The Requirments for the Preacher Are Unlike Any Others

Recently, my colleagues and I was having a conversation concerning perception vs. reality and how the decisions we make in our personal lives has a tremendous impact on membership, church growth, our reputation and our future.  There were a few scenarios that were discussed.  One was if a preacher whose wife dies and he wants to remarry.  What impact will that have on the church.  Who will be upset?  Who will leave the congregation?  Who thinks they should have had a  say so in the choosing?

Another scenario we discussed is if a Pastor gets a divorce.  How soon does he have to wait to begin his life again.  What impact will it have on the church if he remarried?  Can he remarry someone who belongs to his congregation or does he have to go outside the congregation.  How old does she have to be?  Can she be younger?

The third scenario was if a preacher speaks transparently to the membership speaking about struggles with sin or issues that the membership many times will automatically assume he is having sex issues or drug issues.  These issues may be the furthest thing from his mind, but yet he can't run the risk of opening that "Pandora box."  Sometimes the preacher is so guarded because if he is transparent he would  be seen as unholy or defiled, when he really is just being human.

The point that I'm making is that in no other field does the CEO or President have to be held to the same accountability than the preacher.  We run the risk of loosing membership, stability of the church, personal income, our reputations and more.  The calling of being a preacher/pastor is one of so much responsibility, unlike no other.

And the Dream Lives On (I was honored to be interviewed on this piece)

The Inner Struggle

To know that you have victory but to feel defeated is the encounter between our spirit and our flesh.  To know that all things work together for the good of them who are called according to His purpose even while you are in the pit, or the prison takes much spiritual maturity.

My dad teaches that this inner struggle is liken to a story of a young boy seeing the owner of two big dogs who were constantly barking and growling at each other.  The young boy asked the dog owner, "Sir, which dog will win if you allowed them to get at each other./"  The owner smiled and responded, 'Whichever one I feed the most."

So is it with the war between our flesh and our faith.  Whichever one we feed the most will become the victor over our life.

The Pain In The Process

The path of effective ministry is one that I would not wish on my worst enemy.  A heard a builder tell me that the deeper the whole in the ground the higher the building.  That seemingly is how preparation for effective ministry is.  You must experience hardship, trials and tribulations that cause a shake in your foundation.  You are humbled and reduced to almost nothing.  And through all of this, you still have to trust and depend on God.

He's taking you somewhere.  You will have to go through the fire in order to be shaped and created into the form that He wants you to be.  Gold, clay, steel and many more valuable resources must go through fire, and heat to become the finished project.  We must trust the process and know that it is all worth it.  If we suffer with Him, we will reign with Him.

Racism

Racism=preference+power

My Answer To Police Brutality and Murder

1. Develop a nation-wide mechanism that partners with preachers, social workers, attorneys and activist in major cities.  These partners shall be called when a shooting/beating takes place and will serve the community.

2.  A nation-wide call center is created that keeps track of police wrong-doings.  Begin to develop systems of investigations, data, reports, patterns, etc.

3.  Begin to build cases on the systemic issues as well as report on the most racist driven police departments found from the call center investigations.

Apartheid

Is the State of Israel's government acting in apartheid?

a·part·heid

əˈpärtˌ(h)āt,əˈpärtˌ(h)īt/

noun

historical

noun: apartheid

1. a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race.

   • segregation on grounds other than race.