A Serious Inquiry Into The Role Of The Under Shepherd Of The Church"

“The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.” [1]

“It must be nice to only work one hour a week!” “Have you been working on your golf game all week?” “Do you obsess over how to hold a teacup?” Pastors have heard such comments thousands of times from the earliest days of their service before the Lord. However, any pastor will tell you that the work of the ministry is demanding if that ministry is real.

Early in my service before the Lord, I conducted a ministry at the Kaufman County Prison Farm outside of Kaufman, Texas. I would mount my Suzuki 500 motorcycle following the morning worship at the Trinity Temple Baptist Church in Dallas and ride the approximately sixty-five kilometers to deliver a message to the prisoners incarcerated on the prison farm. Each fifth Sunday, a Methodist minister would come to sing songs with the prisoners. He didn’t preach, but he would tell the inmates that they were good people, and if they would only try harder, they wouldn’t have to be jailed for the various infractions that got them in trouble in the first place.

I attended a few of the “services” Roland provided. I mean, he was speaking to my congregation, and I wanted to know what my people were being taught. One cold November day, Roland had finished his “service” and had walked to his car. It was raining, and the ride had been miserable going to Kaufman. However, I hated not to have opportunity to be available to any of my congregation that might need spiritual guidance.

On this particular day, I walked out to Roland’s car thinking that I might ask him a few questions. In our conversations, he divulged that he didn’t believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God and he didn’t believe Jesus was very God in human flesh. He didn’t believe there was such a thing as salvation, and he denied that there was a heaven or a hell. He admitted that he did not take seriously the vows he had taken as a Methodist minister, confessing that he held “mental reservations” when he took those vows.

I asked him why he wanted to be a minister. I wondered, why not sell insurance, or work in a garage, or work on a farm? These were all honourable occupations, and he would not be required to say he believed something that he considered to be false. His answer shocked me at the time, and recalling his answer, it shocks me now. Roland said he wanted to be a minister because it didn’t require much work and it paid well.

My response to him was, “Well, that is not the case if you are a Baptist minister!” I spoke without giving a great deal of thought to my response, and it is doubtful that the response would have been different if I had pondered what to say before speaking.

In my experience, I have often been wakened from deep sleep to rush to my computer to capture the thoughts that flitted through my mind. I knew I could polish those thoughts later to extract the insight that was attempting to force itself to the full light of consciousness. It was nothing less than the Spirit of Christ speaking to remind me of some point that would need to be spoken for the benefit of those who would listen.

The minister of Christ must be available to serve the people of God in their hour of crisis, or to lift them up in prayer as they seek to move past the challenges that threaten to hinder their walk with the Lord. Plus, he must invest his time in study of the Word, seeking to master that which is infinite for the benefit of those whom God has entrusted to his oversight. He must always labour to improve his grasp of the mechanics of communication, for he is a communicator of the mysteries of the Lord. There is no room for a slacker in the service of the King of kings, the Lord Who appoints to His service.