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You Can’t Have It All
By Mark D. Roberts | Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Part 7 of series: Advice for Pastor Search Committees
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To this point, my Advice for Pastor Search Committees includes the following:
1. Seek first the kingdom of God.
2. Pray without ceasing.
3. Be open to God’s surprises.
4. Exercise endurance and beware of exhaustion.
5. Represent your church accurately.
6. Get the true “downside” on candidates.
Today I’ll add a seventh point:
7. You can’t have it all.
What I mean is you can’t have the perfect pastor because such a being doesn’t exist . . . apart from Jesus, the Church’s true Pastor. Unfortunately, Jesus rarely applies for church positions these days.
Search committees usually begin with great expectations. This is fine, just as long as they face reality. No pastoral candidate combines everything a church wants. You just won’t find somebody whose equally great at preaching, leadership, discipleship, and pastoral care. Every pastor will have strengths and weaknesses. Necessarily.
Of course this is true in any other field that requires people to have complex skill sets. In the NBA, for example, the best point guards won’t be the best centers, and vice versa. In the NFL, wide receivers would make poor linebackers. In business, those with ample creativity are rarely expert bean counters. Great salespeople often make poor managers.
So it is in pastoral work, and even more so when you consider the diverse tasks pastors are expected to perform. They need to be strong in the scholarly discipline of biblical study and in the field of oral communication. Pastors as preachers must be theological, practical, intellectual, and emotional. They are expected to be visionary leaders but also attend to pastoral and managerial details. Pastors are supposed to be tenderhearted with church members but tough when dealing with staff who are not doing their job well. Pastors should be present with the congregation and active in the community.
Not only is it rare, if not impossible to find a single person who is able to excel at all the tasks in a pastoral job description, but also you have a time prioritization problem. For example, it takes a substantial chunk of time to prepare a good sermon. I used to plan on devoting about twelve hours a week to sermon preparation. I know many pastors who need more time. My mentor, Lloyd Ogilvie, has said that a pastor needs to devote at least an hour of preparation for every minute of preaching. Unfortunately, many churches that want an excellent twenty-minute sermon aren’t willing to give their pastor twenty hours for preparation, unless that pastor is willing to work 60-70 hours a week. (Photo: Lloyd Ogilvie, one of the finest preachers in America in the last forty years)
If you’re on a search committee, and you’re looking for a senior pastor, and you want someone who is equally excellent in preaching, teaching, visionary leadership, management, discipleship, and pastoral care, you’re fooling yourself. And candidates who present themselves as equally competent in all these areas are fooling themselves, or trying to fool you, or both. I’m not suggesting that pastors can’t be fairly strong in all of these areas. But most visionary leaders are, by nature, not equipped to be excellent managers. And most outstanding preacher-teachers are not the best at pastoral care. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
If it’s true that you can’t have it all, then, obviously, pastor search committees need to work very hard on defining priorities. What do you really need in a pastor? What do you want, but are willing to give up if necessary? What are the essentials that must be in place if your new pastor is going to work out well in your church?
Years ago I was on a search committee for a high school director. This person would have been called a pastor in many church settings, but we were not seeking someone who was an ordained Presbyterian pastor. In the early stages of our search we came up with a long list of things we wanted in a youth leader. Some were clearly essential, like “A love for God and for kids.” Some were less so, like “The ability to speak a relevant foreign language.” At the end of our initial discernment process, the committee agreed that we needed our high school director to be strong as a guitar-playing worship leader. But, along the way, we found an outstanding candidate for the position who couldn’t play the guitar and couldn’t sing. (We’ll he could sing, but it wasn’t an especially pleasant experience for those nearby.) This candidate clearly fell short in a qualification that we had deemed essential. But we realized that we didn’t need him to be a musician/worship leader so much as we needed him to be someone who could recruit musician/worship leaders to work alongside him in ministry. So we called him to the church. And, before long, he had helped to build a strong worship-leading band.
