She was a well-dressed middle-aged woman. She arrived early at one of
my first services as senior pastor of Gages Lake Bible Church.
Immediately my "new person" radar went up. All pastors have this sixth
sense, but for young, first-time, small church pastors it is always at
the highest levels of alert.
I walked up to her and briefly chatted before the service
began. I learned that she had driven a great distance and had listened
to a few of my sermons online before deciding to check us out.
After the service I purposely singled out the new lady (we'll call
her Rose). Rose was overflowing with compliments. "Wow! I haven't heard
preaching like that in a long time. You're a breath of fresh air in this
community." I offered some preacher speak like, "No, it's all God."
But inside my heart was dancing the two-step. Rose's flattery seemed a
balm to my restless soul. Pastoring was new to me, and I was pretty
insecure about my preaching. I had yet to find my voice. Here was a
seasoned believer whose opinion mattered to me. She'd probably been
attending church longer than I'd been alive.
The flattery continued. "You're the only church in this area that preaches the true gospel
message." I was pretty sure this wasn't at all true, but I let that go.
Why spoil a good thing? Maybe every other evangelical pastor in town
embraced a full-throated heterodoxy. I had yet to develop relationships
with any other local pastors, so her assessment seemed as good as any. Keep Reading >>>
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