Date: Jun 30, 2003 [ 8: 23: 45]
Subject: Summary - Temptations in Ministry
© 2003 BCP Harry Shelton Cole
Subject: Summary - Temptations in Ministry
SUMMARY OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH PLANTING LIST
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Moderated and edited by Pastor Harry Shelton Cole
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Introduction:
I am thrilled with the responses that we received to the question of the
week. I believe that it has been very helpful. If you know a student or
potential church planter, copy this summary for them. It will give them
insight into areas that the devil seems to focus on.
Michael O'Neal put a lot of thought into his response and because of size I
had to edit it. I promised to put the entire outline into the summary but
due to the size of the summary, I could not do that. I will gladly send it
to anyone who requests it and I will be putting it up on the Web site
sometime in the future.
Our first response on this summary did not get posted this weekend. It is
from a new member of the list. Take note, it is very good. Thanks again
to all who posted. Keep an eye out for next weeks question.
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Baptist Church Planters List - Question of the Week
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There are temptations that are peculiar to the ministry. Even though all
temptations confront the pastor and church planter there are some that are
accentuated by the ministry of church planting and pastoring.
e.g. PRIDE - The church planter and pastor is in a favored position by
those who are in his flock. People look up to him as someone who is
victorious. He must be careful not to think more highly of himself than he
should.
The question is "What temptations are peculiar to the ministry?"
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Jerry Reed of Liberty Baptist Church in in Wichita Falls, TX, is a veteran
church planter of 20 years. His advice on the question of the week is not
only relevant but shows the wisdom of experience. Thanks Brother Reed for
your thoughtful response.
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Baptist Church Planters List - Question of the Week
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The question is "What temptations are peculiar to the ministry?"
MEASURE MY MINISTRY QUANTITATIVELY
I was a product of the era in which the 'authorities' told us that we were
lazy backsliders if our churches didn't increase at least 100 in average
attendance each year. I bought it, and all was well for three years, but
guess what ... we are 20 years old this year and still averaging 500+. I
look back and see that I spent far too long laboring with the temptation to
talk about feelings of failure, disappointed dreams and wounded pride. I
was a basket-case until three men were used by God to help me:
Dr.Frank Johnson counseled, 'When measuring your ministry by numbers alone,
not only do you find yourself comparing yourself with others, but you fail to
recognize the many variables involved...most notably The Sovereignty of God!
At issue is not how much your attendance grows, but are you doing your best
for the Lord where He has put you?'
Dr. Jerry Thorpe counseled, 'Some of the happiest, most fulfilling years of
your ministry will be while your church is small. You know everyone and
everyone pitches in to help. Don't forget to enjoy the journey.'
Dr. Sam Davison sent me the book, Liberating Ministry from the Success
Syndrome by Kent Hughes (Tyndale House) which answered for me:
1. Can a man be successful in the ministry and pastor a small church?
2. What is 'failure' in the ministry?
3. What is 'success' in the ministry?
I still have goals, in fact my goals have not diminished at all. The hugh
difference is that I enjoy my ministry much more!
our list. Thanks Brother Reed.>>>>>
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Larry Olson is a pastor and church planter in Wichita, Kansas. He is a
true missionary in more ways than one. Thanks Larry for your quick
response to the question of the week.
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Baptist Church Planters List - Question of the Week
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The question is "What temptations are peculiar to the ministry?"
PERFECTIONISM
I see perfectionism, of their people, services, and themselves, as a major
factor among pastors. Pride is a by-product of perfectionism. I had to
find out long time ago that since, everything in the service is not going
to happen right on que, the song leader will never make a mistake, or I
will never lay an egg in the pulpit or in counseling, that it is ok to
laugh at one self and allow for bloopers. I think that the Lord allows
these things to happen .... just to keep us from being so proud and stuffy.
We need to be flexible and learn how to have fun in church as well as the
serious times. Pastors need to learn how to laugh at themselves....because
others are....and that really drives most pastors up the wall. Being
perfect is only in Christ! Cut loose and enjoy your life in Christ.
kidding>>
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Jeff Ables is the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Knob Noster, MO. He
is a preacher with a big heart for church planting missions and foreign
missions as well. Thanks for your quick and insightful post to the
question of the week.
