Because They Have Given So Much . . .

By now, most of my readers know that I am a semi-retired Baptist Pastor. Actually I am officially fully retired but because I don't think one ever retires from God's calling I refer to myself as "semi-retired."  In becoming "semi-retired" I have joined the ranks of a very special group of men and women. The one common denominator that we have in our lives is that we have experienced a very definite and precise call from God to what has now come to be called "vocational" ministry.

Personally, I have never thought of myself as a "professional" or "Vocational" minister. I have always thought of myself as a "preacher of the Gospel."  I remember clearly the night as a teenage boy I yielded my life plans to God's plan for my life. It was at the Boulevard Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas.  Estol Williams was preaching, probably from Romans as he spent two years preaching through that book, but I don't really recall. I really wasn't listening. Instead I was reading in John 12 and when I got to verse 32 which reads, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me," I knew what I was to do for the rest of my life . . .  I was to lift Jesus up. For me that meant nothing less than becoming a preacher of the Gospel.

Now I know that what I just said has nothing to the context and meaning of the passage. Clearly Jesus is speaking of His own death by crucifixion. In fact John shortly after verse 32 confirms this. However, on this day, God used this verse to speak to my heart about my lifes' work.  So that day my focus changed from becoming a historian to becoming a preacher. I pursued that calling like a laser beam and have never thought of myself since as anything more or less than a preacher of the Gospel.

So strong was this calling that whenever I went to a church I was quick to tell the "Pulpit Committee" (now refered to as Pastor Search Committees), Deacons and congregations that they did not pay me to preach. I wanted them to understand that when it came to preaching I worked for God not them. I preached for free. They paid me for all the other stuff involved in being a pastor of a Baptist Church.  The pulpit was my domain and my priority.

I went to school earned a BA degree, a M.Div. degree and a D.Min. degree and have been a student of the word of God all my life all to the end that I might understand and proclaim God's word and will to His people and to those who did not know him. Along with that preaching and teaching there were countless hospital and home visits; enumerable  meeting and conferences attended; countless marriages and funerals performed; people counseled and comforted, and a multitude of people met and countries visited.  The one thing I failed to focus on was my own old age. What does a God called preacher of the Gospel live on once he is no longer able earn his keep.  Here's what I have discovered. I am not alone in this. Most of the preachers I know who retire struggle to provided even the most basic of life's needs. 

When I talk to most lay people (non-clergy) about preacher's retirement they seem to think we were all pastors of a mega-church. I am here to say NOT!  Most of us never served in a large church. Someone once said, "God must especially love poor folks because He made so many of them." I'd paraphrase that a bit and say, God must really like small and medium size churches as He seems to have so many of them."  Most "preachers" never serve in a large place and by far-and-away most preachers never have a salary that permits putting anything aside for retirement.

I remember the first church I pastored my entire salary package (base pay, retirement allowance {$15 month}, insurance of all kinds allowance, and book allowance) came to $9800 per year. Since I didn't opt out of social security (one of the smartest things I didn't do) that came out of the $9800 as well. Glad they had a parsonage (manse). I'm betting most preachers my age could tell the same story.  It was a struggle but, after all, God called us to preach not retirement planning. In fact most of us thought we would die in the pulpit. Many of us have even said that we would like to spend our lives preaching and then have God call us home in the middle of a sermon.  By the way, that has happened to a few preachers over the years but will not happen for most of us.  No, most of us will because of health issues, or age, or some other circumstance actually have to retire. It is then that we realize, "I should have done something to prepare for this." Well, some of us did.

I stayed in Social Security, opened a Plan-A retirement account with the Annuity Board, and later migrated to a 403B account with Guidestone.  The Social Security is not much, the Plan-A was safe but small, but the 403B account took some major hits in the last few years. Twice it was hit hard as the result of financial institution speculation and Wall Street's machinations. So after 25 years of contributions and earnings the action of people other than myself left me with a greatly reduced retirement account. It would have been worse but God put an investment banker in my life who gave me some good advice. I took it and got half my retirement account back over a three year period. Unfortunately it means my retirement income is about 1/2 what it would have been but thankfully it is as a preacher friend of mine says, "adequate."  We get by.

I knew when God called me he would provide for my needs. And, you know what, He has. He put us through College as a young couple, Through seminary and nearly 40 years of ministry. Over the years we have learned to depend upon the Lord (could there be a song in that). He has faithfully supplied all our needs and a great many of our wants. And like I said, our retirement income isn't what we planned or expected but it is adequate to our needs. Can't say much about the wants though.

