I looked up on the wall of the office one morning and made a
startling discovery. I have been in the
ministry over thirty years. The date on
my Certificate of License is dated 27th day of February 1983.
Moments earlier, I read an article in the Cooperative Farming News, From Pastor to Pasture: That Must have
Been 20 years Ago! Glenn Crumpler,
author of the article said he heard a family member say of an event, “That must
have been 20 years ago.” He said that
when as a kid he could not imagine how someone could remember something that
happened twenty years earlier.
Ironically, he said that happened 45 years ago. Life is short.
Thirty-one years ago, I would hear preachers say that they
had been in the ministry 20, 25, 30, and 40 years. I remember thinking that is a long time and
that I wish I could be in ministry that long. Well, I is there! That’s not
correct subject-verb relationship, but it is true. Time does fly. Life is only a vapor!
Ministry has made significant changes in the last thirty
years. When I was pastor at Gallion, a
person from the community came to church for the first time in twenty-five
years. After the morning service he told
me that church had changed some much since his last visit. He said he thought he had been to a nightclub
instead of a church. I looked puzzled at
him. He said that the music of the
worship service and the humor in my sermon were like that of a comedy club.
I understand his rationale.
The last Christian youth concert I attended I commented that when I was
a teenager momma did not allow us to attend rock and roll events at school and
now we have them at churches.
Speaking of changes, one night at an Association event,
someone asked if she might make a suggestion.
We are always open to suggestions because as Association Ministry Directors,
Pam, and I would always evaluate our events.
This person suggested to us that we not schedule association events
that interfere with sporting events.
This question happens more often that you might think. One time before, I was scolded by a member of
one of our churches for having an event during Spring Break. Bethel Baptist Association ministered in six
different school districts, which at that time did not observe spring break at
the same time.
Back to the sporting conflict or may I say spiritual conflict. I learned in thirty plus years of ministry as
a pastor, that any event the church schedules conflicts with some activity
outside the church. I assured the
questioner that we do our best to dodge as many possible conflicts as we can. We would never have any ministry events if we
tried to dodge conflicts.
My concern here is when did a sporting exercise for a child
take precedence over spiritual training?
A majority of student athletes will never use their sporting exercises
in the professional arena, yet most parents spend more money and time at the
ball field than in studies and time for God.
When did our communities become consumed with sports and
recreation? I played football, baseball,
basketball, and volleyball while growing up.
My dad loved sports and enjoying watching my brothers and me play
ball. Dad taught us that it was a game
and that work and chores around home and school came before sports. Sports were extracurricular events.
I have walked home, around seven miles, after practice to
slop pigs and load firewood many times.
I have missed games because dad and mom were at work and I did not have
a way to go.
Coaches, schools, and clubs would never allow practice or
games to interfere with church events.
Coaches would always allow players to leave early if there was a revival
or church event that an athlete needed to attend. This is not the case today.
The issue at the association event was not with the
interference with the athlete playing an event, but with priorities. I am burdened that parents do not see spiritual
development as more essential than worldly development. I want to weep when I see dads taking their
boys hunting or fishing instead of to worship on Sundays. My dad was a lost man, but he prohibited us
to go hunting or fishing on Sundays. Dad
taught priorities.
Before I became a pastor, I volunteered to attend an
association brotherhood training event.
The event was on a holiday, but because I worked rotation at the cement
plant, I was not off and was scheduled
My
Association Ministry Directors, Pam, and I had a yearly
planning day where we try to avoid conflict.
We publish this calendar as early as possible where Church Executive Lay
Members can share them with their churches.
Conflict is inevitable, commitment is inconvenient, and choice is a
matter of priorities.
Not long ago someone inquired of my commitment. I quoted sports writer and poet, Grantland
Rice’s poem “Alumnus Football”:
For when the one great Scorer comes
To mark against your name,
He writes -not that you won or lost-
But how you played the game.
For I know whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day (II Timothy 1:12b KJV).
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