The Desperate Pastor Blog

The Most Neglected Pastoral Priority

"A pastor can be so busy caring for his people that he never makes time to stop and pray for them" (Brian Croft).

The whole article is here.

Church of the Week: Traveler's Chapel at Wall Drug

This week's "church of the week" here on the Desperate Pastor blog is the "traveler's chapel" at Wall Drug, the sprawling tourist attraction on Highway 16A in Wall, South Dakota, sixty miles east of Mount Rushmore.

The lovely Robin and I visited it with friends just last week, and it was a haven of quiet and solitude in the otherwise bustling establishment. It is said to be fashioned after the chapel at New Melleray Abbey, a Cistercian (Trappist) monastery near Dubuque, Iowa. Somewhere I read that, while it is not a church, services (as well as concerts and other events) are sometimes held there.

At the back of the chapel just inside the entrance were boxes of travel-size New Testaments, offered for free.

It was a refreshing touch of sanctity in swirling mass of humanity and commercialism, and I'm so glad the lovely Robin pointed it out to me and made sure I didn't miss it.

Church of the Week: The Salvation Army, Rapid City, SD

What a lovely Sunday morning worship experience the lovely Robin and I enjoyed yesterday at The Salvation Army in Rapid City, South Dakota.

I took the photo below after a stimulating adult Sunday school class and ten minutes or so before the morning service ("Holiness Meeting," as it is called) began. The small chapel (capacity 113) wasn't packed but did contain a healthy crowd of all ages by the time things began.

After a brief presentation to the corps officer (pastor) and area coordinators by Major Randy Hellstrom, Aux. Capt. Michelle Johnson led a short observance and prayer in connection with the Annual Day of Prayer for Victims of Human Trafficking. Majors Randy and Kathy Hellstrom led a period of singing, followed by a prayer and another congregational song. Major Kathy Hellstrom played a beautiful and inspiring piano arrangement as an offertory, and eighteen-year-old Cheyenne Black gave his testimony. Majors Hellstrom sang a wonderful duet, and then I got to preach! It was a blessed time of worship and fellowship, in spite of my preaching!

The Rapid City Salvation Army is ably led by corps officers Captains Nathan and Michele Harms, who are clearly doing a fine job. It is located at 405 North Cherry Avenue in Rapid City.

For Inquiring Minds

Pastors often get asked, "Which Bible should I buy/use/read/study?" So here is a handy little chart that might help:

Church of the Week: Huber Heights (OH) First Church of God

The lovely Robin and I, joined by our daughter Aubrey and son-in-law Kevin and their youngest child, Avery, had a wonderful time of worship and fellowship yesterday at Huber Heights First Church of God in--wait for it--Huber Heights, north of Dayton, Ohio.

We were there on that particular Sunday because our old and dear friend, Bill Riley, was "candidating" for the senior pastor position at this church. We were warmly greeted multiple times before we got to the sanctuary. We sat with Lorraine and Courtney on the front row during the 10:30 a.m. service, which was led by a full worship team (keyboard, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, drums, and three vocalists). I especially enjoyed the drummer, a young man who was on his game.

Bill preached on "Living Like Jesus in the Community," from Luke 19:1-10, and did a wonderful job. I'm always on pins and needles when Bill preaches because you just never know what he's going to say or do. He gave the assembled crowd of (I'm guessing) two hundred or so good reason to affirm the search committee's choice for him as their next senior pastor, and lo and behold, after a congregational meeting that followed the service, they did!

Of course, while waiting for the congregational meeting to end, I snooped--er, toured--around the church a little, and it is an impressive facility, lovingly maintained. I especially liked the fact that the church library is actually a library, with books on all four walls. Yea for them!

I'm sure it won't be our last visit to this church. We'll be happy to return often.

Huber Heights First Church of God worships at 6900 Brandt Pike in Huber Heights, Ohio.

The Pastor's Desk (Episode 40)

The pastor's desk above belongs to my friend, Major Doug McGuire, who serves with his wife as corps officer/pastor of The Salvation Army in East Liverpool, Ohio (it's a real place, honest!).

His wife vows that there was no tidying involved. She says it's always this neat. She has also never offered to send a photo of her desk.

(If you would like to participate in this recurring feature on the Desperate Pastor blog, submit a photo of a pastor's study, office, or desk--but no tidying up before taking the picture, mind you--to bob@bobhostetler.com, along with a short description identifying to whom it belongs)

Six Preachers (and a "special") for the Price of One

Pastor Broderick Rice, "flowing in the pathetic." He made me laugh out loud with his T. D. Jakes impression.

10 Things I'd Do Differently

Billy Graham was once asked, "If you could, would you go back and do anything differently?" Billy. Graham. After roughly seventy years of amazingly effective ministry, perhaps the most effective itinerant ministry in history--at least since Paul of Tarsus.

