"Are you a rebellious, lazy, non-Bible reading, come to church to 'Be Fed,' luke-warm, 'Wanna-Be' Christian?"

I am currently taking a class at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary called "Christian Ethics Today." In this class the question has come up as to the liesure time of pastors and is it ok for a "Pastor" to play golf or go fishing or whatever and if so how often should this be allowed?

Here is my response. I thought you may enjoy this, especially if you know me and my passion for understanding "TRUE LEADERSHIP."

To start off, a student responded to one of my posts on the Seminary Blackboard email sight by agreeing with me that pastors should be encouraged to have a hobby and take time to relax. But my concern was with his definition of a Pastor and the role of a Pastor.

So, here is my response:

Thank you for concurring with me. However, I do see a danger in your definition of Pastor. It's not that you are wrong, especially considering the modern use of the word Pastor. The problem is mostly in the expectations of the role of the Pastor.

If a pastor is to "escape in a boat to the middle of the lake," then the pastor is also going to have to know his or her true role and so is the congregation. In John 21:15-17 we read the story of Jesus telling Peter to "feed His sheep." It is true that Jesus uses words that elude to feeding, but they don’t actually mean feed in the way you and I in the church assume the word implies. For instance, in verse 15 the NIV records Jesus as saying “Feed my Sheep.” A more accurate translation would be “Graze my lambskins.” Graze doesn’t mean feed as much as it means allow eating.

The shepherd didn’t feed sheep in Jesus day any more than they do today; sheep are led to pasture in order to feed themselves. The shepherd is more like a maître d' who guides the customer to a table and a lot less like a mother holding a bottle in her baby's mouth.

The second thing is that in verse 16 Jesus doesn’t say “Graze my lambskins.” Instead he says, “Shepherd my sheep.” The word used for shepherd is translated in the NIV as “take care of.” You have to ask, how does a shepherd take care of sheep? Again the answer is by allowing them to eat.

Finally in verse 17 Jesus says, “Graze my sheep.” He is saying allow them to eat. Ultimately Jesus is saying to Peter, “If you love me, as a leader of my people, you will make sure that my followers are eating.” Placing all three of these directives from Jesus to Peter you would hear, “Peter, if you love me, then allow my lambskins to gain nutrition, guide my sheep to the pasture, and allow my sheep to eat.”

Here is where the second important question comes in to play. That question is, “What do sheep eat?” Well the literal sheep eat the green grass of the pastureland that they are guided to by the shepherd. So, what do the metaphorical sheep of God’s flock eat? What is the literal food of God’s literal flock? The answer is found in what Christ says he, as the spotless lamb, eats.

The answer is found in John Chapter 4. This is the story of Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well. His disciples have gone into town to buy food and upon their return they find Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman, a forbidden act for any Jew. And in verse 31 they urge Jesus to eat something; they then think he has eaten because he told them that he has food that they know nothing about and in verse 34 we learn what God’s children are suppose to eat.

Jesus tells us what God's flock are to eat when he says, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.” God’s people are led by their leaders or "Pastors" to do the will of the Father.

Knowing this, we should also remember that none of us are more full-time than anyone else. Whether our ordination of Christ is affirmed by a seminary, training college staff, or anyone else, we are all "called" to full-time ministry. And whether we serve full-time for Christ or full-time for someone or something else (Not Christ), we all serve full-time in a ministry.

The problem is that in our modern day definition of "Pastor," we have been led to believe that anyone who is not an "ORDAINED" pastor or member of church staff is not in full-time ministry.

Chip Ingram said that his church is full of full-time ministers who pose in the world as school teachers, lawyers, computer techs, cooks, garbage collectors, doctors, et cetera. When we allow people to think that the pastor is a full-time minister because he or she is a pastor, then we are indirectly saying that everyone else is not. We are all full-time ministers, some have been chosen to lead, while others are chosen to follow the leader. And in the truest defintion of a leader, a real leader will lead from behind.

As Fred Smith says, "We pay our pastor to put us to work. If we aren't working, then we aren't getting our money's worth out of the pastor." Therefore, none of us is more or less deserving of family time or private, liesure time than any other member of the body of Christ. Nor is any member of the body less accountable for their own full-time ministry. And we all are FULL-TIME ministers.

I'd like to close by adding that you don't have to be a leader to be a full-time minister; you don't have to be a "Pastor" or an Officer to be "In the Ministry," and you don't have to be formally "ORDAINED" to be affirmed by Christ that you are ALL CALLED to serve as FULL-TIME ministers of Jesus Christ. No one is merely a recipient of the labor of full-time ministers, except for those who have yet to give his or her life to Christ, do not have the Spirit living within him or her, and, therefore, have not received his or her full-time ministry role in the body.

Anyone who calls his or herself a Christian, but who considers his or herself a part-time minister is only lying to his or herself and is indulging in the anti-Christian benefits of being a rebellious, lazy, non-Bible reading, come to church to "Be Fed," luke-warm, "Wanna-Be" Christian. And shame on the rest of us for personally financing his or her life-long vacation.

In the words of John Maxwell, having said all that, "My name is Johnny and I am your friend."

Blessings,
Johnny