Congregation Appreciation Month

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by trialedbyfire

You sho is smart...

...when was the last time you took a whole congregation to dinner there buddy?

Or anybody for that matter?

I'm glad you had it so rough as a church secretary. Many of us that have been called one day to pastor and have worked and labored tirelessly in the ministry of reconciliation will understand why this statement is foolish at best. I've fixed vehicles free of charge, I've helped my past pastors repair and restore saints houses free of charge. I've watched my pastors scrub the church floors, cut saints lawns, etc. I've helped pay individuals rent. I've helped pay for gas. I've filled tanks of strangers while I was witnessing to them, bought them food, and prayed for them. I've watched the men of God who have trained me in the ministry do this. I wake up at 2 in the morning for saints who need random assistance. At the same time I'm expected to go to work, go to church on time, pay my bills on time, tithe, and keep a strong relationship with God and prayer life. I can't imagine being a pastor on top of all this. It's not a calling that any sane man should want, especially with people like yourself constantly attacking and accusing pastors, and I find what you said to be an attack, unwarranted on someone who I've watched grow old with a genuine burden for the souls he oversees and a man I respect and revere. The ministry is not "easy", nor is it "fun and games" and some of us spend our lives on reaching out to others trying to see God's plan of salvation fulfilled and people's lives changed. Now... what are you doing?

I guess you just had a load to get rid of, and I was a likely target That's okay. Had a rough day?

Here...

Seriously, I hear what you are saying, and I know that you probably have given 150% working in the ministry.

My point was this... you are claiming that this pastor took these people out on his own dime, and I was just making the point that more than likely it wasn't his dime... it was the church's dime, or the IRS at some point was going to reimburse him for it. That was the point I was making...

And... we are all called to minister to each other, and it shouldn't JUST be the pastor's job.... every single believer is called to minister to each other. Not just one man trying to minister to ... did you say 1500 people in that church? Yikes!

So my point is... yes, I know that pastors like Been Thinkin, and perhaps the one you mention have given their all, 150% more than likely.... but what if they had stopped and realized that all the body of belivers were to minister to each other, and taught their congregants so... all of us ministering to the needs of each other.... truly that is the way the early church was set up.

Read this passage where Paul was addressing this very issue: 1 Cor. 12

In particular this verse stands out in regards to this discussion: 1 Cor. 12:25-27 "That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. "

[AreYouReady?]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

I guess you just had a load to get rid of, and I was a likely target That's okay. Had a rough day?

Here...

Seriously, I hear what you are saying, and I know that you probably have given 150% working in the ministry.

My point was this... you are claiming that this pastor took these people out on his own dime, and I was just making the point that more than likely it wasn't his dime... it was the church's dime, or the IRS at some point was going to reimburse him for it. That was the point I was making...

And... we are all called to minister to each other, and it shouldn't JUST be the pastor's job.... every single believer is called to minister to each other. Not just one man trying to minister to ... did you say 1500 people in that church? Yikes!

So my point is... yes, I know that pastors like Been Thinkin, and perhaps the one you mention have given their all, 150% more than likely.... but what if they had stopped and realized that all the body of belivers were to minister to each other, and taught their congregants so... all of us ministering to the needs of each other.... truly that is the way the early church was set up.

Read this passage where Paul was addressing this very issue: 1 Cor. 12

In particular this verse stands out in regards to this discussion: 1 Cor. 12:25-27 "That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. "

It's not about "dump on the pastor". It is about defining pastor duties scripturally and all the people share in the ministry instead of being the 20-30-40+ year old spiritual birth baby still sitting on the pew expecting the CEO of the corporate church system to tell him/her what to do....or what not to do so as not to bring reproach upon the church.

I was told I could not share the word with people. I was told by the pastor (at that time) my job was to bring them to church so he can preach to them. How does one make somebody else go to church?

If I am a born again believer filled with the Holy Ghost, why then am I not scripturally correct to share God's word with people? Must one be a pastor to share some scriptural verses with another?

[trialedbyfire]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

I guess you just had a load to get rid of, and I was a likely target That's okay. Had a rough day?

Here...

Seriously, I hear what you are saying, and I know that you probably have given 150% working in the ministry.

My point was this... you are claiming that this pastor took these people out on his own dime, and I was just making the point that more than likely it wasn't his dime... it was the church's dime, or the IRS at some point was going to reimburse him for it. That was the point I was making...

And... we are all called to minister to each other, and it shouldn't JUST be the pastor's job.... every single believer is called to minister to each other. Not just one man trying to minister to ... did you say 1500 people in that church? Yikes!

So my point is... yes, I know that pastors like Been Thinkin, and perhaps the one you mention have given their all, 150% more than likely.... but what if they had stopped and realized that all the body of belivers were to minister to each other, and taught their congregants so... all of us ministering to the needs of each other.... truly that is the way the early church was set up.

