity of
all human life from womb to tomb, you can send a check for $500 to me and
I will find and buy a vintage helmet just like William Macy's Dudley wore in Wild Hogs (check clip
above).
"If you are distracted by anyone or anything from joy
in Jesus,
the only way to refresh your joy is to
refocus on Jesus!"
Adamson
@#$%
Friday.
6/6.
Surprised there
wasn't another 6.
Started well.
Regular early
Friday morning 9 with my favorite Special Olympics world golf champion;
and if you've ever read Henri Nouwen's In
the Name of Jesus - yeah, take that as an urging - you'll know why
Billy has been a big part of my joy in/from Jesus for the last decade.
Billy scored
well.
Mine: 4, 4,
4, 5, 4, 4, 7, 9, 4.
Wasn't that special?
Feeling good
after the first 6...hmm..., I
walked to the 7th and started swatting gnats from my ears, nose, eyes,
and...spirit.
It happens.
I was distracted
from the joy in/from Jesus of golfing with Billy by...bugs; if ya know what I mean in a
metaphorical more than literal kinda way.
I couldn't get
her/him/them out of my...spirit.
Thinking more
about her/him/them than..., the distraction turned ugly and Billy asked after I
carded the 9 on the par 5 8th, "What happened? You were playing
really well!"
"Well,
Billy," I answered, "I've got too much on/in my mind; and I've lost
my concentration."
He counseled,
"Just think about what you were thinking about before you started playing
so badly."
Selah.
I did.
Reminded of how
easy it is for the dark side to distract from the bright side with ensuing
ugliness, I thought of that old advice from Adamson.
Everybody's
bugged.
Repelling
requires refocusing.
@#$%
@#$%
"It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your
treasure is, is
the place you will most want to be, and end up being!"
Anyone who says
Christianity is complicated is spending too much time in books about the book than
in the book itself; and, usually, people who spend more time reading books
about the book than the book itself are looking for ways to rationalize their
beliefs and behaviors that are not consistent with loving and following Jesus
by the book.
I think of W.C.
Fields who spent more time reading the Bible as his end approached. Asked
about it, he said, "I'm looking for loopholes."
A recent
conversation comes to mind.
A pastor who I
counsel because of clergy killers came to see me back on April 11.
Hurt and
discouraged, he asked, "Is Christianity as complicated as we are making
it? Did Jesus really have all of these theologies and denominations and
bulletins and vestments and stained glass windows and ornaments and
furniture and...in mind?"
"I may be
wrong," I answered, "but I think Christianity is really, really,
really quite simple. Love Jesus and you know for sure that you're going
to heaven after the last breath. In the meantime, you love Jesus by loving like Jesus
because You're so grateful to be going to heaven after you die. As far as
I can see, that's Christianity by the book."
I've found people
often like me who make Christianity sooooooo
complicated just don't want to follow Jesus by the book because
they don't believe in Jesus by the book and find rationalizations for beliefs
and behaviors apart from Jesus by the book in other books only coincidentally
consistent with Jesus by the book.
Or something like
that.
@#$%
@#$%
Surely, there are
lots of guides for pastor search committees put out by parochial interests.
You know,
"Gotta make sure she's/he's a real Baptist...Presbyterian...Pentecostal...Fundamentalist...Roman...Missouri
Synoder...whatever."
Annnnnnnd if you're into
that, you probably need to look for a good funeral director instead of a
pastor.
You can read more
about that in Matthew 15 and 23.
While I have
diminishing respect for that kinda stuff because that kinda stuff is more
related to philosophy and ideology and vanity and ego/mob theology than
Jesus by the book, I'm not goin' to get into tinkling contests about it; but,
again, just ask yourself if those kinda churches looking for those kinda
pastors are doing much heaven good anymore. I know ya can't talk about
that at franchise meetings or you'll get charged with something or marginalized
at least; but in the privacy of your own relationship with the Lord...
This isn't a
guide for churches into too
much of that.
This is for
churches that just want an undershepherd
to the Good Shepherd who will try to love 'em with Jesus as the pattern
according to the prescriptions of Holy Scripture.
Sooooooo because it's
really not that complicated, I'm gonna limit this guide to three simple
concerns: identity, intentions, and inheritances.
