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January 30, 2008

 

 

 



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In this Edition:
Video: Bill McClendon
To the Point
Editorial: Neither as Good nor as Bad
Pastor: Tim Garrison, SoCal
Resources & Ideas
Calendar of Events
To the Point:

If you put tomfoolery into a computer, nothing comes out of it but tomfoolery. But this tomfoolery, having passed through a very expensive machine, is somehow ennobled and no one dares criticize it.
  - Pierre Gallois

We are here on Earth to do good to others. What the others are here for, I don't know.
  - WH Auden

Household tasks are easier and quicker when they are done by somebody else.
  - James Thorpe

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
  - Dorothy Nevill

If your parents never had children, chances are you won't, either.
  - Dick Cavett

The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made.
  - Jean Giraudoux

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
  - Samuel Johnson

On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.
  - George Orwell

Got a favorite quote? Send it to [email protected]
Thinking Aloud:
Neither as Good, nor as Bad
by Loren Seibold, Best Practices Editor

"I don't read the reviews. I don't believe it when they say how incredible my work is. I don't believe it when they say how bad it is." - Woody Allen

I know you've had this happen to you: the reaction after a church service is so warm, so appreciative. People say, "Wow, pastor, what an amazing sermon." Or perhaps you learn through the grapevine some wonderful thing a church member has said about you. Your hat gets a little tighter. You may not put it into words, but your heart is muttering, "I really must be fantastic. I'm on my way to greatness!"

You've had this happen, too: you hear from someone, who heard from someone, that a few church members are telling others you're an utterly terrible pastor, who is taking the church straight to hell. The message on Sabbath led people astray. You are a heretic, or for any of a number of reasons you're unsuited to pastor a church. It may come in the form of a critical letter, sent via the conference president. More rarely (because critics have a natural aversion to the procedures of Matthew 18) you may be spoken to directly by someone who believes you failed her elderly mother when she was sick, or weren't friendly enough in the rush-around before or after church. I confess to spells of discouragement after hearing such criticisms, and have even mentally composed a few resignation letters!

Here is the lesson for the week: you are neither as great as your passionate supporters say you are, nor as bad as your angry critics think you are.

You are, when it comes down to it, a fairly ordinary person--pretty close to whom your spouse and children know you to be--no matter what your admirers say. Pastors who believe their own best press get overconfident, and get into trouble. (I'm sure you can think of examples.)

But neither do you deserve abusive attacks. Pastors are prime targets for church members' transferred anger about family, about the church, about God, about their own inadequacies. A rule of thumb: when the emotional reaction is out of proportion to the offense, it's probably not about you--even when you get the blame.

The goal is a true and useful self-image: one that doesn't crush us under the disdain of others, or leave us unreflectively conceited. Robert Burns wrote, "Would some power the gift give us, to see ourselves as others see us"--impossible, without Divine help.

Thoughts on a pastor's self-image? Write [email protected].

Tim GarrisonPastoral Practices:
Tim Garrison, Moorpark, CA

Sometimes one word makes all the difference

I welcomed Joan and her husband Ron and their three kids to our annual Christmas Concert.  They were among a record number of families attending the concert for the first time. We have held an annual Christmas and Easter Concert since we began our church plant in Moorpark, California five years ago.

Yet it is only in the last two years that we have seen record numbers of new families attend.
 
What made the difference? One word in our direct mail advertising:  "Community." Instead of just, "Christmas/Easter Choral and Chamber Orchestra Concert," we started using, "Moorpark Community Christmas/Easter Choral and Chamber Orchestra Concert." 
 
According to feedback from those new families, including several that continue to attend or weekly services, the word community opened the event to everyone and made it seem to be more than just an exclusive church program. 
 
Tim Garrison is pastor of the
Moorpark Community Church in Southern California Conference.  His blog is called "The View from My Bench".


Resources, Reflections, Links and Ideas
by Best Practices Editor, Loren Seibold

Got a tool, resource, site, article, idea or seminar that you like a lot? Share it with us at [email protected].
NAD Events
Do you have an SDA-sponsored event that you'd like to invite NAD pastors to? Tell us about it at [email protected].
NAD Church RESOURCE Center
Best Practices is an e-publication of Vervent
NAD CHURCH RESOURCE CENTER
Editor: Loren Seibold
Senior Pastor, Worthington Ohio Seventh-day Adventist Church