In sum, I believe that search committees can’t have it all when it comes to pastoral candidates. (Likewise, I believe there are no perfect churches, by the way. Candidates need to be realistic, too) If committees recognize this, then they’ll work hard to define what is really essential in their next pastor. Moreover, they’ll be ready to be realistic in calling a new pastor, and in helping their church get ready for their new pastor to thrive.
Topics: Pastor Search Committees | 5 Comments »
Get The True “Downside” on Candidates
By Mark D. Roberts | Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Part 6 of series: Advice for Pastor Search Committees
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So far in my series, Advice for Pastor Search Committees, I’ve suggested the following:
1. Seek first the kingdom of God.
2. Pray without ceasing.
3. Be open to God’s surprises.
4. Exercise endurance and beware of exhaustion.
5. Represent your church accurately.
Once again, I want to build today’s recommendation a comment submitted in response to a recent post. Yesterday I suggested to pastor search committees: Represent your church accurately. John Schroeder commented:
You know, this advice runs both ways. I know situations where a candidate’s info packet and even the advisory letters from former Presbyterys downplayed or even failed to mention a candidate’s foibles - leaving the church that ended up calling him with any number of easily avoided issues had honesty been the order of the day.
In other words, the church did not get what it bargained for. As a result I typically advise PNC’s to go “outside the loop” when they think they have a candidate they really like. That is to seek information about the candidate in ways not typically available inside the PC(USA) process.
John is absolutely correct. If I were writing this series for folks seeking pastoral positions, I would say: Represent yourself accurately. But since I’m currently writing for pastor search committees, I’d say, instead: Get the true “downside” on candidates.
I realize that doesn’t sound very nice, but it is essential. No potential pastor is perfect. Nobody does everything well. Everybody has weaknesses. Every candidate has a true downside. Committees need to know this, not only so that they can weed out candidates who wouldn’t be a good match for their church, but also so that their expectations are reasonable. Moreover, if a church is aware of the weaknesses of its new pastor, it can help provide support to work around those weaknesses. If, for example, the new pastor is a great preacher and kind caregiver, but somewhat disorganized, a church can work with the pastor to provide systemic personal and organizational support.
But it is hard for a search committee to get negative input on candidates. Nobody likes to say bad things about people. And these days, fear of lawsuits can keep people from saying negative things that really ought to be said. I’ve had legal experts encourage me to say almost nothing about people who used to work for me who didn’t work out. I’m supposed to confirm that they worked for me at such-and-such a job for a certain duration, and that’s about it.
So what’s a search committee to do? John Schroeder advises search committees to go “outside the loop,” that is, “to seek information about the candidate in ways not typically available inside the PC(USA) process.” I’d be interested to know some of these ways John recommends. I can think of a few. For one thing, when a search committee rep calls the list of recommenders, that person could ask for others that might be called. This can be delicate, however, because pastoral candidates are generally trying to keep their intentions secret. For another, a search committee should scrutinize a candidates resumé to look for potentially problematic items. For example, if a pastor has moved around a lot, this may well reveal problems in that pastor’s performance.
In my experience in the Presbyterian Church (USA), one of the best channels of truthful information is what we Presbyterians call the Executive Presbyter. Other denominations have District Superintendents, Bishops, or similar roles. In our system, Executive Presbyters are the leaders of regional church structures. They tend to have a high level of mutual trust and openness. If an Executive Presbyter asks another Executive Presbyter about a potential candidate, the whole truth is generally told: the good, the bad, the ugly. I have found that input from Executive Presbyters can be extremely valuable.
I realize that what I’ve just said won’t be helpful to those who are in independent churches and the like. So let me note one other source of potentially crucial negative information on a candidate: the feelings of committee members. Yes, yes, this is quite subjective. And, yes, yes, sometimes committee members won’t be fair. But I have found, on the contrary, that search committees are often too fair to candidates. It is easy for a committee not to give sufficient weight to misgivings of committee members. (Photo: Should pastor search committees use one of those pain charts found in hospitals?)
For example, I have referred earlier in this series to a search committee on which I served. We were looking for an associate pastor. The person who ended up at the top of our list had many positive attributes. But several members of the committee just “had a bad feeling” about this person. They had a difficult time explaining this “bad feeling,” so, in the end, they were persuaded to call the candidate. Well, as it turns out, their “bad feeling” was 100% on target. In retrospect, I wish we had taken what they felt more seriously.
