I am a PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) church implanter living and ministering in my hometown of Fremont, Nebraska. There’s nothing particularly big about this, I know, but here’s the difficulty: if I’d been told ten years ago that this would be the case, would I have laughed at you, cursed you, fought you?or a combination of those three things, why? Well, probably because I’d told you I didn’t have any gift for that, I objected theologically to that, or never, ever, ever in a million years I’d think of coming back.
I would have told them ten years ago that I was a pastor/theologian. Was preaching and teaching my main gift? Not the kind of evangelization that I thought was part of the establishment of churches. I mocked, with great disdain and contempt, the men who were part of billy Graham Church’s School of Missions, Evangelism, and Growth in southern seminary. “Maybe when they grow up, they’ll put on their adult pants and read books without pictures. “I mean, who really thinks you can a church around the Word, prayer, and the sacraments?Thank you, but no thanks.
- As a graduate of Bible studies at Taylor University.
- I read the book Desiring God.
- Written by John Piper [published in Portuguese as In Search of God.
- By Shedd Publications].
- Reading this book bombed the entire theological system in which I thought I had grown up in the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
- I entered the Southern Seminary as a Piperian Calvinist.
- And grew up in my love and understanding of God’s sovereignty.
- Especially in relation to the salvation of sinners.
- Supporters of reformed/presbyterian soteriology.
- Well.
- Did they baptize babies?Thanks again.
- But no thanks.
Do the plains leave an indelible mark on a person’s soul?For good and worse? Willa Cather. La in high school was: Fremont is a great place, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Athletics was my passport to leave my hometown, and although I would like to revisit my parents, I had felt the wrong mark of the plains in my soul. Thank you, but, wild horses and nickel beer, couldn’t bring me back.
So, with three objections, how did I get here? First, through my mistakes?I was ploying part of the ministerial land with my chin. Second, to quote my grandparents: “Did the Lord Almighty God prevail over our (my) stupidity?Although the second factor certainly outweighs the first, my mistakes are much easier to identify, discuss and provide learning. The second is a reason for doxology, but not so good at analyzing.
Let me put it another way: from 1996 to 2006, I was pastor of four different churches: the first (in the seminary) was from November 1996 to 1999, the second, from 1999 to 2000, the third, from 2000 to 2003. Finally, the last was from 2003 to 2006. Only one of these congregations was sad to see me go. Two of them finally gave me up and left the church angry. In the remaining church, the deaconos asked me to leave, and I had a good sense of asking for time to find a new place for ministry. Wasn’t it a good start for a man who was said to be a?minister of 5 talents? and who received a preaching award while in the seminary.
I wish my story was unique. Unfortunately, this is not the case. There are many young people fresh out of the seminary who are crushed in the ministry of the local church. The concern of the people of Practical Pastoralism, and my reason for writing, is that many think they are totally innocent in this process. Of course, they may speak differently, but deep down they are outraged with God for calling them to churches that do not respect them or submit to His gift. Wasn’t it really their fault, it was the pastor who preceded them, who didn’t think about what the exhibition was. It is the fault of the good old diaconal council, or the lady of the church whose husband needs to be a man and put a gag in her mouth.
Is there no need to deny that there are healthy churches there?Or that some churches would be of greater use to the Kingdom if they closed their doors; this, however, is beyond the scope of my concern here. My concern is that we learn from our mistakes, stop blaming others for everything, and move forward in a way that demonstrates God’s grace to his people. Adopt the attitude of an athlete who sees the replay of the game: he was wrong. It’s my fault. I will learn, correct the error, and (by God’s grace) I will do better next time.
Providentially, it took three months to walk more than 20 miles a day to select books from Amazon’s collection and involve a friend’s wise advice to learn it. After resigning, he still had a wife, two children and a mortgage. Did the church give me three months to go? Then I had to find a job. What is my great and bad mastery of theology and my ability to 5 talents?gave me back? A job where I worked 10-hour shifts on Amazon. Jesus and I had old things to fix. I thought most of them were yours, but it was clear I was wrong. I walked (did I mention that it was more than 20 miles a day?), I chose some books and was angry with whoever called me to the ministry. It took me every day of the three months to finally shut up and listen.
At the same time, an intelligent and experienced pastor encouraged me to look for an older shepherd (not my name) and try to discover the characteristics of the bus that had just passed over me. John Sartelle had never met me before, but he gently offered me his time and advice. We meet every week for a year. John listened to me and asked me questions. Good friends at Tates Creek Presbyterian Church offered love and grace to our wounded and shy family. The Lord Almighty God prevailed over my stupidity. Now I was finally in a place where I could start an honest assessment of my own mistakes.
So what did I learn?
1: When, at 60, my maternal grandparents were assaulted on their sidewalk, my grandfather was a Navy veteran of World War II and tried to fight the two outlaws, one of them had a gun and Grandpa was shot in the hip. in the Omaha World Herald, Grandpa testified of his own stupidity and goodness of God.
2: My wife Amy is wonderful. She never suggested that we leave the church and move on, but that he reaffirmed my vocation and God’s goodness to us, inspired by barbara Hughes’s interior (if you haven’t read it, Kent.
Kyle McClellan is pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Fremont, Nebraska. A graduate of Taylor University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, he is married to Amy and has two children.