Altar Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter Albritton
December 12, 2010
Learning
on the job as a greenhorn preacher
Pity the small country Methodist
churches. They are the training ground for new preachers. I know that from
personal experience. A
greenhorn if there ever was one, at age 21 I became the pastor of four small
churches near Milstead, Alabama.
I had no training for the job. The
Methodist hierarchy, after asking me to read and report on four books, issued
me a license to preach. While still a student at Auburn University I got a phone
call from Dr. W. F. Calhoun, then superintendent of the Montgomery District. He
offered to appoint me to serve the LaPlace Circuit at a salary of $1900 a year.
They provided a parsonage in which we could live and continue my studies at
Auburn. On very short notice I accepted
the job.
The position was open in midyear
because the pastor of the four churches had abruptly quit the ministry. Six
weeks was enough for him. He left in the middle of a hot August night without
even saying goodbye. No one ever understood why. And nobody seemed sorry that
he had hit the road.
The
good people of those churches were not surprised that I was a babe in the
woods. All their pastors had been student pastors for many years. They were patient
and expected me to learn on the job.
Learn
I did. One of my churches was the old LaPlace Church, one of the earliest
Methodist churches organized in
One
of the faithful worshipers was Wright Noble. He appeared to be a pillar of the
church so I decided one Sunday morning to call on him to pray. At the time, I
was not comfortable praying or preaching. I figured I could use some help.
I
learned that day never to call on someone to pray in church without asking
permission beforehand. From the pulpit, I asked politely, “Mr. Noble, will you lead us in prayer?”
Without
a moment’s hesitation, he stood up and replied in a strong, firm voice, “I beg
to be excused; that’s what we pay the preacher for!”
Embarrassed
and caught off guard, I stumbled through a prayer while most of my parishioners
were quietly chuckling. I had no doubt that Mr. Noble was a Christian. I am
sure he was a praying man. However, I never heard him pray.
My
training for pastoral work had begun. Mr. Noble and others like him made sure
that I understood why they paid my salary. There were certain things I was
expected to do, none of which was ever explained to me in a “job description.”
They were quite willing for me to learn my duties, one at a time, in one
embarrassing moment after another.
People
pay the preacher for many reasons. Some pay him to mind his own business, and
that does not include “running the church.” I had it explained to me more than
once like this: “You stick to preaching the gospel and we will run the church.”
In
one of the churches I asked the church treasurer for a report on the offerings.
He said, “We are fine, preacher, just fine.” I asked, “Do you make a monthly
report to the Board?” He replied, “No, I just let everybody know if we get
behind. Right now, everything is fine.” I think he kept the church’s money in a
cigar box, but I never found out. He taught me that it was none of my business
how much money the church had in the bank.
I remembered that incident in the
distant past when a pastor told me a similar story. He is being reassigned
partly because of a bitter struggle with his church treasurer. In this case,
the treasurer has refused to let anyone see the books. The
preacher’s demand to see the books cost him his job.
Most
preachers feel like I do about being paid. I was always amazed that I could be
paid to have so much fun. Our work is not drudgery, and we are not in the
ministry for the money. Many of us feel that we are paid far more than we
deserve. And some of our parishioners are sure of it!
A
retired preacher friend of mine was asked by a senior pastor to come on his
staff as the minister of visitation, mainly to care for the sick and shut-in
persons.
He
replied, “You don’t have enough money to hire me to visit the hospitals. When I
was a pastor, the church paid me my full salary to visit the sick; I preached
for free!”
A
preacher gets paid to do many things. People have a thousand expectations of
their preacher. Some people feel like they are not getting their money’s worth;
others wish they could pay the pastor more.
It
is good when the preacher and the people can work together as a team, shepherding
people with love. Key leaders who don’t trust their pastor should find one they
can trust by joining another church. Teamwork is essential.
The
pastor, after all, is not a hired hand and he must never allow himself to
become the private chaplain of the prominent “power brokers” – no matter how
much he is paid. +