I realize that what I’ve said in this post could be abused. Sometimes committees are dominated by immature members whose feelings make a mess of things. And sometimes denominational officials haven’t been fully truthful. Perhaps some of my commentators will have some wise input on this matter.
Of course, if a committee is looking for the “perfect pastor,” it might well give too much weight to the “downside” of a given candidate. I’ll talk about this in my next post.
Topics: Pastor Search Committees | 3 Comments »
Represent Your Church Accurately
By Mark D. Roberts | Monday, February 9, 2009
Part 5 of series: Advice for Pastor Search Committees
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So far in my series, Advice for Pastor Search Committees, I’ve suggested the following:
1. Seek first the kingdom of God.
2. Pray without ceasing.
3. Be open to God’s surprises.
4. Exercise endurance and beware of exhaustion.
Today I want to address an issue that I was going to cover later in the series. But one of the comments on last Friday’s post encouraged me to address this subject now. In that comment, Bill Goff told a story about an experience he had with a pastor search committee and the church they represented. Here are some excerpts:
When I interviewed with a committee in Colorado, they shared their aspirations to move the church forward, to develop the youth program including bringing on a youth pastor, and generally to reinvigorate the church. They were excited about the prospects of the church and positive about me. They saw me as someone who could bring the changes they wanted and they called me to be the pastor of the church. I began my ministry there trying to implement the wishes of the PNC only to discover that there was great opposition from the old guard of the church which had not been represented on the PNC. I also discovered that there was significant opposition to me from some members of the rather small Presbytery who had hoped to be called to this position. They were in contact with some members of the old guard and intentionally stirred up trouble for me. I left that church after less than two years as pastor. I think that if the PNC had been more candid with me about the deep divisions in the church, I may not have accepted their call or I may have approached my service there quite differently. Several years after I left the church, I had occasion to speak by telephone to the new pastor. I asked him how things were going. He said, “I’m going through hell.” About that time I received a booklet regarding the 100th anniversary of the church. As I read this history, it became apparent that from the beginning this church had consistantly given pastors a very hard time. This was an historic toxic church. I wish I had been warned
What advice would Bill offer to a pastor search committee in light of this experience? Be candid about the particular congregation to which you are calling a new pastor. I’ve put it this way: Represent your church accurately.
Thanks, Bill, for sharing this story so honestly. Unfortunately, as you know, your situation is not unusual. I have several pastor friends who experienced something very similar to what you describe. I suppose in some cases pastor search committees intentionally hide elements of church life that they fear might turn off potential pastors. But in many cases, the search committees truly mean well. They spend months praying for God’s vision for their church. In this process, they often get excited about their church’s potential. They see what God wants to do with them and are ready to get going. This is great. But search committees sometimes don’t realize just how far ahead they are getting of the congregation they represent. They are accurately in touch with God’s vision for their church. But they overlook the fact that most of the rest of the church, including many influential leaders, do not share their vision.
For example, a friend of mine was called to be the senior pastor of a church, in part, because he was young and the search committee wanted to reach out to young people in their community. The committee rightly sensed that their church was in danger of perishing because its membership was getting old and not being replenished with younger members. Moreover, the committee realized that the church would need to change in many ways if they were going to connect with younger people. So they brought my friend to their church with a clear vision of outreach and renewal. Unfortunately, the church wasn’t ready for any such thing. Most of the established lay leaders opposed the very changes that were necessary to reach younger people. My friend tried to do exactly what he had been called to do, but faced stern opposition and criticism. After a few frustrating years, he finally resigned.
Now if you’re on a search committee, the thought of being honest about your church’s foibles might seem counterproductive to you. You might wonder: “How will we ever get a good pastor if we air all of our dirty linen?” To this I would say: The right pastor for your church will not be scared away by the truth. In fact, this person will be impressed with the committee’s honesty and engaged by the genuine challenges facing the church. Moreover, the forthrightness of the committee will help prepare the new pastor for success, rather than failure owing to misperception of the real issues and challenges.