Read this passage where Paul was addressing this very issue: 1 Cor. 12

In particular this verse stands out in regards to this discussion: 1 Cor. 12:25-27 "That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. "

You'll never understand until you're there. I won't bother to respond, I don't have a load that I expect you to carry. Christ has it, and while your criticizing these pastors many of use are just doing what God has told us to do and relying solely on his grace.

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by trialedbyfire

You'll never understand until you're there. I won't bother to respond, I don't have a load that I expect you to carry. Christ has it, and while your criticizing these pastors many of use are just doing what God has told us to do and relying solely on his grace.

I'm glad you said Christ is carrying the load. That makes all the difference in the world. For a minute there... after all you said you were doing... I thought you were carrying it all.

And I have never said that there weren't pastors out there doing wonderful things. I have never said that. I have said many times, that there are great, and wonderful men out there doing all they can for the kingdom. I don't have a problem with the men... I have a problem with the church system as a whole that has pagan roots all the way back to the RCC that sets one man up as higher than the rest of the congregation, which is unbiblical. Paul always wrote of ministry in the plural.

All my original post did was to make the point that many times pastors do things for the congregation that are tax write offs. If a saint should do the same thing, it would literally come out of his pocket, for he has no 501-c3 set up. Yet, the pastor gets the credit for taking the whole group out to eat, and yet really the church paid for it, or the IRS reimbursed it. That's all.

I was just challenging you to think about this point, and not trying to downgrade any of the work that you or any other pastor/minister is doing for the kingdom of Christ.

God bless you, and I pray that the Lord will continue to bless the ministry he has called you to.

[RandyWayne]

Originally Posted by trialedbyfire

My former pastor has bought various auxiliaries in the church including the youth dinner numerous times. Just this last year he bought all of the college students leaving for college dinner at olive garden. Being that he was the pastor of a 1500 member church he couldn't do that regularly, but I don't think this thread is actually about pastors doing nice things for their congregants...

Isn't this just a bit like saying "Obama bought me my phone! Glorrreeee!" all the while hating me for being able to AFFORD to pick up the tab? (tithes.... taxes... ect..)

[Titus2woman]

Originally Posted by BeenThinkin

Thanks Titus2Woman. I believe you. I guess I just didn't pastor the right church. But, I'm happy to be real, to be human and not put myself up on a throne. I put my pants on one leg at a time just like everyone else. And I do wash my pickup on occasion...... wait, it's been a while. To easy to take it to the car wash. Wish you hadn't mentioned the yard work. Mine needs mowing and it looks like I'm gonna have to do it....(on my riding mower, of course), maybe tomorrow after I finish with a funeral service.

One of these days, when fresh vegetables are coming in, I'm going to pm you and find out where your garden is and come and get me a hand full of tomatoes, with salt in the other hand, and just eat as many as you'll let me eat. Salt in one hand, tomato in the other, wipe off the tomato, take a small bite, then dip the tomato in the salt and have at it!!!! Mmmmmm.

Been Thinkin

If you're not too far off I'll pack you up a big box of fresh veggies. Whenever I pick the garden I come in stuffed... maybe not quite pick one, eat one but I'm plenty guilty of getting my veggies extra fresh...

Don and I were laughing once on how a real tithe of our 'first fruits' would have been received if we'd brought it 'into the storehouse'... For some reason, known only to him, our pastor once said during a sermon that he would NEVER milk a cow when he can just get milk at Kroger... My husband was so insulted for me that he went up after service and said "If you tasted that fresh milk just once you'd milk a cow'... i thought they were both silly but sure enough the next service my husband carted an ice cold gallon of milk to the pastor... I'm sure they probably poured it down the sink... I never asked and they never said. Kind of the farm version of don't ask, don't tell

[KeptByTheWord]

Sounds like an offer BT shouldn't pass up!! I know I sure wouldn't, if I lived closer to you! As for the taste of raw milk versus the version you buy in the stores, there is no comparison! Richy, creamy, thick.... yummmo!

[AreYouReady?]

Milk bought in the store is dead milk after pasteurizing to death (by law) all the beneficial enzymes the human race needs.

[Titus2woman]

Originally Posted by AreYouReady?

Milk bought in the store is dead milk after pasteurizing to death (by law) all the beneficial enzymes the human race needs.

Yeah... but a lot of those dairies are so dirty and the cows so sick... that milk NEEDS to be pasturized... ewww....

Gotta know milk is from a healthy cow and very carefully handled before I want to drink it... That's why I do it myself

[KeptByTheWord]

Sometimes when I'm reading a thread I have to go back to the top to see what the name of the original topic was .... just because we get so far off topic, and I just had to do that for this thread...

We were talking about.. let's see.... congregation appreciation month, and now we are talking about pasteurized versus raw milk....

Love the diversity that we can find here on AFF

Shall we show appreciation to the local pastor with a donation of a gallon of raw milk....