Not every pastor is so fortunate and because they are not I want to make a few suggestions for your consideration and action:

1. If you are a member of a small to medium size church (any denomination) talk to you pastor about his retirement. If your church does not provide a retirement allowance ask your leadership, "Why not."  Get informed.

2. Contact your denominations retirement organization. Most denominations have one. For Southern Baptist it is  GuideStone Financial Services.  They can explain all the various retirement options available to your pastor.

3. Get involved in Mission Dignity.  Since 1918, GuideStone Financial Resources (Formerly the Annuity Board of the SBC) has been on a “Mission” to provide “Dignity” to retired Southern Baptist ministers, workers or their widows.  As I stated above many served small, rural churches that paid only modest salaries and couldn’t afford to contribute to their pastors’ retirement. Often, these loyal soldiers of the cross had to work extra jobs just to make ends meet.

Mission:Dignity currently helps more than 2,000 people with extra money needed for housing, food and vital medications. It has also ensured a well-deserved dignity, independence and, often, the ability to continue serving. These are men and women who have faithfully served God’s people and now find themselves struggling to meet even basic needs.  Give them a call and see how you can make a difference.  Visit Mission:Dignity of FaceBook.

Addendum:  Since I posted this I have received a fouth suggestion . This one is for those who belong to the large and/or mega church. It's something their own church does but I suggest is something any church can do. Churches can make Mission:Dignity a part of their missions budget. Anothr thing he mentioned was that some of the Sunday School Classes adopt a particular retired minister and send them a monthly stipend directly. It occurred to me when I heard this that even if you are cash strapped you could get a group together and cut their grass every week or so. That's about $30 a month they could use for, say medicine or maybe just day out with lunch. As my Dad used to tell me, Son, don't just stand there do something."

God Is Not Truant . . .or, He Doesn't Skip School

I have listened for more years than I care to admit to friends who believe that somehow God, like some misbehaving student, has been expelled from our public schools. Every time something terrible happens in a school the first thing I hear is not sympathy for the families who suffer loss but,  “This is what happens when you

take God out of the schools.”

Now don’t misunderstand me at this point. I grew up in a day when beginning in the first grade (no kindergarten or pre-school in those days) until high school graduation we began every school day with a morning devotion, prayer and the pledge to the American flag. I don’t know who arranged all that in elementary school and Junior High school but when I got to High school it was our Youth for Christ Club. That club meet on campus prior to our home room classes.  But even back in my day it was not the best attended club.  The other thing was that we did not, as best I recall, have classes that used the Bible as a text book for religion or as literature.

I still think this is a good idea and that it served some noble ends.  I am also pretty sure that at the time not too many listened attentively to the devotion nor participated in the prayer. However, virtually everyone recited the pledge to the flag. Truth be known that was probably because we were required to stand for the pledge and not the other elements of our morning ritual.

Then along came various non-Christian religious and non-religious groups who wanted equal time or the practices stopped altogether. It proved impractical to accommodate every group wanting access to the school facility and the student’s attention. Besides, the Christian parents didn’t want the Muslim teaching their children and vis a versa. The atheist didn’t want anyone teaching anything religious. All sorts of things were tried to accommodate these various groups. Ultimately the atheist carried the day when they managed to get a federal court to rule that proscribed prayer and Bible study in school violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. So it became the law of the land that proscribed prayer and Bible study would not be allowed in the school.

It should also be noted that the hard core evolutionist joined the fray by pointing out that “Creationalism” was a religious belief and not a scientific hypothesis and therefore it too had no place in the public school.  It didn’t matter that in actuality evolution and creationalism were both working hypothesis that had to be established by experiment and logic.

I have said all of this to say that the courts have indeed pretty much frightened public schools into doing away with any mention of God from a Christian viewpoint from the school day. School districts have eliminated morning prayers and devotions; they have banned Christian clubs from school facilities; a few allow the Bible to be taught for its literary value but not its content. In Texas there is even a group that monitor these kinds of class to insure that they follow the stringent guidelines laid down by the state. 