Notice that I’m encouraging committees to represent your church accurately. This means, of course, sharing the good things in addition to the bad. Moreover, it means embodying those plusses, not just talking about them. Years ago, when I was interviewing with the search committee of Irvine Presbyterian Church, I watched the members closely. I paid attention to how they treated each other, not just to what they said about how much they loved each other. What I say with my eyes more or less fit with what I heard. And it represented the congregation accurately. To be sure, in terms of vision, the search committee was years ahead of the rest of the church. I think the committee members underestimated how much work it would take to get the whole church ready to move forward in its mission. But, all in all, they did a fine job helping me to get ready for reality in Irvine Presbyterian Church.
Let me offer an example. One of the first things I heard from my search committee was the need to reach out to youth in the community. The youth ministry in 1991 was pretty small and dysfunctional. The high school group comprised about a dozen students, in spite of the fact that Irvine Presbyterian Church was located right across the street from a major high school. Two thousand high schoolers were within a couple hundred yards of the church campus. Many were parking their cars in the church parking lot. Yet we had contact with only a handful. So the committee and I talked at length about how I might strengthen our youth ministry as a top priority.
When I began my pastoral work, the committee’s zeal to reach students was shared by many in the congregation and lay leadership, but not all. I was unprepared for the negative responses I received from some of the parents of kids in the church. One father said to me, “If there are more high school kids here, then my son will get less attention. I want the group to stay small and intimate.” Yet, in the end, the church embraced its outreach to youth in Irvine. In fact, the dad who once opposed me so pointedly ended up being a strong supporter of our efforts to bring the good news to more students. (Photo: Friday Pizza lunch at Irvine Pres. When I left the church in 2007, we were hosting about 700 high schoolers every Friday for Pizza lunch. This ministry had been envisioned and was staffed almost entirely by lay leaders in the church.)
There’s something else my committee did to help me succeed in my pastorate at Irvine. I’ll address this in my next post.
Topics: Pastor Search Committees | 4 Comments »
Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling
By Mark D. Roberts | Sunday, February 8, 2009
What Can We Do If the Foundations of our Own Lives Collapse?
“The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?”
In the original sense of Psalm 11:3, the foundations are the pillars of social order. Yesterday’s Daily Reflection focused on this meaning of the foundations. Yet as I meditate on Psalm 11:3, others kinds of foundations suggest themselves to me. I’m thinking of the foundations of our personal lives.
As a pastor, I’ve met with people who have just heard that they have serious, possibly terminal cancer. The foundation of health crumbles before their eyes. Or I think of conversations with people whose families are going to pieces as their children get arrested for drug use, or as their spouses seek divorce. These days, many of us are experiencing the loss of economic foundations, as we lose our jobs or see our retirement investments dwindle. So what can we do when the foundations of our own lives collapse?
For us, the answer is much the same as in the case of societal foundations. When the foundation upon which we have built our lives begins to fall apart, we look for something stronger and more resilient. We remember that God alone is our rock, the one on whom we can build a trustworthy life. When we feel afraid about where our life is going, we renew our confidence in God’s grace and sovereignty. Ironically, the crumbling of our life’s foundations often helps us to dig deeper and to base our life on the only thing, the only One, who is steadfast and solid.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: What are the “foundations” of your life? Have you ever experienced the collapse of your foundations? What happened? How have you been able to turn to God when life seems so uncertain and fragile?
PRAYER: Dear Lord, I can say that my life is built upon you, that you are my foundation. This is profoundly true in an ultimate sense. But, as you know, I base my life on so many other foundations as well: good health, family, financial security, government, my employer, being well-liked by people, etc. Surely it’s not bad to value these things. Most of them are gifts from your hand. But if I put too much trust in these gifts, rather than in you, the Giver, and if I turn them into the foundations of my life, then I’m sure to run into trouble.
Help me, dear Lord, to base my life upon you, not just in theory, but in fact. Help me to rest upon you each day, to seek your guidance, to live for your glory. When I feel threatened or afraid, may I find strength in you. Because you are my foundation, may the edifice of my life be strong and growing, for the sake of your kingdom. Amen.
