There are a few different schools of thought or pastors...if you will. There are those pastors who do not feel training ministers in their church is their calling. 2. Pastors who feel it is necessary to duplicate themselves and their ministry by cultivating ministers in their church. 3. Ministers who call men themselves to the ministry even though God is calling them only to faithfulness.
I know one pastor where most every single minister to my knowledge from that church has gone on to positive ministries. One pastor who came from this man is duplicating this and has planted at least 3-4 QUALITY men as pastors of burgeoning churches in the NORCAL area.
I know of another pastor that over a 20 year period, every single assistant pastor, associate pastor, and music director (save TWO, and one being his son-in-law), has left or been run out of town with a black cloud over their heads, and NOT ONE SINGLE ONE became a pastor or evangelist somewhere else in or out of the city. Most, in fact have left the church period...
I know yet of another who put men in positions to preach and they had absolutely no calling whatsoever. I have seen these men leave jobs to start churches and end up emotionally and spiritually damaged.
I think it depends on the pastor, if I were certain of a calling, I would leave running and screaming from some places.
Brilliant! Carp, this is one of your very best and most accurate posts... much appause bro.
__________________ If I do something stupid blame the Lortab!
Let me put a twist in this thread and asked a very sincere question.
What do you do with those older ministers that seemed to have fallen through the cracks in being trained? Those that attended churches where they were not cultivated and helped. Those that did not attend bible school. What do those older ministries do now that they have lost much of their youth, and have become discouraged in the fight?
To be concise, I have to tell you that I'm not too sure that someone can be 'too old' to preach. However, I'm smart enough to know that it's somewhat harder to help train a man that is working a job, raising a family and taking care of a wife and home.
I've seen the unfortunate truth of a young man that was greatly used of God and would have developed into a priceless minister make bad decisions. First, he met a woman and fell in love... and stopped praying. Secondly, he - by his own admission - put ministry on the back shelf until he got married... and had no time to invest in ministry. Thirdly, he became confused and disallusioned by those young men who had surrounded him becoming strong, stable ministers and wondered why he was left behind.
I guess he forgot about #1 and #2... Today I've salvaged him to be a solid Saint with a great heart. The problem is that much of what he needed to develop was lost in the 'interim' period where he put what was important on a back shelf.
Could he come on now and be used of God? Absolutely. To the exent his once could have? We may never know because he's too 'wrapped up' in his world to seek God's world.
As for being in a situation where the time is not taken to develop and train a young minister? Well, that's a whole new post for sure. I would surely seek God to give me someone willing to mentory me in those critical areas that young ministers need it most.
By way of dealing with 'lost time' and questioning the will of God I would suggest a message I preached called "The Will is Lost but the Way I Know".
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