Groovin'

I'm about five weeks into my new job as the Senior Pastor at Pandora Missionary Church. For those who are curious, here's what I've worked on and learned so far.

First, it took until right about now to finally start finding my groove in the day-to-day office stuff. Bigger church, more people, more programs, more responsibility, etc. equals more daily administrative tasks to be completed, more strategic planning to be done, more meetings and conversations and visitations to attend to, and more vision to be casted for the future direction of the church. In short, there's just more stuff to do and more stuff to keep track of.

Fortunately, I am surrounded by a great team of people, including our church secretary, youth pastor, and the elder board, among others. These folks have been patient and gracious, and have also begun to catch a vision for the future and are starting to run with it.

There is also the technology factor.

At my previous church we had no video screens, no PowerPoint, no expensive sound system, etc. Although my wife and I attended a church with all those things before I became a pastor, I never had to utilize those tools during our worship services or in the life of our church because they weren't available.

While I've still got a long way to go, finding relevant video clips, putting together PowerPoint, and using the great technological capabilities we have is coming easier. We are even discussing podcasting Sunday's sermons on our website in the near future. All of this is new and exciting to me. From my perspective, the sky is the limit!

Another significant change for me is actually coming to the office every day. For nearly two years at my last church I did most of my work from home in my private study. I had an office at the church, but because we lived far away and nothing much was ever going on, I did almost all of my work from home and came to the church only once or twice a week.

Now I do all my work from the church office, and it was a bit of an adjustment. For example, I'm still missing my comfortable, old reading chair that was tucked away in one corner of my private home study. I suppose I could put it in here at the church, but it just wouldn't look right with the other decor.

Coming to "the office" every day also has certain psychological affects. There is a bit more of a professional feel. I like that, it is just different, and it took a few weeks to adjust.

On the other hand, as Eugene Peterson has wisely written, if we as pastors come into a room we call "the office" often enough, we will eventually start doing "office work," rather than attending to the primary practices of prayer, Scripture, study, and being with people that pastors are called to. I recognized early on in my time here that I would have to guard against that.

Thankfully, the sign outside my door says, "Pastor's Study," not "Pastor's Office." But I have caught myself time and again saying that I'm going to the office or I'm going to work. One might argue that it's just semantics. But I would say, with Peterson, that semantics can often make all the difference in the world. I'm reminded of John Piper's book, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, in which he urges pastors did give up their corporate, CEO model of doing things and return to the vocation of pastor rather than be ministerial business professionals.

I've also been thinking a lot about communication. Preaching in this venue is completely different than in my last church. The transition has went very well, but I've still got a long way to go. I need to do a better job of reaching people at their emotional, "felt needs" level as well as their will, rather than just hitting their intellect. This comes from all kinds of things, including the use of humor, stories, and my movements and gestures on the platform.

Because I love to study, targeting the intellect comes easily and naturally. It takes a lot more time and effort to think through how to reach people at the level of their emotions and their will. And I think, as one wise mentor taught me, that a good sermon should hit all three if possible. Many times I've said to my wife, "I have great content, but no sermon." It's a learning process, one that will (hopefully) be ongoing for the rest of my life, since I don't think we ever fully "arrive."

Thankfully we have a great guy who video records our services every week (it's part of one of our ministries) and gives me a copy so that I can critique myself. That has been invaluable.

Finally, there is an element of just getting comfortable with who I am as a child of God and a pastor. I've come a long way from when I first entered the pastorate almost three years ago. Then I had no clue about any of those things. Now, while I'm still learning and developing (and hopefully always will be!), I'm quite a bit more comfortable with myself and my role as the Senior Pastor.

It is a role I do not take lightly and I am often still amazed that God has called me to this incredible vocation. But there is also an overwhelming sense that this is what I was born to do.

The work is not easy. There are often times long hours, long days, crises, and difficult situations and people to deal with.

But I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. And I praise the Lord for the opportunity to serve Him and His people.