Do you want to be a great pastor for God?
“Don’t quit, don’t fornicate, you will be the only one left and you will be great.”
I was stunned by those words.
Really?
Is that all it takes to be great for God as a pastor?
I heard those words for the first time in my Historical Theology class at Dallas Theological Seminary in 1994 from John Hannah when I was 23 years old as a seminary student studying for the pastorate.
I am now 53 years old and realize how difficult it is and seemingly at times impossible to do these two simple things:
Don’t quit.
Don’t fornicate.
You will be the only one left and, well, you’ll be great.
For some reading this, this statement feels simplistic or is painful. Maybe you have had a moral failure in the ministry, and you have gone through the process of properly being restored, and you are serving God’s people again. If that is the case, please know that this is not about bashing those of you who have quit ministry or had moral failures. I am extremely grateful for those choice servants of the Lord who did the very difficult task of allowing others to dig deep into their hearts and help them be restored to the pastorate or find new avenues for serving the Lord. I wish them nothing but the best and I cheer them on.
This statement is also not about moral superiority. It’s not about how “perfect” you and I can be while serving God’s people. However, it is about men and women who early on in life dedicated their lives to serving the Lord and his people as a pastor or minister by living out the necessary disciplines, principles and commitments to help them do this. Somewhere along the way, in our sincere desire to serve the Lord, we can be tempted to give way to a lesser desire in our flesh that leads to devastating pain, shame and embarrassment.
The statement is a challenge to set out on a journey to live for God our entire lives without quitting or fornicating.
Quitting seems self-explanatory, right? But what does it mean to fornicate? As a pastor there are a couple of ways we can fornicate. We can commit adultery with someone other than our spouse. In Scripture though, fornicating can also carry a spiritual meaning, not just a sexual meaning. It can also connote idolatry. As pastors and ministry leaders, we can commit fornication by not standing up for the truth of God’s Word for God’s people. We can fornicate with the world and its values. God wants us to stay true to his Word. If we stay true to sexual purity and spiritual purity, we will have reached the only greatness that really matters in the end.
But it won’t be easy.
In 1996, my wife and I moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, to start Vanguard Church. Vanguard was one of 34 church plants in Colorado Springs that year. 28 years later, I am the only founding pastor still at the church he started. My professor’s words would tell me I’m great, but my heart tells me I’m average at best.
I had grand dreams of what the church I planted could become. I had grand dreams of who I could be for God. But the church has averaged under 1,000 people every year except one over a decade ago. In fact, one year 23% of the church left in seemingly one week. Thirteen years into this journey I was lost, discontent, deeply wounded, confused, angry, hurt, betrayed and forced to face the reality that I too had created a church with problems. It was not perfect. It did not ring the bell and solve all the dilemmas the modern church is facing.
I’ve learned the pastorate is not primarily about growing a big, unique church, but about growing yourself so you can faithfully, wisely, purely and sincerely shepherd God’s people. Pastors, if you want to be great for God for a lifetime, you must keep growing spiritually yourself. Sounds simple enough, right? But along the way, I have discovered what my teacher already knew: Simple doesn’t always equal easy.
I am just a servant like you. A few years ago, I captured the principles that have anchored me to remain faithful to God in the pastorate in a book I wrote titled The Good Pastor. I invite you to consider it if you want to explore this topic further.
Keep telling the Lord, I will not quit on you Lord. And I will not fornicate in my sexuality or in my sincere responsibility to uphold and teach the truth of God’s Word to others. But remain humble in your pursuit. Brennan Manning said it best: “I am just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”
My favorite prayer to pray after I preach is this: Lord, whatever they have heard from me that is of you, help them never forget it. Whatever is of me, I pray they forget it the moment they walk away.
May you be known by your spouse, your children, your grandchildren and generations to come as one who was great for God. And may you hear one day from the Lord himself, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
Until then, keep being great for God.
