Questions to ask Potential Pastor's

[preacher4truth]

Pretty slanderous remarks coming from a supposed Man of God, Im thinking. Id respond but your not worth the keystrokes. :tongue3:

Sometimes truth hurts?

To call what I've posted (your quoting of me) as slanderous, doesn't make it so, friend. Any wise person can see this.

Not one word of my post was slanderous. Just sayin'. "What if?"

:thumbsup:


:wavey:

 

[preacher4truth]

So I guess preachers should lower their standards of feeding the sheep to nursing the sheep?

I'm glad preachers like C.H. Spurgeon didn't follow this advice.

And as I recall, Paul rebuked the Corinthian church for still needing milk and calling them babes in Christ.

While it's good to bring in the unsaved to hear the gospel preached, it's the pastor's job to feed the sheep.


And if the sheep are not fed, they will be ill-equipped to take the gospel outside the church doors.

How old in the faith are the members of this church said preacher refers to as "babes?"

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

While I understand the frustrations of not feeling "fed," our spiritual well-being does not rest on the sermons alone. It's our job to search the scriptures and ask God for wisdom from his word. Before you decide to leave your church, you might want to talk to the pastor about your feelings. It may be that the church is full of baby Christians and he needs your help encouraging them to learn more doctrine. We who are stronger in the faith have a responsibility to mentor those who are weaker in the faith.

There is a line in not being fed, and thinking we "already know" a subject and can't learn anything new there. Not saying you have that attitude, but IF God wants you to stay in your current church and you desire to grow, he will reveal things to you even if you've read a certain passage or heard it preached 10 times.

Thanks but as Ive said, my current Pastor is not reformed & I am. So he really cant teach what I need to hear. to really learn, I will need to travel which bothers me since I would not be able to attend neighborhood events or later evening stuff. My brother does this but you can see its a major imposition. Will have to pray about this.

 

[Amy.G]

How old in the faith are the members of this church said preacher refers to as "babes?"

Apparently old enough to have moved on to solid food since Paul was rebuking them for their carnal behavior.

(1 Cor. 3:1-2)

Barnes, Gill and Calvin all agree. (too much to post here)

 

[preacher4truth]

Apparently old enough to have moved on to solid food since Paul was rebuking them for their carnal behavior.

(1 Cor. 3:1-2)

Barnes, Gill and Calvin all agree. (too much to post here)

Not Corinth. I was referring to the pastor who said he had babes in his church.

:smilewinkgrin:

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

Sometimes truth hurts?

To call what I've posted (your quoting of me) as slanderous, doesn't make it so, friend. Any wise person can see this.

Not one word of my post was slanderous. Just sayin'. "What if?"

:thumbsup:


:wavey:

Listen pal, if your going to snipe at me & be a ''' well you know, Id just prefer you stay away. Im not fighting with a guy thats supposed to represent Christ .... thats ridiculous. Your supposed to represent a better standard so please knock the chip off your solder or back off....your choice.

 

[Amy.G]

Not Corinth. I was referring to the pastor who said he had babes in his church.

:smilewinkgrin:

Huh? The pastor was Paul. I must have missed something. :laugh:

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

Huh? The pastor was Paul. I must have missed something. :laugh:

Na you just got in the middle of something, no big deal.

It just is a problem of logistics.

 

[Amy.G]

Na you just got in the middle of something, no big deal.

It just is a problem of logistics.

Ahhhh logistics.....just call UPS.


I'll get out of your way.

 

[preacher4truth]

Listen pal, if your going to snipe at me & be a ''' well you know, Id just prefer you stay away. Im not fighting with a guy thats supposed to represent Christ .... thats ridiculous. Your supposed to represent a better standard so please knock the chip off your solder or back off....your choice.

I've said nothing slanderous. Nor is there a chip on my shoulder. Just having dialogue and telling the truth here. Sometimes it just plain hurts! You can't just say "you slandered" and lo and behold it's like a magic wand, friendm, and it makes it "so". If my statements are too tough, I apologize. :thumbsup:

There is nothing for me to backoff about, but since you're offended, I'll digress for your sake that you may be at peace.

Again, not a word I said was slanderous. And I still love ya man!!!!


:tongue3:

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

I've said nothing slanderous. Nor is there a chip on my shoulder. Just having dialogue and telling the truth here. Sometimes it just plain hurts! You can't just say "you slandered" and lo and behold it's like a magic wand, friendm, and it makes it "so". If my statements are too tough, I apologize. :thumbsup:

There is nothing for me to backoff about, but since you're offended, I'll digress for your sake that you may be at peace.

Again, not a word I said was slanderous. And I still love ya man!!!!


:tongue3:

Yea, just drop it.

 

[preachinjesus]

So I guess preachers should lower their standards of feeding the sheep to nursing the sheep?

Why is Sunday morning the only place this can happen?

What if the pastoral staff strategized their message calendar to maximize their opportunity to communicate life changing truth to people to draw them into a deeper walk?

A good pastor knows how to draw people along and welcome them into deeper study and, in turn, growth. This doesn't mean all he does is preacher happy-dappy, feel good sermons...there is a way to feed babies meat...but you can't start off with steak and expect them to gum it to death. You have to help people grow. No Christian starts off able to consume all 5 courses of the meal.

