Quote:
Originally Posted by Steadfast
Okay folks... in the midst of so many substance defunct threads let's try something significant to all those precious Saints that feel a call of God on their lives.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not against Bible College. I've spoken in all but one of our colleges and have no axes to grind with those that have, are or will be attending Bible College.
Having said that I have to admit that one of my greatest pet peeves is to see young men come to their Pastors feeling a call to preach only to be told "Okay, go to Bible College". Again, I'm not against Bible College but I think many Pastors see Bible College as an easy way to get out of the effort it requires to train young ministers.
I have 19 preachers who are (a) in training in my Church, (b) Pastoring, (c) Evangelizing, (d) full time Assistant Pastors and (e) retired Pastors who call me 'Pastor'. Obviously this means that I have spent serious time dealing with them, training them and opening doors for them to be around other viable ministries that come through our Church.
I tread softly here because I don't want to be perceived as attacking the role of a Pastor. I cherish my own Pastor and hold in the highest regard those precious Patriarchs that walk in Apostolic ministry and hold the Apostolic message as sacred. However, I'm literally shocked by the number of Pastors who feel absolutely no responsibility to work with young ministers in their Churches. In my travels I have heard such things as:
> "I came up the hard way and if they are going to be tough they need to come up the hard way, too!"
> "He came to me and told me he was called to preach so I told him to get a trailer he could evangelize in and get out of here!"
> "I was called to preach to Saints... not babysit immature preachers."
QUESTION A / PASTORS: How many of you Pastors take mentoring young ministers seriously and what are some of the things you do to teach and train them.
QUESTION B / MINISTERS: What things did your Pastor do that seemed to help you the most as you were maturing in ministry?
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Question A:
I take it very seriously. I teach a class for ministry, I spend a lot of time with them just doing my best to teach them what I can, and I have them lead services and preach regularly. I also make certain that they get the opportunity to rub shoulders and spend time with men of God that come here to preach. I take them with me when I can when I preach out. I recommend good books for them.
Question B:
The pastor I started preaching under didn't really do much in the way of training, but he did let me spend a lot of time with him, and I gleaned a lot. He gave me NO systematic instructions on sermon preparation. I didn't really ever get any teaching about that until this past spring when I got to spend a few days with a master of the art, and he wa gracious enough to give me a few pointers. I was very grateful, I can promise you, and the thinhs he told me have improved my preaching.
My next pastor took a lot more time to try and train me. He kept pushing books at me to read in a week, and then we would talk about them the next Sunday, and he would grill me about what I learned from the reading. He also prayed with me and pushed me to reach for the things of the Spirit, and reach out in faith for the supernatural. He also gave me quite a bit of affirmation, something my original pastor did none of.
He also made his rather extensive collection of sermon tapes available to me, and I took full advantage of that. I was only with him about 18 months, but he helped me immeasurably.
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