Becoming a “John 15” Pastor

Once upon a time I was a faithful subscriber and reader. Then life got busy. Next, I got sick and tried to get an early pass into heaven. Before I knew it a decade had passed without picking up a copy.

With a new job and a new office, a fresh copy landed on my desk. Rushing off to another flight, I threw its glossy pages into my backpack and 30,000 feet somewhere over Eastern Washington, I turned to the opening editorial.

The current trend in magazine production is to—once the reader gets past pages of advertisements—use the opening editorial to tell us what they are going to tell us in the remainder of the magazine . . . sort of like Cliff Notes for those of us who may not get around to reading the whole thing.

The catchy cover had announced to its pastor audience that this issue was about Ministry’s Core: The five most important things you do. The editor’s title restated the theme: The Five Main Things. The editor revealed that careful thought had been put into gathering this list. Their church leadership team had retreated, discussed, decided, wrote and published what they believe to be the essence of ministry.

I read their list with interest: Feed the sheep, Guard the flock, Discern the will of God, Train others, Lead by example. All good. All valid. All necessary. But, as I read, I found myself dissenting.

I read the editorial a second time to make sure I hadn’t missed something. I hadn’t. My reaction ranged from disappointment to disbelief to disgust. I read the article a third time just to triple check.

My angst? How can the leading Christian journal for Christian leaders proclaim to us the five most important things of ministry and leave out prayer?

I think I know the answer. Some of us in Christian leadership feel the constant current that subtly shifts our focus from God Himself to serving Him. In that, I plead chief of sinners. I recognize the magazine staff’s error because I quickly see it as one common to my own story. I see myself in the mirror of the editorial page.

Swimming against the current, I hear the full-of-grace call to come back to the Father, Son and Spirit in relationship. Communion, communication, listening and speaking, leaning into His heart and sharing mine with His, taking up the spiritual armor and taking on the enemy’s attacks, expressing my gratitude, dependence and affection . . . i.e. prayer must stay on the top of my list.

Giving our editor and team the benefit of the doubt, I assume that they assumed that prayer would undergird their “Big 5”. However, having been in dozens of churches in the last year, I’m hard pressed to believe their assumption is accurate. And, in fairness to the magazine, the articles that explained their five points were well written and contained great insight on ministry matters. A few of the articles acknowledged that prayer does have a role in the leadership process. I couldn’t help but note, though, that the magazine skipped right past Acts 1(prayer meeting), Acts 2 (devoting themselves to prayer) and the solid prayer theme of the opening chapters of Acts and jumped right to chapter 15 (a leadership meeting.) The early church was a praying church before they were a decision making church.

I feel a twinge of guilt writing this post. It’s a fine magazine and I don’t want to be a fault finder. I don’t want to malign my intelligent, hard-working co-workers for Christ. I celebrate their calling, gifting and faithfulness. I’m mainly writing to remind myself of Christ’s words, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15).

I desire that what would lead the list of my “main things” is abiding in Christ, dwelling in Christ, walking with the Spirit . . . a lifestyle of prayer.

A team of church elders told me recently that as they begin their search for a new pastor, they were looking for a “John 15 pastor”—one who abides in Christ and whose ministry flows out of this abiding.

I’m not looking to be their pastor, but I do want to be that guy. Consistent, heart-felt, make-sure-I-don’t-do-all-the-talking-but-listen-as-well prayer is fundamental to my abiding relationship. It didn’t lead the magazine’s list, but I want it to lead mine.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. II Corinthians 13:14



John’s Preaching Schedule
Updated November 5, 2012

Nov. 4 Orchard View Alliance, Janesville WA
Nov. 10 Man Up 2012, Christ Community Church, Fort Myers, FL
Nov. 11 (AM) Christ Community Church, Fort Myers, FL
Nov. 11 (PM) Shell Point Village Church, Fort Myers, FL
Nov. 17-18 Centerville Community Church, Centerville, OH
Nov. 25 Jacob’s Well, Chippewa Falls, WI

Dec. 2 Living Hope Community Church, Wenatchee, WA
Dec. 8-9 Salem Alliance Church, Salem, OR
Dec. 15-16 Little Falls C&MA Church, Little Falls, MN
Dec. 29-30 Jacob’s Well, Chippewa Falls, WI