I'm glad preachers like C.H. Spurgeon didn't follow this advice.

This is unnecessary.

And as I recall, Paul rebuked the Corinthian church for still needing milk and calling them babes in Christ.

While it's good to bring in the unsaved to hear the gospel preached, it's the pastor's job to feed the sheep.

So did the writer of Hebrews. Who in the thread is saying we should keep people on the baby food? Who? Show me?

What I am saying is that there is a time and a place for people to dine out and get the hearty food. Sunday morning is too big a front door to launch into a detailed theological exegesis of deeper topics. Rather I would encourage pastors to develop their ministry beyond Sunday morning and help grow people through involving them in deeper studies throughout the week.

And if the sheep are not fed, they will be ill-equipped to take the gospel outside the church doors.

Who doesn't agree with this? We need to be feeding people. I'm saying the vast majority of Christians aren't ready to be given a five course meal and a good pastor knows how to help them grow.

 

[preachinjesus]

Er preach....this guy told me he didnt want to discuss Baptism on the pulpit.

That's his business then. You know where you shouldn't go.

Maybe he is trying to do something where he can start growing people. I don't know, I wasn't in the convo. I'm just asking us to be charitable to this fellow.

If someone comes to me and wants to ask questions about the church where I serve I welcome those questions. Hey, I'll take them out to eat and talk about over dinner. Yet if in the conversation I'm gonna do two things: 1) see if their heart is knowledge or service, 2) be careful about uncovering an ulterior motive.

True story, when I was serving in another church we had a great young guy show up and ask a bunch of questions about our church. He said he wanted to join. So I sat down and talked with him. Everything started off fine then he drove to figuring out how we dealt with money and several controversial issues. My discernment-meter went off and I thanked him and sent him on his way. Found out months later he was trying to get dirt on our church and senior pastor to write an expose. Crazy right? Well that's what really happens out there.

BTW, I've had good conversations with honest people trying to join to church. I seriously, seriously love talking about it if the people are earnest Christians.

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

So OK, how far would you drive to go to church?

 

[preachinjesus]

Honestly, I'd find a church that needs servants the most. Right now, given technology you can listen to your favorite theologians, pastors, & teachers within moments of clicking a download button. You can have world class teaching every day of the week, several times a day.

Why not find a church with a hard working but under staffed pastor who wants to reach the community and go help him?

The key to spiritual maturity is being able to feed themselves and serve joyfully Christ's Bride.

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

Yes but there is no real give & take with that. Ive been doing that pretty much all my life, with reading books, boards & blogs. Id really love to be able to sit before a very good Reformed pastor with experience & maturity and the ability to measure me to see where I need to focus & tell me when Im off base. And if only 2-3% of Protestants in the neighborhood go to church at all, wouldnt that suggest that maybe people are serious are in fact traveling to be fed. Im really quite distressed about this.

 

[annsni]

I have to say that it's awesome sitting under a good teaching pastor. I want to walk out of church having met with God and hearing from Him and I know I get that at my home church and now in my new church as well. Of course the pastor is my hubby so I think he's awesome. But we're looking at a lot of younger believers in the new church but they need to learn the meat as well. Yes, we're not going into the big deep terms but we're certainly going into the deep issues and what the Bible has to say about them.

I have to say, I don't think I could serve in a church that is not feeding me as well. That's actually one of the reasons we left our old church.

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

I have to say that it's awesome sitting under a good teaching pastor. I want to walk out of church having met with God and hearing from Him and I know I get that at my home church and now in my new church as well. Of course the pastor is my hubby so I think he's awesome. But we're looking at a lot of younger believers in the new church but they need to learn the meat as well. Yes, we're not going into the big deep terms but we're certainly going into the deep issues and what the Bible has to say about them.

I have to say, I don't think I could serve in a church that is not feeding me as well. That's actually one of the reasons we left our old church.

Thanks for that support Ann & you are indeed lucky. While I feel for my existing pastor....he's just not the mentor & teacher type. I get more theology speaking to my brother when he's around than I get from this poor guy. But I believe I've really hit a wall & God's telling me that I have to do more. More knowledge, more community assistance just more. I cant being tethered to what is there now. Its like being on the farm & you love it & the folks around you but Broadway's calling! LOL. I feel like Mr. MacGoo!

 

[Iconoclast]

So I guess preachers should lower their standards of feeding the sheep to nursing the sheep?

I'm glad preachers like C.H. Spurgeon didn't follow this advice.

And as I recall, Paul rebuked the Corinthian church for still needing milk and calling them babes in Christ.

While it's good to bring in the unsaved to hear the gospel preached, it's the pastor's job to feed the sheep.


And if the sheep are not fed, they will be ill-equipped to take the gospel outside the church doors.

Amy,
Good post......usually we are not seeing things the same way.
So I want to take this opportunity to thank you for a good post. :wavey:

 

[Amy.G]

So OK, how far would you drive to go to church?

I drive 11 miles one way. Curvy roads, no street lights, in the country, by myself. Husband doesn't go to church right now.