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Baptist Church Planters List - Question of the Week
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The question is "What temptations are peculiar to the ministry?"
MONEY - POWER - WOMEN
I believe the great down fall of preachers today are money, power, and
women. Look at every preacher that has fallen, including those in our
ranks, and most likely one of these three have caused him to crash. I Cor.
10:13 tells us that Our God can and will make a way of escape if we allow
Him. All three of the sins do involve PRIDE which is all of man's great
pitfall.
Therefore with that in mind I recommend two books. Calvary's Road" By Roy
Hessien and "A Tale of Three Kings" by Gene Edwards are two excellent books
which deal with this very subject. I read these books along with the Bible
verses involved and the Lord showed me what kind of heart was necessary to
serve my Lord in the way that would be pleasing to Him. Pride is a great
enemy and the results are not the way of the Lord.
feel I know Brother Ables well enough now to know his heart. If he says
they are worth reading then I will agree :) BCP official stamp of approval
:)>>
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David J. Cosma, Pastor of Central Baptist Church of Ft. Walton Beach, FL,
responded to the question of the week with the following information
gleaned from his Bible College days. Times change but sin doesn't. Thanks
David for the input.
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Baptist Church Planters List - Question of the Week
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The question is "What temptations are peculiar to the ministry?"
WINE - WOMEN - WEALTH
If I recall correctly, I heard it first from Bro. Sears in his Church
Doctrines class. He said that most pastors who fall and leave the ministry
do so over one of the 3 W's. Wine = drinking due to the pressures of
ministry; Women = feelings that the wife doesn't understand or support him
and turns to another woman, usually one he is counseling; Wealth = gets
sidetracked with money matters, misuse of church funds, becomes greedy of
gain, gets involved in numerous money making schemes which causes him to
lose face before the his congregation and the community, becomes known as a
money man.
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Dr. Marvin McKenzie is actively involved in church planting in the
Northwest. His comments however, involve an area that is learned as much
as it is caught. Somewhere along the line we are instilled with the
"Protestant Work Ethic", which is not bad, but it does not relate to church
planting and ministry. Thank you again Dr. McKenzie for your contributions
to this list.
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Baptist Church Planters List - Question of the Week
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The question is "What temptations are peculiar to the ministry?"
THE SUCCESS SYNDROME
I would say that Jeff Ables' "dirty three: Money, Power, and Women" are the
three most dangerous for the church planter/Pastor personally. To add to
that, I have observed a temptation to put the planting of the church on such
a high priority that the preacher's family suffers. There is such pressure
to succeed. The preachers supporting you (If you are getting support) want
you to succeed. Your parents and friends (even those who are not saved)
want you to succeed, and you might feel you need to succeed to show them God
is alive. You have a financial motivation to succeed (feeding your family.)
With all the pressure to succeed, there is the temptation to put being a
good husband and father on the back burner. Most church planters (but not
all) are younger men, whose children are small and really need their daddy.
We must avoid the temptation to take care of every one else's spiritual
needs and neglect our own family's.
Hughes, published by Baker, called "Liberating Ministry from the Success
Syndrome". An excellent little book that will set your thinking right in
light of the scripture.>>
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Marc Leverett is a church planter and pastor in the deep South. Location
doesn't eliminate temptations and work of the devil. Thanks for your
excellent insight Marc.
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Baptist Church Planters List - Question of the Week
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The question is "What temptations are peculiar to the ministry?"
DISCOURAGEMENT
To speak in general terms may be to fail to share what really was and is my
temptation. I want to be honest enough with you other church planters on
this list to say that I am tempted in the usual ways that are familiar to
most men, but when it comes to the temptations peculiar to church planting
ministry, I have had my greatest struggle with discouragement. I win over
it, but I win because I have been repeatedly attacked by it. To those who
know me well this would be a surprise because I emote confidence and
enthusiasm. This is my general state and my persona reflects that. What
is not evident are the many times that I have entertained negative thoughts
of failure and disappointment due to not seeing my goals met or sustaining
a setback. Discouragement is the failing of courage. The temptation part
is to indulge it and allow yourself to feel like quitting or become bitter.
