Pastor Need To Have Other Skills Too.

It takes 7 or 8 years of education, and then a lot of on-the-job training to learn to be a good pastor. And then it takes a lot of time and effort to be a good pastor, and then time and work to improve. It is difficult to imagine most pastors also able to become really good at a trade.

At the end of the day, I'd rather be at the top of my game in one field (pastoring, church planting, missions, etc.), than versatile when it comes to marketable skills.

 

I can't say I got a whole lot out of reading this fellows blog that lends toward what he says as credible. Maybe a point or two, but the rest is prattle.

First, he is young, sounds a little green, somewhat bitter, vengeful, and to top it off it is written because he lost a congregation.

Secondly, he gets on aged pastors who need to have a trade to fall back on? Really? I can see a 70 year old pastor going back to laying block for a living. Do we have some Scripture here that show a NT pastor should have a plan B? Yes, we need this kid to instruct these aged pastors.

This kid failed and had to move on, due to poor preparation. That is all. This should be a time of humility for him, yet he wants to drag others down for his own failures and act as a teacher to others, even the aged. A huge dose of humility is in order, and is something he's obviously missed on this particular journey of his.

What I saw in this is a young kid attempting to school everyone else off of his green mistakes, while taking a swing at others as if he opinionatedly knows that they are failing and don't have a trade to fall back on. I see no humility whatsoever.

I am reminded of this passage: Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, But humility goes before honor. Proverbs 18:12.

 

Having been there done that, some of the best pastors and ministers are ones who have had the experience outside the "church" in the world. It is a "must have."

 

Having been a pastor, church planter, North American missionary, seminary grad, and a NAMB church planter assessor, I know that the skill set required to be a successful pastor is often beyond the reach of a good many men, but as God calls He also enables and I have met men who were rather successful with very little education or "worldly" wisdom. Not many of them, for sure, but some.

In doing church planter assessment, we assess for 13 required qualities and the candidate must score high in virtually all of them. We also assess for 3 additional qualities that give a "feel" for the potential of the candidate, but they are not included in the final assessment tally and cannot count directly against the candidate -- but they can cause the assessor to say "not yet" if he or she believes that is the proper decision.

Additionally, the assessment is not one where the candidate gets to tell the assessor(s) what they "think" (which is rather easy). Rather, it is "Tell me a time when you did..." whatever is the assessed area. If the candidate hesitates or obviosly brings in an experience that does not qualify him as a true church planter (or yet) they may be asked to do some additional work alongside a more experienced planter as an intern for a time to gain wisdom and experience.

A for instance is in the area of entrepreurship. "Tell me about a time when you started something from scratch and developped it into a viable business, ministry, etc." If the only thing the candidate can think of is his newspaper route, he is probably not a candidate for church planting.

I have only passed forward two candidates of all I have assessed for church planting. The rest were told either "not yet" or "find another career."

The two I passed forward successfully started new congregations, one as a pastor I called to take over my own lead planting efforts and another in a different Baptist group than my own, who also managed to get a new congregation up and running (with God's grace much in evidence!).

 

I'm glad no one asked me the "entrepreurship" question before heading to Siberia; I never would have had the sweet opportunity to plant a church there. By the grace of God, that church is still thriving.

 

Of course they are -- when they are also men who think HIGHLY of God's Word and the local church.

I know a good many seminary professors who pastor churches! Virtually no professor gets hired at my alma matter, Southern Seminary unless they have actual pastoral experience first.

 

Don't forget the other 12 areas that are checked. Someone might score low in one area and be great in others. One area does not disqualify.

 

Russell Moore is professor of Christian Theology and Ethics at Southern, and is also the Preaching Pastor of Highview Baptist Church.

Then there is professor York who also pastors Buck Run Baptist Church.

There are several others...

 

Then there are a lot of SBC profs breaking rules. Who is the SBC to set "rules" anyway? Are we not a congregational Convention?

 

They are not interns... They are sometimes THE senior pastor and sometimes A pastor in a multi-pastor church.

I'd tell you the other names to add to the list, but I would run out of time before I got them all listed. Almost all of the profs have some church-related ministry effort.