The authorized
guides with all of their helpful vetting information often forget what follows
and that's why they often have to elect another PSC sooner than later.
Yes, take a long
look at the authorized guides; but don't forget to consider...
@#$%
@#$%
Identity.
A friend thinks
all PSCs should start with this question: "Who is your Lord?"
He explains,
"If Jesus isn't demonstrably first or
if there are any idolatries close to Him such as denominations or traditions or
polities or..., run like hell away from her/him."
Agreed.
From what I can
tell about Jesus by the book and most of Christendom's history, it's supposed
to be all about, uh, Jesus by the book.
Lord and Savior.
By the book.
If you're
interviewing someone and she/he is talking more about Osteen or Oprah by the culture than
Jesus by the book,
run like hell away from 'em.
Let me put it
another way.
While saving 'em
for officers, I've stopped asking dumb parochial questions when someone wants
to join the church. I just ask two questions: "Who is your
Lord and Savior? Depending upon God's grace, do you promise to try to
love Him by loving like Him?"
I figure if a person
gets those right, she/he won't be among the irascibles, irregulars, and
irreconcilables being enabled by too many churches who don't follow Jesus by
the book.
Ditto for
pastors.
@#$%
@#$%
Intentions.
Ask!
Let me repeat.
Ask!!!!!!!
Let 'em dump
their garbage cause folks will dig it up sooner or later if they don't.
If you want to
know what she/he thinks about something, ask!!!!!!!
While most of
your questions will be answered if she/he answers those two questions in the
preceding section with precision, passion, and persuasion, ask!!!!!!!
Yeah, I know some
parochial "authorities" caution you against it. Some
will claim ya can't ask 'em about war and peace and abortion and
homosexuality and gay marriage and gluten-free diets and...
But the
pewsitters are gonna wanna know sooner than later and they'll ask and if you
haven't and they find out that...
Well, you know
what I mean; and if you don't, you shouldn't be on the PSC
anyway/anyhow/anymore.
Let me be
specific.
If you want a
leftie or rightie or someone like
you know who with no perceptible principles, ask the kinda
direct-in-your-face-no-blinking interrogatives that will get what you need to
know before you sign anything.
@#$%
@#$%
Inheritances.
This is really
important.
Get rid of staff
members and even members who weren't healed/redeemed by anyone else
anytime before.
Don't cripple your new pastor with old problems; especially when it comes
to staff members.
Inherited staff
members can be very dangerous because they are never really or quite as loyal to
the person who didn't hire 'em in the first place. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they
are loyal to.... Puuuuuuuhlease!
Sometimes conventional wisdom is conventional wisdom because it's
conventional and repeated. Many inheritances don't make the
transition. PSCs know who will and who won't. Get rid of the ones
who won't!
God knows I know.
While I've been
fortunate in only having two or three inheritances go really sour in four
decades and while I'm in a situation right now in which I was blessed with a
few really, really, really awesome inheritances, the rule of the thumb is the
rule of thumb. If they
have been a problem before the new pastor arrives, they will be a problem no
matter who is called. Remember, they nailed Jesus and He was pure and perfect
in every way. If you don't clean up the mess before
she/he arrives, she/he will inherit a mess and then get messy as your new
pastor tries to clean up the mess with minimal help from the masses who wanna
be liked by everyone including the miscreants. And don't even bother thinking of
calling on your ecclesiastical superiors if you don't clean up the mess and
your pastor gets messy! They could care less.
Really. Here's how they think: "Preachers come and go...but we need
the taxes from the churches to pay our bills...So let's sacrifice
another..."
I'll never forget
the prospective pastor's wife - not related to me - who was asked if she had
any questions for the PSC. She asked, "You seem so nice; but,
please, tell me about the bastards in your church?"
It may sound
crude; but get rid of the wolves or they'll end up barking and biting and...
@#$%
@#$%
Finally, my
friend also thinks PSCs should ask, "What would make you run for the door
if you found out it was true about our church?"
He says,
"The answers can help discern both values and fears."
O.K.
Of course, Jesus
said pastors are gonna catch lots of hell trying to get people into heaven.
Matthew 10
quickly comes to mind.
That's why I tell
pastors, "Keep running to Jesus and you'll stay a step ahead of
the..."