To fail to rejoice in Christ and to trust Him is a sin. Thanks be to God
that through prayer and the love of the best woman God ever put on this
earth that I win the fight over the temptation to become discouraged.
Every church plant that started and closed down in this area, closed down
because of discouragement. The factors that led to the discouragement did
not close it by themselves. It was the reaction to these factors. I
believe to win over discouragement is to win... period. To fail to win
over discouragement is to fail... period.
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Michael O'Neal, also in the south, has a sermon outline that addresses the
question of the week. I have read it and can say that it truly speaks to
the question of temptations of the ministry. We don't usually post sermons
but maybe it is time we started. Thanks Mike. The complete outline and
text will be in the summary of the week.
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Baptist Church Planters List - Question of the Week
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The question is "What temptations are peculiar to the ministry?"
TEMPTATIONS OF THE MINISTRY
I don't know that there are temptations PECULIAR to the ministry
in the most strict sense of the word, for 1 Cor. 10:13 indicates
otherwise. However, there are temptations which strike at ministers
in greater number and force, it seems.
I. CONFIDENCE IN THE WILL
1 Timothy 3:6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall
into the condemnation of the devil.
II. COMPROMISE WITH THE WORLD
A bishop is to be "vigilant, sober" (1 Tim. 3:2). He needs to be
ever watchful that he doesn't slip backward in his stand for Christ
and the Bible.
III. COVETOUSNESS OF WEALTH
Another qualification for a bishop is that he be "...not greedy
of filthy lucre ... not covetous..." (1 Tim. 3:3). Charismatics are
not the only preachers who get caught up in a prosperity gospel.
IV. COUNSELING OF WOMEN
A bishop must "be blameless, the husband of one wife..." One of
the things which has caused fundamental preachers to hang their heads
in shame more often than ever before has been the defilement of God's
men by immorality.
V. CONVENTION ISM IN THE WORK
A preacher should be totally dependent upon God, willing to
cooperate with other preachers of like mind, and fiercely independent
of control by movements and machines.
VI. CLUMSINESS WITH THE WORD
A preacher is to be "apt to teach" (1 Tim. 3:2), and he is to be
counted worthy of double honor if he labors in the word and doctrine
(1 Tim. 5:17). A man of God must of necessity be a man of the BOOK.
VII. COWARDICE IN THE WAR
If an appropriate motivational banner were placed on the wall of
the average preacher's office, one which summarized his attitude
toward dealing with sin "in the camp," it would say, "DON'T ROCK THE
BOAT."
CONCLUSION: There are opportunities for falling on every hand.
What a joy it is to know that, although, we must take heed lest we
fall if we think we stand, we do have this promise:
Jude 1:24-25 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and
to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and
majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
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At first I thought I read this wrong but the word John uses here is a valid
concept. John is pastor of Calvary Road Baptist in Monrovia, CA. Too
often the church planter, for the sake of warm bodies, begins to falter in
teaching what it really means to accept Christ as Savior. How each pastor
views soul winning and the methods used can make a real difference in the
type and longevity of the church plant. Thanks John, for your timely insight.
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Baptist Church Planters List - Question of the Week
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The question is "What temptations are peculiar to the ministry?"
DECISIONISM
Decisionism is the temptation to account someone as genuinely converted
when he has only prayed a prayer. What each person really needs is to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Many preachers are interested in getting
as many decisions as they can as fast as they can. They don't spend real
time dealing with the sinner to make sure he has really come to the Savior.
well. Taking the time to TEACH as the Great Commission commands us is our
paramount responsibility.>>>
In time the preacher will find out the guy isn't really saved. He will
leave the pastor will wish that he had left.
2003 BCP HOME PAGE
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Pastor Harry Shelton Cole Moderator
bcp@baptistchurchplanting.com >:-o
http://www.baptistchurchplanting.com/