Pastor John

I was down at the local Starbucks the other day and ran into Ryan, a guy I met briefly at the church I’ve been attending for the last couple of months or so. I was glad to see him because on Sunday he mentioned he was one of the elders. I was looking to get involved in something at the church, and I was hoping I could talk to him about various ministry opportunities. Who better to talk to than one of the leaders?

“Hey, Ryan,” I said. “How are you doing?” He looked up at me with a puzzled look on his face. “Do I know you?” he asked. “Um…yeah. Name’s Chuck, remember? I’ve been coming to the church for a while now. We were talking on Sunday.” “Oh, yeah, now I remember you. Hey listen, if you’re not sitting anywhere, grab a seat.”

I sat down next to him and, after a few minutes of small talk, said, “Hey Ryan, can I ask you a question?” “Sure, fire away,” he replied. “Well, I’ve been coming to the church for a couple of months now,” I said. “I know you just hired Pastor John a while ago, and I was thinking about getting involved in some kinds of ministry. You know, help the guy out or something.” “Hmmm. Interesting thought. So what kinds of stuff were you thinking about getting involved in?”

“I’m a bookkeeper by trade,” I said. “Do you think the church could use some help with keeping the books?” “No,” he said. “See, Pastor John takes care of balancing all the books and writing all the checks for bills and stuff. Got him a used computer too, and of course, took it out of his paycheck.” I thought for a minute. “Well, I’m pretty handy with a hammer,” I said. “I could do some of the repairs around the building. Maybe I could mow the lawn? Or help clean the building?” “Nah, we’ve got all that covered,” he replied. “Pastor John mows the lawn on Sundays after the service, and cleans the building every Saturday night. In fact, we even bought him a new lawnmower and a new vacuum cleaner when he came on board. Of course, we did take ‘em out of his paycheck.” “What about tools?” I asked. “I’ve got a lot of tools he could borrow…” “Nope,” he interrupted. “One of the things on his job description was for him to bring his own tools for use on the building. He’s OK for tools.”

I took a sip of coffee. “What about teaching?” I asked. “I did a couple years of Bible College. I could teach a Sunday School class, or a home group.” “Let me think about that,” he said reflectively. “Actually, right now there’s really no need for teachers. You see, Pastor John and his wife teach the Sunday School classes before the service, and then during the week he leads the three home groups we’ve got—let’s see, that’d be Monday, Tuesday, and Friday nights—so you can see, we don’t need any teachers right now.”

“I’ve got it,” I said. “How about the youth group? I’m pretty good with teens—maybe I could help out there or something.” “Nope,” he replied. “Pastor John and his wife lead the teens group on Thursday nights, and they organize all the outings and stuff, you know, drive the van and all that, so I don’t really think they need your help.” “Hey—maybe I could work on the van,” I said. “What happens if it breaks down? What about oil changes and stuff?” “Thanks for the offer, Chuck, but there again, we cleared a nice little spot out back of the building for Pastor John to work on the van when it breaks down. Just to help him out, we even bought him a set of wrenches the other day! ‘Course we took it out of his paycheck, but at least now he doesn’t have to keep borrowing tools from people anymore. I swear that van has never run so good. Sure nice to have a van, too, so Pastor John can take some of the senior citizens around to doctors’ appointments and shopping during the week.”

"How about music?"I asked. "I play a pretty mean guitar. I used to lead worship now and then at my former church. I could step in..." He interrupted once again. "Sorry, Chuck, I'm sure you're a good guitar player, but you see, Pastor John and his wife handle all the worship. See, we got us a two-for-one deal there! She plays piano, and he leads the singing. And the best part is, we only have to pay him! Of course, for her, it's all about the ministry. We specified on his job description that his wife would lead several 'unpaid' ministries as part of her duties here. Got to set a good example to the other wives, you know!"

I sat back and thought for a bit. What other services could I offer? Then it hit me. “How about visitation? I don’t really mind going to hospitals, or nursing homes, or whatever. Maybe I could do something like that.” He thought for a second, then said, “Well, there again, Pastor John takes care of visitation. Part of his job description, you know.” “What about evangelism?” I asked. “I don’t really mind going door to door, you know, sort of cold-calling.” “Hmm. Well, you see, Chuck, if you did that, you’d be taking away from some of Pastor John’s weekly duties—how he earns his paycheck! Remember, we hired him to grow the church, so he goes out door-to-door every Saturday afternoon.”

I had one last thought. “What about preaching?” I asked. “At my last church, they let me preach a couple times a year. Maybe I could bring a word here and there…” At that he looked positively indignant. “Now listen here, Chuck,” he retorted. “I’ve enjoyed this little talk we’ve had, but now it’s getting out of hand. One of the main reasons we hired Pastor John was to preach the Word every Sunday and Wednesday night. He's our leader, Chuck, a positive example of a man with a true servant's heart. What are you trying to do, take away the man’s livelihood?”

“No, of course not,” I said. I tried to put in a little sarcasm when I said, “Well, maybe all I can do at this church is come every Sunday, sit in the pew, put my tithe in the plate, listen to the sermon, then go home at the end of the service.” I think he missed the point, because he sat back with a pleased smile, and said, “You know, I do believe Pastor John would be real happy to hear you say that. God bless you Chuck, now you’re finally starting to make sense!”