I must state that while I agree with much of the logic behind these decisions I do not think that the first amendment of the American Constitution was intended to take religion out of the public square. My personal take is that the Government is prohibited by that amendment from establishing, supporting, sustaining one religious group over another. The reason: America was to have no state religion as was seen in England between the Church and the Government and the King and the Archbishop. The Amendment was intended to create a wall of separation so that the Government did not control the church and the church did not control the government.  It was never intended as a wall of separation to preclude either from having access to the public square.  Indeed, it was intended to open the public square to all religious persuations. It was to prevent either from intruding onto the other.

I offer the following just to give the reader a sense of the history of the first ammendment:   On highway 20 in Virginia, about seven miles east of Orange there is a monument with the embossed image of John Leland's face. Leland was an influential Virginian and Baptist preacher who championed religious liberty prticularly as expressed by Thomas Jefferson. Many historians believe this monument marks the very spot where James Madison and John Leland met to discuss Madisons candidacy for Virginia delegate to the Convention to ratify the Federal Constitution. It was at that meeting that Leland pressed Madison concerning his stand on religious freedom and individual rights. Madison promised Leland if he was elected, he would do all in his power to see that religious freedom and individual freedom would be incorporated into the Constitution by amendment. Elder John Leland and hence the Orange Baptists based on Madison's promises gave their support to Madison election.  Madison Expressed his views in a document entitled, "A Memorial and Remonstrance."

As expected, Madison voted in favor of ratification of the Constitution and then, true to his word, he drafted and introduced twelve amendments to the Constitution. Amendment 3 of Madisons proposed Bill of Rights reads, "Congress shall make no laws establishing articles of Faith, or mode of worship, or prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or abridging freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition to the government for redress of grievances."

The members of the convention condensed Madisons proposed third article. In fact, they changed it to the First Amendment which reads; "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

I am also of the opinion that in our multi-cultural world state-sponsored religious exercises should not allowed in public schools.  But to exclude voluntary expressions is also wrong. Religion can be expressed voluntarily without being coercive in dozens of ways by the students and even in the classroom.  The cheerleaders in Newton, Texas have demonstrated this. 

Having said all of this I want to say loudly and clearly . . .  GOD IS NOT TRUANT!  God does not skip school and cannot be kept out of class. While it is possible to prohibit proscribed prayers and Bible classes in our public school it is impossible to remove God from anywhere. God is Omnipotent! He is everywhere all the time. To declare that the state has removed God from the school is to be guilty of idolatry. It is to ascribe to the state a power that it does not have . . . the power to move God in any direction against His will. The government at every level is infinitely impotent when it comes to God.  It is God who establishes the government. The government is His servant as much as Balaam’s Ass was His servant.

We have not banned God from our schools, our culture or the public square because we don’t have that kind of power it would take to do that. The Scripture is replete with references to this fact. Just two examples are: “God is an ever present help in time of trouble . . . .”  “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me,  your right hand will hold me fast.”

Some will say, “You are straining at a gnat.”  I beg to differ. To say that by removing prayer and other Christian expressions from the school, or the public square or from anywhere is the moral equivalent of removing God is idolatry. It is to make someone, some institution or some movement bigger than God.  Richard Lovelace famously stated, “Stone walls do not a prison make,  Nor iron bars a cage.” The same is true about God. You cannot put God in a box and you cannot keep Him from being where He chooses to be.

So, what is the conclusion of the matter for the Christian. It is this: Whether in a public school, the public square, the local church or wherever you are “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

So my friend while you may not be allowed to pray publically in school and while you may not hold a Bible class on campus and the public square is off limits for public displays of personal or corporate faith you can be assured that God is there with you. In fact He got there before you did to prepare the way for you.

Now briefly, a word about tragedies that happen. After any and every  tragedy is a particularly appropriate time to reach out to God for comfort and guidance. We’ll never be able to explain things like what happened in Newtown with the murders of so many children. Politicians cannot explain it; theologians have no answer; and social scientists don’t have a clue and every self-serving, simplistic and simply wrong explanations by media talking heads will not do.
 
I am thankful for that cadre of faithful ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who after these kinds of tragedies take to their pulpits and offer the kind of leadership that enables us to find our way through the wilderness of our sense of hurt, bewilderment and loss. They give us words of hope and do not use these tragedies to further their personal agendas and fill their war chests. Instead they lead their congregants, many who came to worship with heavy hearts, find hope in the Eternal God who was present in the midst of the tragedy and in the midst of the congregation.