I won't tell you what he said (you can read that interview here) other than to say he very quickly mentioned four things he would have done differently.

I'm no Billy Graham. I'm barely even Billy Goat Gruff (ask your mom). So if he listed four things he'd do differently, it should be no surprise to anyone that I can easily list ten:

1. I would pray a LOT more. I prayed, of course, from the start, but not nearly as I learned to do much later. Maybe it took the wisdom of years to realize how much I needed prayer and how much prayer I needed.

2. I would spend more time with my wife and kids. Unapologetically. Even fiercely.

3. I would say no. It also took me a long time to understand how much of a "people pleaser" I am, and how liable I was to let others set my agenda and calendar for me.

4. I would Sabbath. Several years in to my pastoral ministry experience, I did begin to carve out a "day off," but it wasn't until much later that I learned and experienced the blessing of a weekly Sabbath.

5. I would talk mission and vision incessantly. An older and wiser pastor once urged me to cast vision every ninety days or it will "seep out." My response was more or less, "yeah, right." He was right. I was wrong.

6. I would read my Bible. Sure, sure, I read my Bible. Like every pastor. That's just it, though. If I had the chance to do it again, I would read my Bible more and differently--like a pirate reads a treasure map, like a death row prisoner reads a pardon, like a poor relation reads a rich uncle's will.

7. I would show mercy. I regret some of my leadership decisions over the years, and most--maybe all--of my regrets relate to a failure of mercy.

8. I would (God helping me, because He would have to, contrary to my nature as it is) address conflict, gossip, and disunity one-on-one, as early as possible and as often as necessary.

9. I would do less and teach my church how to do less. I would focus on a few things (as this book suggests) and do them well, and one of those few things would be helping the church do a few things and do them well.

10. I would eschew "growing my church" in favor of "blessing our community."

Shoot, I could easily keep going. And going. I could be the "Energizer Bunny" of "things I would do differently." But these will suffice for now, because they will have to.

From Forced Fellowship to Respectful Friendliness

I have never been a fan of the "stand-and-greet" custom in many churches (called "passing the peace" among our more liturgical brethren and sistren). In theory, it makes people feel welcome and makes a church seem friendly. In practice, however, I think it makes visitors uncomfortable, makes introverts uncomfortable, and almost never produces meaningful interaction between the species (introverts/extroverts/ambiverts).

So I was glad to see this post from Thom Rainer, in which he suggests better ways to make a church welcoming and friendly. I think he's on to something.

To Be Clear

A Missing Ingredient

"If we have no silence, God is not heard in our music."

(Thomas Merton)

Mistakes Preachers Make, From an Expert

I'm honored to be an occasional contributor to Theology Mix. Me and a bunch of smart people.

Here is the link to my latest piece on Theology Mix, in which I add (from experience, I promise you) to another writer/preacher's list of mistakes preachers make. It's one of the few areas in which I think I can speak with confidence.

Church Signs With Moveable Letters Should Be Outlawed (Pt. 29)

Clearly some basketball opponents are tougher than others (thanks to Ed Stetzer's blog).

Soul Keeping

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was the year before I entered ministry training, when someone asked me what I was reading. I listed a few books with enthusiasm--and pride, I'm sure. He asked if he could offer some advice, and I agreed. "Don't read books," he said. "Read authors."

I can't say I've followed his advice to a T since then, but when I find a good or great book, I seek out other books by that author.

John Ortberg is one such author. I love his writing style and the way he handles biblical texts and teachings. So I was anxious to read his book, Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You. He says that many souls in this day and age are starved and unhealthy, unsatisfied by false promises of status and wealth, and the way to depth and fulfillment is to give attention to the soul, and to care for it well.

I loved that the book was crafted around Ortberg's relationship with another of my favorite authors, the late Dallas Willard. In fact, I found my interest piqued every time Willard entered the scene. Overall, however, I didn't find Soul Keeping as helpful and engrossing as the other Ortberg books I've read. Maybe that's because I read it at the wrong time, or at the wrong pace, or something like that.

But I can recommend it nonetheless, because it's solid teaching and helpful insights on an important subject, with some flashes of brilliance sprinkled throughout. And who doesn't need that?

Church Signs With Moveable Letters Should Be Outlawed (Pt. 28)

Okay, so maybe we can't immediately outlaw church signs with moveable letters, but in the meantime can we at least use spellcheck?

Nudge

I read virtually everything Leonard Sweet writes (although he is so prolific he seems able to write faster than I can read). Yet I delayed reading Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who's Already There. I wasn't highly motivated to read another book on evangelism.

This wasn't that.

