How I Became a Pastor (Part 1)

Yes, I’m now a pastor. I still shake my head at how the whole thing came about. 

For a couple of years now, a group of men (myself included) have met at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Wednesday mornings for prayer.  Last April, one of the elders told us of an interesting development from the previous evening’s prayer meeting. A few men from Little Brown Chapel, a small church up in Wickersham (about a half-hour’s drive away), had come to Emmanuel to ask if they knew if someone who would be willing to preach for them (and maybe become their next pastor), since their pastor was stepping down in June.

During our half-hour of prayer time, several men prayed that God would raise up someone to bring God’s word to this small flock.  I, on the other hand, was stunned into speechlessness. The moment that Bruce told us of the need, I knew.  I knew that this was God’s will. I knew that I was going to preach for these people. I knew that I was going to become their next pastor.

When the prayer time was over, three different men separately told me, “You need to look into this, John. This sounds like a good fit for you.”

(At this point, I have to back up for a minute. I’ve always loved preaching and teaching, but for about 6 months prior, I had felt God stirring my heart toward pastoral ministry. I knew that this was impossible – there was just no way it could happen with my current life situation.  But the longing was there, and it was growing.)

I went home and told my wife about it, sure that she would be totally against the idea. And who could blame her? Leave our comfortable church of 600+ with a terrific children’s ministry and top-notch preaching for a congregation of 20?  Plus, Naomi (a missionary/pastor’s kid herself) had made it clear that she could handle anything but being a pastor’s wife.

“I think you should call Christian and follow up on this,” Naomi told me.

So I sent Christian Smith, my pastor at Emmanuel, the following email:

Hi Christian -

This morning at prayer group, Bruce shared with us about the visit to the elder’s meeting from the Wickersham church who are looking for someone to preach. I don’t put much stock in inner promptings, but I immediately felt prompted to volunteer to help this congregation out if the need hasn’t been filled already. I don’t know if this is a good fit (as my pastor, you can perhaps judge that better than I), but I’d be remiss if I didn’t reach out to investigate the possibility.

- John

Three minutes later, I got an email back from Christian, which began like this:

Wonderful! I had you in mind too!

The next day, I got a call from Ray, who heads up the elder board at Little Brown Chapel, and I was all set to start preaching on June 12, and to continue through June and July, at which point “we’d see how’s it’s going.”  (In other words, this was a trial run – kind of like 7 weeks of candidating!)

Oh, and since their departing pastor was going to be out of town on May 15, would I be willing to preach that day too?

(Stay tuned for part 2!)

August 16 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments »