Acts20.com

I do not know when COG pastors started using the “Resume’” and preached ‘try-out- sermons. But the two churches we call home church, are seeking new pastors. One in NC and the other in Florida. We visited NC just before Christmas and I asked who was being presented to the church and ‘No one could tell me, it is a secret??????? WHAT? I was told that is the way the overseer wants it. I asked about one name and was told since I brought it up, ‘yes that name was presented,’ but that does not mean he will ‘try-out’.We returned to the church in Florida and was told by the greeter that we did not have a pastor. (we hadn't been gone over 2 weeks) He had announced one Sunday and was gone the next week. He pastors Live Oak now. I enjoyed his ministry and I could hear him. Imma gonna miss him. Who is coming here? No one knows, it is a secret. Two ‘unnamed wonderful men’ will try out on the 7th and 14th of January.Odd that is the same dates at our church in NC.The Clerk did tell me we could vote in NC via e-mail as absentee, I am happy about that!We are not members in FL, so we will not be voting there. But I am thinking of a write in crusade and use all the dead and dying members e-mails to vote@!Is the secrecy standard now? I know it wasn’t 11 years ago. Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

If you're going to write it in, it is spelled OTCP. Me an momma will commence packin...............

Cojak...

If there's one thing I've learned, it is that as soon as a new pastor has to be selected, it is often the case that some of the finest members of a church will become some of the most carnal! If they know the name(s) of those pastors who will be presented, well, if they don't prefer them, you can be sure that a campaign will be launched to let everyone else know why NOT to vote for them.And if there is a person they DO prefer, they will talk that person up, up, up. Now, if you are the candidate that wins the vote (and if the overseer decides to go with the vote, as they usually do), and if it also happened to be God's will (I think that at least in some cases, it is not God's will), then all is well. But if you got voted down because someone made it their mission to either talk you down or get behind someone else...not so good.We all like to know who is coming, but I have seen people that almost never attend church suddenly come out of the woodwork when a new pastor is on the horizon. Thus, these unfaithful ones can often drive the vote.

When it comes to calling a pastor there is a old saying that goes something like, he who calls you god today will call you devil tomorrow. Or as the writer an old book called Well-intentioned Dragons wrote, look out for those who are there to help you unload the truck and who tell you how badly the church needed a pastoral change - they will be the first to turn on you.

Okay, I see you preachers are ganging up on me! hahahahahahaSomeone could at least whisper to me It is brother so and so, he stinks, and then say but don't tell anyone.!!!!!Okay I do know both Aaron and Mat have good points, but it doesn't keep me from being upset.............Aaron, 'dog and pony show.?' HA! I haven't heard that since I left the military. In the 'olden days,' we had a very successful pastor in North Carolina, Ray Collins. He always, without exception, grew a large church. He was asked to Preach at the NC Camp Meeting once years ago. He stood up behind the pulpit, took a minute to look over the huge congregation, then said. They tell me that if you are asked to preach at this Camp Meeting and want a larger church yourself, that sermon had better be a sermon that WORKS. he paused for just a few seconds and continue, This one is slicker than a rat's tail! If Ray was anything, he was honest and was loved.That said, some members are impressed by a showman or wordsmith and the 'show sermon' is probably just that. How could I blame a pastor for that? I cannot, the administration has put him in that position of course he wants to do the best he can if he wants to pastor these peopleIs there a better way?I admired the last overseer. He lined up the candidates (4) on the rostrum. Each one had three minutes to give an introduction. Then a roving microphone went thru the congregation for questions for any or all candidates. It was pretty long, but the congregation didn't seem to mind. I had never seen that before, but we did get a good pastor out of it and he has been there 11 years. He is retiring this year. (I am sure in hindsight that pastor was also the one the Overseer preferred. He did get the vote Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

I suppose that the truth is that if a pastor is wanting to move, and he is given the opportunity to try out for a church, it would be unreasonable to expect him to want to bring anything but his best game.I heard that term dog-and-pony-show as a teacher. The principal would let us know that he was coming to our class on such-and-such a date, would be checking out our lesson plans, teaching ability, classroom management, etc. OF COURSE us teachers did our best to do our best on that day of all days! In fact, we could sometimes even tell the principal what period we wanted him/her to visit (they were giving us every chance to shine). Of course, we picked the best behaved classes for the most part.Sometimes a pastor gets chosen because the church is tired of the process. That is, they've already had several try out, but none of them particularly impressed them, so they just took the next guy. Oddly enough, one of the best pastors I ever served under came late to the show. I wouldn't doubt that part of the reason he got the vote was we just wanted to get the matter settled. But we soon found that we had chosen one of the most diligent, thoughtful, and sincere men of God to be our pastor (along with his great family). I have no doubt that God was looking out for our church, even though we might have voted based on weariness, God helped us choose a real winner. But like I said, the most saintly of members often becomes terribly carnal when it comes time to select a pastor. We may SAY that we all need to just pray about it...but folks like to make sure that you KNOW who to vote for (or not to vote for). I think it is fine to share your feelings, but too often it seems like it is more about convincing others to make the selection we want made. I think that sometime our selection is based more on Hey, I know this guy or Hey, I know that other guy isn't a good fit, etc., instead of a word from the Lord.Sometimes I wish that overseers would just appoint the next pastor. But the problem is that overseers seldom have a word from the Lord about who to send where. I believe that our overseers are well-intentioned and love the Lord, but if they know a good pastor who happens to be a friend, etc., it's hard to NOT choose him over someone they don't know at all. In other words, members or overseers, we are all likely just trying to do the best we know to do.

And this is why I appreciated it when as the clerk my former SO who is now one of the 18 told me to prepare two lists of names before he came to take the vote for a new pastor. One List was of members who either hadn’t attended faithfully or hadn’t tithed faithfully. The other list contained the names of members who were faithful in both attendance and tithing. While everyone was allowed to vote, guess whose votes actually got counted “Hell will be filled with people that didn’t cuss, didn’t drink, and may even have been baptized. Why? Because none of those things makes someone a Christian.”

And this is why I appreciated it when as the clerk my former SO who is now one of the 18 told me to prepare two lists of names before he came to take the vote for a new pastor. One List was of members who either hadn’t attended faithfully or hadn’t tithed faithfully. The other list contained the names of members who were faithful in both attendance and tithing. While everyone was allowed to vote, guess whose votes actually got counted? That's a smart man, right there.I heard that D.A. Biggs, former overseer of Florida, said something smart about the selection process. He said that no matter what decision he made, there would be people who liked him for it...and didn't like him for it. While I have never served under a bad pastor (thank the Lord!), I have heard tales of some who have. But I am still convinced that at least 70-80% of the time, an appropriate pastor is selected. Whether he comes in by the vote of the people or that appointment of the overseer, I think that statistic is a very good one.

This is one of the issues I have with centralized government. The pastoral appointment process is inconsistent. I honestly don’t have a solution so I’m reluctant to be too critical without offering an alternative. I know there are exceptions, but generally speaking, I’m in favor of the local church being heavily involved in the selection process. They are the ones who are going to have to live with the long-term consequences of the pastoral appointment.