Nudge (like everything Sweet writes) is compelling. It is both strikingly simple and truly revolutionary, as incredible as that may seem. Also like most of what Sweet writes, Nudge expresses much of what I've been feeling and thinking but could never have explained without his help. In my view, he captures perfectly what "evangelism" is, and what it must be, moving it away from the modernist and revivalist traditions (which he and I share as part of our backgrounds) and toward a relational, respectful, and responsive way of helping ourselves and our fellow earth-dwellers to awaken to and interact with, well, the God who's already there among us.

The book is divided into two sections. The first--titled "Shining"--defines "nudging" and "nudgers" as part of a process based on three assumptions: (1) Jesus is alive and active in our world, (2) Followers of Jesus know him well enough to recognize where he is alive and moving, and (3 ) Evangelists nudge others around them to wake up to that activity. "Nudgers," he says, "meet people in their context and nourish their souls in some way." The second section--titled "Sensing"--explores how "nudging" works through each of the five senses, a chapter at a time.

Like all the other Sweet books I've read, I highlighted so many memorable lines that it would be unwieldy to share them all. But here are some of my favorite bits:

The more I discover who God is and who God made me, the happier I become.

I have a friend, Michael Blewett, who is a rector in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He informs his parish that they have three things to spend in life: time, money, and attention. And the greatest of these is attention.

One of the worst mistakes you can make in life is to confuse fallow time with shallow time.

If you want to make God laugh, show him your plans. If you want to make God cry, show him your planet.

The quieter we become, the chattier God gets.

I have no right to argue with you until I can state your case to your satisfaction. I have no right to tell your story until I can state your story to your satisfaction.

Jesus’ image of fishing was not solitary but social.

In the Jesus story of the miraculous catch of precisely 153 fish, the number 153 is the celestial calculus for completion. The ancient world believed there were exactly 153 different species of fish. A catch of 153 fish symbolized the church’s need to reach in its communal netting every culture upon the earth.

Nudgers live and love as Jesus lives and loves: with a blend of fortieth in re, suaviter in modo, or to translate this ancient theological phrase into English, "resolutely in action and gently in manner."

It’s so hard for people to hear ‘God loves you so much’ when the church loves so little. ‘Love All. Serve All’ is the corporate motto of Hard Rock Cafe.

Lancaster Seminary professor Frank Stalfa hammers into the heads of his students this six-word mantra: "Truth without compassion is merely aggression."

It's all so good. So good. So much so, in fact, that I can honestly say it not only reawakened me to the God who's already there, but also to the Gospel and the Great Commission.

Church of the Week: Harbison Chapel, Grove City, PA

On a recent visit to Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania (see here and here), I was so pleased to find Harbison Chapel on the school's campus open at midday.

The chapel, in the center of the campus, was built by the sons of Samuel P. Harbison as a memorial to their father, who served the college as a trustee.

The interior is beautified by hand-carved woodwork and brilliant stained glass windows. It is the campus home to chapel services, convocations, and Sunday vespers, and hosts frequent and numerous weddings throughout the year. It is a stately treasure, and I'm glad I got to visit it and pray in it, however briefly.

Church Signs With Moveable Letters Should Be Outlawed (Pt. 27)

This sign is borrowed from Ed Stetzer's blog. The syntax of this sign's message not only makes it confusing ("exactly WHO is eating all those lives?") but even those who read it correctly may not understand it. Sure, it's from the Bible, but so is "Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones" (Psalm 137:9).

I rest my case, your honor.

The Pastor's Desk (Episode 39)

The pastor's desk above is one of two desks used by my friend, Father Austin Fleming, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Concord, Massachusetts. He also blogs at "A Concord Pastor Comments."

He explains this desk: "I have a really nice upstairs pastor's office which is neat and orderly (mostly because I so seldom use it!). I prefer this desk right by the front door of our parish center. Seated here, I get to see/greet/chat with all who come and go during the course of the day. To my left is my secretary to whom I can easily refer folks who walk in and mistake me for the receptionist. Across from my cluttered desk is a small library room with comfortable chairs in which I can meet with individuals and couples for private conversations. It's my workbench--not tidied up for the photo but it's often a lot more cluttered than it was today."

(If you would like to participate in this recurring feature on the Desperate Pastor blog, submit a photo of a pastor's study, office, or desk--but no tidying up before taking the picture, mind you--to bob@bobhostetler.com, along with a short description identifying to whom it belongs)

Post #1,500!

This post is the 1,500th to appear here on the Desperate Pastor blog.

That's just crazy.

A lot has happened since the first Desperate Pastor post (on April 25, 2009, titled "The Beauty of Broken Things." That's it in the screenshot at right).

Out of 1,500 posts, you would think that one or two might have actually been good. Right? Well, maybe not. But some have seemed to be more helpful than others, judging from traffic and response. So below are ten of the best, leaving the other 1,490 in the dust:

1. How I Got My Groove Back

2. Balancing Ministry and Family

3. 7 Keys to Staying Married in Ministry

4. You Probably Will Not Like My Church