A BAD DAY AT GOLF IS BETTER THAN A GOOD DAY AT THE OFFICE

I am blessed with a pastoral partner in ministry. His name is Barry Sellers.  Barry is a second career pastor. Before joining me on the staff of the Church of God of Landisville, he spent 25 years teaching business and serving as the head of his department at an area high school.  His journey to ministry took form while he served as an elder at another congregation.  That journey brought him to serve with me.

Barry serves as Associate Pastor. In our church that means he fills many of the roles of traditional pastoring: visitation, teaching, counseling, leading worship, and at times preaching.  He spends a lot of time filling the role of shepherd, especially to the more senior members of our congregation.

Barry absolutely loves the pastoral ministry. Not only was he called to it out of the public schools but he was made for it.  When God put together his SHAPE (as Rick Warren calls it) that "shape" was spelled P-A-S-T--O-R.  The persons of my church, especially those raised in more traditional settings where they had a personal, intimate, daily relationship with their pastor find him a constant anchor and encouragement.  In doing his job, he frees me to do work of leading the church, being its chief preacher and vision-caster, guiding its evangelistic mission, coaching its leaders, spending serious time in prayer, helping the church impact its larger mission field.

Barry thrives as a pastor. The church thrives as well because of his work.

Barry and I share a common love of golf. The difference between the two of us is that he is good at it. I just play the game.  If our links prowess defined our roles - he would be the Lead Pastor (and I'd probably be his caddy.)  One Friday we were playing with several men from the church. I had just come back from Disney World and was wearing a hat that read "A Bad Day at Golf is Better Than a Good Day the Office."

Spying my hat and its message, he said, "Not true.  Nothing is better than a good day the church."

Wow! Talk about a rebuke (although it wasn't intended as one).  My hat was just a piece of fun; but Barry didn't want it to belittle the truth.  He loved the pastoral ministry and he loved being a pastor.  He was in his sweet spot, the spot the Spirit had created him for. That didn't mean he was naive or insensitive to its burdens, its stresses, its hurts and failures.  But it did mean that none of that could separate him for the joy of knowing that he was doing what God had called him to do.

"Woe unto me if I do not preach the gospel," declared Paul.  My life is out of God's will and my joy is gone if I abandon that to which Christ Jesus has called me.

My prayer each day is that I do not let my circumstances or my sheep take my eyes off of what God is calling me to do.