October – one of my favorite months. Cooler temperatures, leaves changing colors, football, baseball play-offs, and much more.
But years ago, during my lifetime, the start of October annually brought stress to pastors and their families in our denomination because it was decision time. In the middle of the conference week they could be told that they were being transferred to a different church in a different town. Without ant warning they would need to pack up and move. The children would be forced to change schools and childhood friends. It was a stressful time for many.
I was aware of some of this stress since it affected my grandparents, my father and my aunts for many years. It also affected me as a member of our church since we had to wait until Sunday to see who our pastor would be for the next year.
We attended a small church and movement of pastors was common for us. We had five different pastors before I graduated from college. But only once did we know a change was coming and that was because our previous pastor had died. And I remember waiting for the news of who the new one would be. Because of my involvement with our denomination I knew many of the pastors and had my favorites.
And when the news finally came, I was stunned. Pastor John Dunn was assigned to us and I was very disappointed. He was older. He had a deformed arm. He was short. He was not very dynamic. He would not have been my choice. But he was God's choice for us at that time.
Pastor Dunn was a godly man who loved the people. He visited. He cared and he was very adequate in the pulpit. Under his ministry we grew and we expanded. God worked under his ministry. And he was definitely one of the top three pastors I ever had. I thank God for directing that assignment.
Before he retired, the denomination changed the pulpit procedure giving churches the opportunity to call pastors of their choice. No more do pastors and families have to face a possible sudden move during conference week in October.
No comments:
Post a Comment