Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ I went into my very first ministry experience, excited to be able to spend my life involved in the process of growing the church.

I was the Assistant Pastor.

I loved the pastors of the North Head church.

I knew that everyone else loved them too.

Why did men who were so loved move so frequently.

Oh yeah, that’s what God wanted.

Why was God so intent on shuffling pastors like a deck of cards – so very often?

I wasn’t totally sure what an Assistant Pastor did but I had my job description.

It was extremely specific.

¨      In charge of the Sunday School

 

¨      In charge of the Bus Ministry

 

¨      Preaching in the midweek and evening services a few times a month.

¨      Lead the music.

Back then that meant that you got up and waved your hands at the people – I could do that in ¾ or 4~/4 time.

Never could get 6~/8.

You did that in time with the instrumentalists.

If they played fast then you waved fast and if they played slow then you waved slow.

¨      In charge of youth ministry.

That was a misnomer, no one is ever in charge of youth ministry except the youth.

I hated it.

When I left that church I remember saying that I had learned one thing for sure.

I would never be a youth pastor.

God was listening.

¨      In charge of CYC – had to start a program.

There was none in existence.

¨      In charge of Junior Church.

We had it in a long mobile home that we parked between the parsonage and the church – we called it the Gospel Train.

I wore overalls and a conductors hat.

I liked it better than my suit and tie.

I did all the things that I wished I had been able to do when I was a child.

I produced an experience for kids that was all that I missed and loved it.

¨      I knocked on 50 new doors every week – cold turkey – especially in the winter.

I’d just go to the door and introduce myself as the pastor who got stabbed in the parsonage bedroom.

They’d ask to see my scars, I’d give them an autograph and I’d leave.

¨      I visited the hospital a couple of times a week.

I remember finding an old man waiting at the doorway one day and he looked confused.

I asked him if he needed help and he said he was looking for a taxi.

I volunteered to drive him home in my Chevy Malibu with black vinyl interior.

I used to burn myself on it in the summer.

On the way home, I learned that you should never ask a person why they were in the hospital.

He had a hemorrhoid operation.

I could tell when he left the car.

I drove back to the church like a dog.

¨      I worked with an irregular church attender named Junior Lamb.

He owned an ambulance service.

He used to blow smoke in my face.

I went to my first two suicides, they were terrible.

The church grew consistently over 300.

Midway through the second year the senior pastor told me that one of us was going to leave.

I volunteered.

I was ready.

Everytime I’d get called into the office it would be a reaming out session because I didn’t know how to organize my time or something else.

I don’t ever remember hearing that I did a good job.

My thought was that there was little hope for the person in the pew if two preachers couldn’t get along and decided that I should teach.

I attended a Wesleyan school in Allentown and worked as a security guard at night, A fryer at Arthur Treachers Fish ‘n Chips after classes and then traveled for the school on the weekend.

But I couldn’t get away from the local church no matter what I tried.

I used to paint houses with a guy named Larry Moore.

Larry will be speaking here in October.

His Dad pastored in Western New York and was looking for a Youth Pastor who did nothing but youth ministry.

That was intriguing.

Perhaps I could manage my time more effectively with a little less responsibility.

Fred Moore loved me back to spiritual health in the five years that I worked for him.

He remains the finest man of God that I have known in ministry.

I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for Fred.

Here are a few pictures of Fred an some of the 20th year youth group reunion that we had this summer.

I learned after a bit that when Fred called me into his office it wasn’t to chastise me because I wasn’t doing ministry exactly as he would do it.

He never insisted that I do it his way.

In a church of 400-500 the youth group often topped 200 in attendance.

I was given much freedom and encouragement and was never so productive.

Apart from Fredericton First this is the sweet spot of ministry for me.

My decision to come here was influenced by the similarities in the ministry environments of these two churches.

What’s this all about?

*/Dealing With Pain/*

 

!

Our natural tendencies

 

It’s a long introduction that may allow me to talk to you about pain.

We all have it or experience it.

Sometimes we get some real raw deals.

I have a dear minister friend today who is being destroyed by a sick church.

He is a man of character, integrity and vision and the church that he serves is choking him.

One day they will answer to God for the things that they are doing to this man.

There are those in this room who have had tremendously difficult life experiences and continue to have them today.

Some who live with chronic pain and others who live with them, watching them suffer, both tortured.

Some have been abandoned by unfaithful loved ones who have reneged on marriage vows.

Some have been through negative past church experiences and if you look around today beneath the vestiges of spirituality, you’ll see the bulk of keflar – body armor because many when they have been hurt, make it their determination that this will never again take place.

And this is a greater tragedy than the initial hurt.

Remember?  “Burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice . .

.”

Peter asked Christ how many times we ought to forgive someone.

Jesus said “Burn me seventy times seven.”

Because the person deserves all those chances.

Never.

We don’t deserve the many chances that God has given us.

How many chances have you had my unsaved friend?

How many sermons have you turned your nose up to.

How many times have you refused God?

 

What if today was your final chance and you never knew it?

No one ever does you know.

For some today this might be true.

What if God in heaven decided that you would be here today to hear these words?

You thought it was just your own goodness that got you out of bed today and you thought that you were earning points with God by coming to church.

In reality it was His sweet spirit prompting your mind and emotions today to bring you here to listen to one last sermon.