John Markum

Pastors: Honor and Respect

“A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house.” Matthew 13:57

There is a distinct difference between respect and honor. Respect is earned, but honor is freely given. I honor the leadership of our country, though many of those in government make choices I oppose. I respect the ones who stand for morality over popularity. Regardless, their position demands my honor. I want to show honor to every man and woman in ministry. Many of them I know well, and they’ve earned my respect. Many of them I know well and they have not earned my respect. But I still must show them honor so long as they hold that anointed position. I find that the more I freely show honor to those in authority over me, the more I find to respect them for.

Our church is lead by 8 pastoral staff members. Have you ever tried getting 8 preachers/church leaders to agree on how something should be done?!? We can’t even agree on where to go out to eat together after staff meetings some days! It’s been said, “In essentials – unity. In non-essentials – forbearance. In everything – love.” Sometimes opinions are very strong. But as we maintain a posture of honor toward the calling that God has placed on each of us, we realize that God leads each of us differently. And the more we choose to honor one another above ourselves, the more clear God seems to direct us.  The church works more effectively when the whole body of Christ is moving in the same direction.

If your church seems dysfunctional, try cultivating a culture of honor in your church. Decide that you won’t trash-talk the pastor’s decisions to others in the church. And confront those who do, to deal with the pastor honorably if they have a problem. Listen to the preaching and open yourself up to the possibility that God wants to speak to you through the message of your pastor. Act on that message as you open yourself up to what God wants to do.

If you are an associate pastor and don’t see eye-to-eye with the lead pastor, honor him anyway. This is not the same as agreeing with him when you don’t. Don’t be fake! Just remember that when you disagree with your senior pastor that God put him there – flaws and all. One day, it will come back to you. You’ll be in that position and some young, headstrong, 25 year old pastor who thinks he’s figured it all out will be working for you. How would you like him to follow your leadership even when he disagrees? Maybe that would be a good place to start seeing your pastor now.

And know that, for my part, regardless of whether you are the senior pastor of your church, youth pastor, worship pastor, associate pastor, lay pastor, full time, bi-vocational, or otherwise – I am humbled by your willingness to answer the calling of full time ministry. I know your calling has it’s high and low moments, but be faithful to the calling of God on your life. Endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Do not be weary in well doing. We stand to see many lives changed for the glory of God. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. And the people God has called you to minister to are the most worthwhile. I honor you, and stand with you.

Blessings,

John

Fighting the wrong battles

I was once told by another pastor (whom I had previously never met) that I would be the downfall of the Baptist Bible Fellowship. Why? Because he and I did not agree on secondary issues like Bible translations, music styles, and church labels. We had just discussed all the things that made us “Baptist” all of which we agreed on to the most minute detail. But the way he treated me, you would have thought I denied the resurrected Jesus! He didn’t care about me. He had a personal agenda, other than the kingdom of God. Instead of taking an opportunity to speak life, he stereotyped me as “young and rebellious” without knowing anything about me, or wanting to know.

The longer I’m in ministry, and the more God increases my influence for Him, the more people I inevitably come in contact with, some of which won’t know my heart, or care to know. I was challenged once on how to deal with these situations by this statement: “Refuse to fight battles where there are no spoils.” I got it… Because I have wasted far too much of my time, effort, and good temperament trying to argue my way through a battle that would result in no gain even if there was a way to win it. Even Jesus had critics and people whom He would never convince. Notice how little time He spent trying to deal with them!  Almost all of His time was spent on the people who would receive His words.

I am blessed to be a part of a great church family that responds to the message of that Word every week with faithfulness. Most of those who follow the blog are either the same way, or curious about this Christian walk. However, I’ve found that in life, ministry, and certainly the internet, that the more exposure you have, the more people you’ll meet that like to pick fights. I fought many philosophical and theological battles in 6+ years of ministry and have had to learn some important lessons the hard way. You’ll never change some people’s mind. Whether they are attacking you to try to prove you wrong, voice an opinion, push their own agenda, or just cut you down – some people will always misjudge you. I’m not talking about a brother or sister in Christ who approaches you to express their concern over a choice that you’re making. That’s just biblical confrontation and you should consider their concerns carefully before outright rejecting it. I’m talking more about the type who probably don’t even know you – or care to know you – but make broad assumptions and accusations about your character or motives. And while pastors can sometimes attract these type of critics, you don’t have to be in ministry to know what I’m talking about.

Don’t get all worked up when someone who has no love toward you treats you poorly, calls you names, or judges your heart. You and I will not answer to them. Live your life as God would have you, and hold yourself accountable to people who truly have your best interest at heart, and are following the Lord. There will always be haters. You and I can waste our time and good mood trying to correct them, or we can do good where it can really count. Let the haters hate on. But let us decide to be known by our love for one another and not give in to stooping to their level. You can’t throw mud without getting covered in it yourself.

Blessings,

John

Your ministry has gas!

If you’ve ever ran out of gas while driving, you know how much it sucks! And being gas-less is indiscriminate. It does not matter if your car is an outdated, broke-down clunker or a brand new, fresh-off-the-line sports car…  if you don’t have gas, your stuck.

Prayer is the gas in your ministry’s tank. Too many of us pastors get so busy in ministry that we neglect to fill it’s tank. It would be the equivalent of spending all your time under the hood, getting greasy working on the engine, changing the plugs, adding a booming stereo, or giving it chrome rims but forgetting to fill the tank. It doesn’t matter how good your ministry looks, or how mechanically sound it is, if you don’t have prayer your ministry won’t run far.

Of course you could push the car. But nobody willingly does this. It would be insane to exert the energy of pushing your car past the gas station, insisting that you’ve got everything under control. But doing ministry without consistent prayer is equally insane. Sure you can do it for a while, but why? It’s stupid, exhausting, and short-lived at best. Your ministry was never intended to run without prayer just like your car was never meant to run without fuel. Your strength to push a car is irrelevant compared to the power of gas. And your power to maintain ministry apart from a consistent prayer life is irrelevant and insulting to the God who called you.

If you’re getting burned-out because you’ve been bearing the responsibility of ministry without the resource of prayer, imagine how much faster, and how much farther you’ll get when you stop trying to “push” your ministry in your own strength, and pray for Jesus to do what He promised He would do – build His church. When we commit our ministries to the power of prayer, God rewards us with supernatural resources to deliver our message compellingly, gain influence, lead people, and overcome obstacles. It’s sounds so basic… it is. So is filling up your car. Don’t neglect the critical just because it’s basic. The growth of your youth ministry, small group, church plant, etc. depends more on your prayer than it does your next slick illustration or cool activity.

And this principle is true regardless of whether God has called you to preach or run a business. The fulfillment of your calling depends on prayer.

John Markum

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