one good piece of advice, please.

Joshua apparently you and I have more in common than our love for Jesus, we both find the actions of GBC and Bob White hard to understand. To use a baseball analogy, the best way to play 1st base is to swing the bat, and the best way to be a faithful member of the GBC is to tithe and not question the leadership. God will straiten out the hypicrocy of it but when?

 

Tell him to ask God to give him a pastor's heart, a servant's hand.... and a Mormon's pair of feet

 

Here is some advice from the Lord (amongst the other scriptural advice you have received)...

John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

 

Dr. Bob, thanks for the priority thing.

Out of curiosity, do you get your list from Ephesians--like I do?

It's funny how a pastor I know--who I do not support--will lump the teen ministry, his pastorship, etc., in with priority #1: relationship with God.

In other words, the ultimatum he gave me, when we parted, was that I should be putting the teen ministry above my spouse and family. And that's pretty much why we parted....

 

Seek God.
Test the traditions of man against the Word of God.

 

Ps 104_33,

I agree with the emphasis on a pastor's need to put his relationship with Christ first, and I agree that this means "keeping the heart hot and the head full" as someone put it earlier. However, I am not sure that going directly to seminary (as someone suggested earlier as well) is the best advice for your son. This could, in fact, be a bad idea, depending on several factors. What seminary? Which Bible college did he graduate from? Some Bible colleges give a better education than mamy seminaries do. Also, where is his relationship with Christ at the moment? For example, if he is a bit weary after finishing Bible college, he may need to recharge before going straight to seminary. And where is he youth pastor? Who is the senior pastor there? Maybe some time in ministry with an experienced pastor will do far more for his education and spiritual well-being than seminary, at least for now. Besides, seminary will be a far more meaningful experience (if necessary at all) after some concentrated ministry experience.

Pastork

[ July 12, 2002, 03:22 PM: Message edited by: Pastork ]

 

Only one piece of advice?!?!

From the sounds of your post he is viewing the youth pastor role as a stepping stone to "bigger" ministry in the future. That would be a HUGE mistake. If he wants to be a pastor then go to seminary and learn the specific skills needed to be a pastor. Youth ministry is too important and too hard to always be looking to get "out of it" at some point down the road. Besides it breeds envy, and a lack of loyality to the church and pastor who's authority you are ministering under.

 

Don't go to seminary. That will screw you up royally. Take correspondence courses if you feel you need something like that, but skip the cemetary hoo ha. It will take the Spirit out of you in most cases. Allow a veteran of the youth wars mentor you. Be yourself though and not his clone.

 

What seminary did you go to??????

 

I was asked this question many years ago by a young man going into the ministry, and I would give the same answer to your son as I gave him: "Keep your motives pure." If you make a mistake, but had the glory of God and the interest of your church members at heart people will readily forgive you, but if you are self serving and manipulative people will soon and rightly distrust and disrespect you.

 

The idea that seminary can give you what God has not gifted you with seems to me to be erroneous. Pastors are God given (Eph 4:11) and ought to be spiritually gifted for the call. If a person is not God called and Spirit gifted for the pastorate he should avoid the ministry like the plague. I am not anti seminary per se, but it must be acknowledged that many great pastors have never seen the inside of one, and many dudds have come out of them to afflict the church of God with an arrogant display of pseudo intellectualism.