Redefining Pastor, Part 3

This is a series of posts about redefining what being a pastor means, and addresses the ideas and challenges that make us better.  We’ll be taking our time and talking about a lot of ideas.

1.  Active VS Productive

2. “I’ve Heard All That Before…”

3.  Do you HAVE a message, or do you THINK you have one?

Let me go ahead and get this out of the way….I am a former worship leader/Music Director/Music Guy.  Whatever you want to call it, I was in charge of the music, and in many ways, I was in charge of the entire service.  I helped plan the teaching series, picked all the music, put the services in different orders, and handled the teams that produced the services.  I was in charge of everything that made the services happen and successful…  Except the pastor’s sermon.  And how LONG that pastor spoke.

I admit it, I was spoiled.  My first pastor was also a former worship guy and he VOWED to not speak longer than 25 minutes, unless there was a lot of other elements that caused him to speak longer and tie the rigfht amount of bows together, to make the entire service connect.  So, when I got to a church that the pastor spoke for how long he wanted to….I was in shock.  But it got better…

When I addressed my concern to “Dud Pastor,” i was told, “John, I am speaking on kyros, NOT cronos.”  Wait…what?  For those of us who don’t speak Greek, kyros loosely means God’s time, and cronos means man’s time.  So, in other words, Dud Pastor was saying, “I am speaking on God’s time, and YOUR time and YOUR TEAM’S time, and every other PERSON IN CHURCH’S time doesn’t matter…..”  Or at least to THAT pastor.

And now we come to the eternal dilema…how long SHOULD a pastor speak?

And for that, I have no SOLID answer.  When I was at one church in Fayetteville, GA, we had a pastor that was like watching a comedian; he was funny, engaging, and really spoke well.  I could listen to him for hours and not be tired.  Was I changing anything in my life?  No, I was not convicted much, but then again, I was much younger, and very little could change me…until God got a hold of me, and then EVRYTHING CHANGED, but that is another blog post. And I have also sat under pastors on a video blog, and they have wrecked my world in 3 minutes or less.  So what is the answer?

I think is goes back to a wise mentor I had who asked me this question once before I was to speak at my church.  He asked me, “John, do you HAVE a message, or just THINK you have one?”  And I want to unpack that idea and give us all some suggestions.

• Was there the proper amount of time praying for the message?
• Was there the proper amount of research and study done to prepare for that message?
• Was that message put together by one person, or a team of creative people to cultivate the best way to communicate a particular point or idea?
• Could something that was PREACHED be better stated through video, drama, song, dance, or other artistic expression?
• Was there 1 single point throughout, or just a menagerie of ideas that was scattered and unfocused?
• How many times was that message practiced before presented in front of the congregation?
• Could the exact same message be communicated with LESS WORDS?
• Is there a self imposed time limit?  And was that limit communicated to someone who can help hold you accountable?
• If you have a weak message that you are unsure of, are you willing to allow God to move and speak through someone else?

I’m sure that there are several other ideas that you have and I would love to hear them.  Leave me a comment and share them with me!