I am Not Being Fed by Doug Talley & Randy Spence

 

At the request of the church board, I (Randy) took someone with me and confronted a woman in the church who had spread a rumor about me.  As you might expect, this woman denied the rumor and developed an attitude towards me.  On one particular Sunday we had a very meaningful time of worship and, judging from what a number of people told me after the service, the sermon was very helpful and moving.  This particular woman came up to me, looked me in the eye and said, "Your messages don't feed me."  

 

Both of us have had people tell us, "Your sermons don't feed me."  We've had people leave the church and tell us that was THE reason.  We've had some tell us a particular sermon was one of the best they'd ever heard only to have someone else tell us it didn't feed them at all.  We know the pain and soul searching those words create for any pastor.  We pour ourselves into the message we believe God wants us to share only to have someone tell us the message had no spiritual or life value to them whatsoever.

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3 Dangers Small Churches Face by Dan Reiland

 

Smaller churches are a different deal altogether.  I served in a small church in Southern California - Lakeside Wesleyan. It was a great experience. It was at Lakeside that I delivered my first sermon. Now there's a scary memory. No one left their faith, (I'm pretty sure), and eventually they did let me "preach" again. I was the Student Pastor and loved every second of it. I love the passion and stretch of a smaller church like Lakeside. They have heart.

I was a full time Private Investigator back then and on staff part time. There was no money. Pastor Richard Lauby went to the Church Board and tried to get a modest stipend but there just wasn't any room in the budget. So the board, starting with Pastor Rich, dug in their own pockets and gave what totaled to be $100 a month for a year. That was a long time ago, and so cool. I will never forget it. Small churches do whatever it takes not just because they have to, but because they want to. They didn't need to do that. I would have done it for free. But they wanted to stretch and start making progress toward their first pastoral staff member after the Pastor and his Administrative Assistant.

 

"This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland's free monthly e-newsletter, "The Pastor's Coach," available at www.INJOY.com."

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