When Anxiety Attacks
8 years ago
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Today was a special day. I seriously doubt that I can do justice to it with a simple blog, but I can't really let it go unnoticed. Today was the day that our church celebrated our pastor's 30 years of faithful service to God in this congregation and community. In August 1978 (just a month and a half after I was born, I might add) Larry started pastoring our church. At that time it was a small church plant in TINY town Alaska. Today it is one of the largest congregations in the Mat-Su. And the reason for its growth is a simple thing... God has been at work.
You see, Larry isn't exactly a flashy pastor. He isn't the most entertaining or emotional preacher I've ever heard. But he is one of the most faithful pastors I've ever known. I am in awe of Larry's faithful service and am appreciative for the opportunity I have to be a recipient of his wisdom and guidance. Let me explain, at least in part...
In seminary I was told that a pastor should ideally spend an hour in preparation each week for every minute of sermon he preaches on Sunday. Now that's an ideal, and I doubt most preachers get to spend that sort of time in preparation, but it gives an idea of the time that goes into preparing to preach. Additionally, I know from experience that preaching is extremely mentally, emotionally, and spiritually draining. I've given plenty of briefings during my time in the military. I've spoken to various crowds and conventions, but nothing compares to the effort and energy required to get up in front of a congregation, bearing the responsibility to teach God's Word. There is a weight of responsiblity there that far exceeds even the sense of responsiblity I experienced planning and executing training and combat missions in the Army. And week-in, week-out Larry's been doing this for as long as I've been alive!
I am convinced that very few people, except those who have made this rare benchmark, fully grasp the amount of stamina and the faithful pursuit of a single goal that is involved in the faithful pastoring exemplified by Larry. A guy named Steven Furtick was talking about just this sort of thing, and this is a paraphrase of what he said... You may have some young preacher come in and preach at your church and think, "Man! That kid can preach!" And maybe he actually dishes up one fine spiritual meal of a sermon... But what you fail to realize is that the young kid has had weeks or even months to prepare for that half hour. On the other hand, the pastor who is faithfully serving up a solid meal every single week hasn't had that same benefit of time. Not only that, but often times that young kid hasn't had nearly as much on his plate pulling him away from sermon preparation as that older pastor. When you start to realize that, it brings a new perspective to things. And then, when you consider that for the first 15-20 years of his service Larry was the only pastor on staff... I don't have words for the admiration and respect I have for that.
Now, you may say it's not too hard to come up with something to preach on for a half hour each week, but let me just point out one or two things. Everyone who spoke today mentioned a single common element... that Larry consistently dug into Scripture and clearly and faithfully preached it every single week. Now let's just say that he only preached 45 Sundays a year and that he took almost 2 full months off each of those 30 years... he's still preached 1350 biblically sound sermons! I mean, if Larry were an NCAA basketball coach, he'd be the winningest active coach by a good 400 wins! The big difference is that the winningest coaches don't have to live with integrity on and off the court (just look at Bobby Knight) whereas pastors like Larry do! And we hold up guys like Coach K. or Dean Smith as role models when their records don't mean nearly as much. It makes me all the more thankful for the faithful pastor under whom I get to learn.
Anyway, for what this little blog is worth... Thanks, Larry, for your years of running hard after God! I pray that I might one day be able to look back and see a similar record of service to our Lord in my own life.
You see, Larry isn't exactly a flashy pastor. He isn't the most entertaining or emotional preacher I've ever heard. But he is one of the most faithful pastors I've ever known. I am in awe of Larry's faithful service and am appreciative for the opportunity I have to be a recipient of his wisdom and guidance. Let me explain, at least in part...
In seminary I was told that a pastor should ideally spend an hour in preparation each week for every minute of sermon he preaches on Sunday. Now that's an ideal, and I doubt most preachers get to spend that sort of time in preparation, but it gives an idea of the time that goes into preparing to preach. Additionally, I know from experience that preaching is extremely mentally, emotionally, and spiritually draining. I've given plenty of briefings during my time in the military. I've spoken to various crowds and conventions, but nothing compares to the effort and energy required to get up in front of a congregation, bearing the responsibility to teach God's Word. There is a weight of responsiblity there that far exceeds even the sense of responsiblity I experienced planning and executing training and combat missions in the Army. And week-in, week-out Larry's been doing this for as long as I've been alive!
I am convinced that very few people, except those who have made this rare benchmark, fully grasp the amount of stamina and the faithful pursuit of a single goal that is involved in the faithful pastoring exemplified by Larry. A guy named Steven Furtick was talking about just this sort of thing, and this is a paraphrase of what he said... You may have some young preacher come in and preach at your church and think, "Man! That kid can preach!" And maybe he actually dishes up one fine spiritual meal of a sermon... But what you fail to realize is that the young kid has had weeks or even months to prepare for that half hour. On the other hand, the pastor who is faithfully serving up a solid meal every single week hasn't had that same benefit of time. Not only that, but often times that young kid hasn't had nearly as much on his plate pulling him away from sermon preparation as that older pastor. When you start to realize that, it brings a new perspective to things. And then, when you consider that for the first 15-20 years of his service Larry was the only pastor on staff... I don't have words for the admiration and respect I have for that.
Now, you may say it's not too hard to come up with something to preach on for a half hour each week, but let me just point out one or two things. Everyone who spoke today mentioned a single common element... that Larry consistently dug into Scripture and clearly and faithfully preached it every single week. Now let's just say that he only preached 45 Sundays a year and that he took almost 2 full months off each of those 30 years... he's still preached 1350 biblically sound sermons! I mean, if Larry were an NCAA basketball coach, he'd be the winningest active coach by a good 400 wins! The big difference is that the winningest coaches don't have to live with integrity on and off the court (just look at Bobby Knight) whereas pastors like Larry do! And we hold up guys like Coach K. or Dean Smith as role models when their records don't mean nearly as much. It makes me all the more thankful for the faithful pastor under whom I get to learn.
Anyway, for what this little blog is worth... Thanks, Larry, for your years of running hard after God! I pray that I might one day be able to look back and see a similar record of service to our Lord in my own life.
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1 comments:
That is awesome! and so true of Larry..what a blessing he has been to our church and to so many lives..I so enjoyed being back home briefly and getting to hear Larry teach again, as well as hear you Ashley..I love how you bring it into perspective.
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