A Good Pastor

1. In late February 2007, an email was sent requesting feedback on an article I had written called God Will Provide.

A. A good pastor would have sent feedback.

B. You didn’t.

2. A few weeks later I asked about the feedback.

A. A good pastor would have already given feedback.

B. You said you didn’t have time to read it, you were too busy.

3. A few more weeks went by and I asked again.

A. A good pastor wouldn’t have to be asked again.

B. You said you had two or three pages written.

4. Based on 2 and 3 above:

A. A good pastor wouldn’t have 2 or 3 above.

B. I feel you basically lied and said what you did to pacify me.

5. Whether the article was good or bad:

A. A good pastor would have given a response and talked to me to find out why I felt the way I did because that would have been his responsibility.

B. You totally ignored me.

6. Talking it out:

A. A good pastor would have already talked to me and wouldn’t be in the position to where something had to be talked about.

B. Again you ignored me.

7. All the articles I have written:

A. A good pastor would be encouraging me to continue to write articles and spread the word of God.

B. You showed no interest in me, my articles or my beliefs.

8. God Will Provide could be considered controversial:

A. A good pastor would not have drawn a big black circle around my name, since I had already put a disclaimer on the article.

B. I can only assume you put the circle around my name. What childish nonsense.

9. Snow White Revisited:

A. A good pastor would have encouraged me to continue to spread the word of salvation.

B. You did nothing.

10. Commitment Forms:

A. A good pastor would have followed what was decided to be done with the name or at the very least talk to those whose idea it was to find out why it should be changed.

B. You said you didn’t want the name changed, and you said we need to become more committed to the church and Christ. What gives you the right to judge people as to how committed a person is to the church or Christ? You may be able to measure someone’s commitment level to the church to some degree but you can not measure their commitment to Christ. Only Christ can make that judgment.

11. 10% Tithe

A. A good pastor would have talked openly and freely about it with me.

B. You said nothing but referred to it in your sermon on April 3rd when you said there are people who disagree with what you were about to say and then you said you believe in the 10% tithe and looked directly at Vonnie. You are entitled to your own beliefs and I can respect that. However again if I was so wrong in my God Will Provide article, then you failed to correct me and that is your job. I can find no place in the New Testament where it was commanded that 10% be given. If 10% tithe is correct, then why doesn’t our bulletins say tithe instead of offering?

12. Snow White Revisited

I sent a copy of Snow White Revisited to a pastor friend in California, just to share. He writes back wanting permission to include it in his electronic newsletter that goes out to a thousand people or more. I gave him permission and it was published.

A. He liked my articles enough to publish them

B. You ignore what I write.

13. God Will Provide

The same pastor wanted a copy of the article after I told him about it. Again he wanted to publish it and he did.

A. Here is a pastor that not only will talk to me about what I write he feels my articles are good enough to send out in the electronic newsletter.

B. You ignore what I write and make no comments.

14. What does this say about the two different pastors?

A. He cares about me and what I write.

B. You don’t care about me or what I write.

15. Offerings for different things.

A. A good pastor would be more sensitive and realize some people can’t afford to give even a dollar.

B. You say you want 100% participation. How uncomfortable does this make people who can’t live up to your standards feel?

16. Attendance

The Sunday after Ash Wednesday you said attendance wasn’t important. Then a short 3 weeks letter when the newsletter came out you say attendance is important and we need to try and get people to come back to church.

A. A good pastor would never have said attendance wasn’t important.

B. You send mixed signals and imply you don’t care about attendance as long as there is enough being given in the offering each week.

17. In closing:

A. There is a good pastor.

B. There is you.