Daily Reflections from The High Calling.org
This devotional comes from The High Calling of Our Daily Work (www.thehighcalling.org). You can read my Daily Reflections there, or sign up to have them sent to your email inbox each day. This website contains lots of encouragement for people who are trying to live out their faith in the workplace.
Topics: Sunday Inspiration | No Comments »
Knighted . . . at Last!
By Mark D. Roberts | Saturday, February 7, 2009
Move over Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John. I have been knighted . . . at last!
It happened last Tuesday at the staff meeting of the H.E. Butt Foundation, the parent organization of Laity Lodge. There, the accounting department of the Foundation presented me with the prestigious Sword Award. No, it had nothing to do with how quickly I could look up Bible verses. Rather, the Sword Award is given to “an employee or group of employees who show chivalry in saving money, boosting income, or in financial recordkeeping.”
How in Heaven’s name did I get that award? Here’s what was said in my knighting ceremony:
The Chivalrous Sir Doctor Mark D. Roberts was knighted the Sword Award winner at the February monthly staff meeting for the consistent, complete, timely, and detailed documentation of all credit card charges each month. Sir Roberts was thanked for his chivalrous dedication to the great art of expense tracking and for the hope that he will inspire the squires that surround him.
So, there you have it. Feel free to refer to me now as Sir Mark, if you wish. No need to be as formal as Sir Roberts. I offer humble thanks to the accounting department of the H.E. Butt Foundation, the famed “A-Team,” for bestowing this great honor upon me.
In the photo below, I admire the Sword Award, now hanging from the door into my office. Sadly, I’ll have to surrender the sword next month.
Topics: Fun | 7 Comments »
Nurturing Openness and Avoiding Exhaustion
By Mark D. Roberts | Friday, February 6, 2009
Part 4 of series: Advice for Pastor Search Committees
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So far in this series I’ve served two morsels of advice for pastor search committees:
1. Seek first the kingdom of God.
2. Pray without ceasing.
Today I’ll add two more morsels to the list.
3. Be open to God’s surprises
Most search committee members begin the process of seeking a pastor with an image of the kind of person they’re seeking. Often this image is colored by their perceptions of the previous pastor (if there was one). If they liked that pastor, they’ll tend to envision someone quite similar. If they didn’t like that pastor, they’ll imagine someone quite different, often an idealized version of some former pastor. Sometimes committee members start with somebody like the former pastor in mind, only without that pastor’s perceived weaknesses. Perfect pastor here we come!
I don’t think it’s wrong for search committee members to begin with a picture in mind of their next pastor. But if you’re serving on a search committee, don’t let this image keep you from being open to something or someone unexpected. In many cases, committees end up being led by the Spirit to someone who is not at all what they at first anticipated.
Take, for example, the committee that brought me to Irvine Presbyterian Church. Not surprisingly, they began by looking for someone quite a bit like my predecessor, Ben Patterson. They wanted a strong preacher and leader, a person committed to Christ and to prayer. They also envisioned someone who, like Ben at his time of departure, had senior pastor and parental experience. (Ben had four children and had been Irvine’s senior pastor for fourteen years.) The committee that eventually nominated me was not expecting to call someone who was only 33 years old, who had been an associate pastor for just three years, and who didn’t have children. Yet, because the committee was open to God’s surprises, they came to believe that I was the surprise. And, looking back at my sixteen years of ministry at Irvine Pres., I would say that the committee rightly discerned God’s will, both for the church and for me. (Photo: Ben Patterson, Lloyd Ogilvie, and me at my installation as pastor of Irvine Pres.)
4. Exercise endurance and beware of exhaustion.
In the Presbyterian Church (USA), the process of searching for a new pastor usually takes at least a year. It can take twice as long if the search committee is also responsible for doing a large-scale mission study as the first part of the discernment process. Furthermore, unlike ordinary church committees, pastor search committees meet often, perhaps even weekly. During certain seasons of committee work, members are also busy on weekends, visiting the churches of potential candidates or hearing them preach in “neutral” pulpits. (“Neutral” means “not the candidate’s home church and not the committee’s home church.”) Of course most committee members have a life outside of committee work. When you put all of this together, you have a formula for exhaustion, and exhaustion can lead to unhappy results.
