Greener Pastures and Gangbuster Sermons

“Upstarts frequently steal the highest places, while the truly great struggle in obscurity.” – C.H. Spurgeon

The average pastor lasts 3-5 years at a church before he moves on to a new calling. The first year is generally the “honeymoon period” where the congregation is enamored by him and he returns their affection. Years 2-4 are spent making changes that he perceives are necessary and if they are well-received, he may hang around for many years to come. However, more often than not, those changes rub some people the wrong way and as a result, the pastor’s fifth (and final) year is spent shopping his resume around. Better to leave on your own terms before you’re asked to leave on theirs, right?

And so, on to supposedly greener pastures they go. Wash, rinse, repeat.

The all-too-familiar process I just described makes a friend of mine that much more remarkable. This year, he is celebrating not only his 50th anniversary in full-time ministry, but a half-century of pastoring the same church.

No, that is not a typo.

Now, you may be thinking that this pastor stayed put because he was just an average preacher and had no other options. Quite on the contrary! Truth be told, he is the most dynamic and captivating preacher I have ever heard. Yes, better than Billy Graham, Charles Stanley, David Jeremiah, or any other far more famous pastor, preacher, or evangelist of the last 50 years.

One day, after he had delivered yet another gangbuster sermon, I asked my friend if he ever wondered why God had never given him a greater platform than his little church and a larger audience than his 75-person congregation. Humbly but honestly, he answered “Yes”, and then quickly changed the subject. Simply put, he was content to bloom where God had planted him… period.

Here is how Charles Spurgeon, who pastored the largest church in London in the late 1800s, addressed this subject…

“When our Lord was on earth, although He is the Prince of the kings of the earth, yet He walked the footpath of weariness and service as the Servant of servants. It should then be no surprise if His followers, who are princes in His line, should also be looked down upon as inferior and contemptible persons. The world is upside-down, and therefore the first are last and the last first. Consider how the servile sons of Satan lord it in the earth! What a high horse they ride! How they exalt themselves.”

“When the wheel turns, those who are lowest rise, and the highest sink. Patience, then, believer, eternity will right the wrongs of time.”

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” Matthew 25:23 (NIV)

Rev. Dale M. Glading, President