I have seen this sort of thing happen several times in churches, and I experienced it once myself. Years ago, I was part of a search committee for an associate pastor. We worked long and hard for many, many months. As we neared what we had hoped would be the end of our labors, we had two decent candidates. But neither one really seemed quite right. Nevertheless, after so much effort, we just couldn’t face the possibility of starting from scratch. Se we ended up deciding upon a particular candidate, even though we all had some reservations. The result was a dismal one both for this individual and for our church. As I look back on our search committee process, I’m convinced that our exhaustion led us to make an unwise decision. In fact, I think physical, mental, and emotional tiredness weakened our ability to think clearly.
So what can a search committee do to avoid letting exhaustion negatively influence both the committee process and the result? First, if all members of the committee are aware that the road ahead will be a long and tortuous one, then they’ll be better prepared to keep on going when there’s no end in sight.
Second, the committee should help itself avoid exhaustion. Too many long and late meetings can add up. Sometimes a committee needs to take a break. Members should be especially attentive to exhaustion in themselves or in others.
Finally, I think it’s better for a committee to call nobody rather than to call the wrong person as a pastor. The pain and damage that come both to church and pastor when there’s a bad match should be avoided at all costs. If a committee comes up empty, it should take an extended break before beginning again. In some cases, a committee might even need to disband, and a new committee be formed. I know this sounds terrible. The good news is that, in most cases, search committees will come to a positive conclusion.
Topics: Pastor Search Committees | 6 Comments »
Pray Without Ceasing
By Mark D. Roberts | Thursday, February 5, 2009
Part 3 of series: Advice for Pastor Search Committees
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Today I continue to offer some advice for pastor search committees. And today, like yesterday, my counsel is a brief quotation from Scripture. Yesterday I urged pastor search committees to “Seek first the kingdom fo God” (Matt 6:33). Today’s exhortation comes from 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Pray without ceasing.”
Of course this is something all Christians should do, both on the basis fo common Christian sense and in response to the clear teaching of Scripture. “Pray without ceasing” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything other than kneel before God in prayer for all of your waking hours. Rather, it involves staying in consistent communication with God, keeping the channel open at all times. If you tend to stop praying when you say “Amen,” then perhaps you should stop saying “Amen” rather than stopping your prayers.
Although all Christians should learn to pray without ceasing, this practice is especially helpful to pastor search committees. Why? To begin, prayer helps us to seek first the kingdom of God. When we come before the King of kinds, when we remember his greatness and holiness, we find it hard to hang onto our own agendas. Yes, I know that we generally approach God with our own needs and wishes. Indeed, Scripture invites us to do this very thing. But as we pray, as we spend time with God in prayer, as we allow the Spirit to pray through us, we discover that our grip on our will loosens as our desire for God’s will increases. Thus, in prayer, we find an increased desire to seek first God’s kingdom.
For this reason and for others, it’s essential that pastor search committees spend ample time in prayer together. Opening and closing each meeting with prayer are good starting points. But sustained group prayer will help a committee to seek God’s kingdom together. Moreover, such prayer fosters spiritual unity, a crucial quality of a health search committee. In the context of a committee meeting, you may engage in a heated conversation with another member. This can lead to division and anger. But if you both come together in humble prayer, with the support and accountability of the other committee members, you’ll find your differences shrinking and your anger subsiding. After prayer, it will be much easier to apologize and forgive.
Search committee members should pray, individually and together, for each aspect of the search process. When it’s time to consider applicants, each individual should be lifted before God in prayer. Committee members can ask, not only for God’s guidance for themselves, but also for those being considered for the position, that they might know and do God’s will.
Given all the work search committees – and there is plenty of it! – some folks may be tempted to shortchange prayer. But this is risky, indeed. Perhaps the best argument for spending extended time in prayer comes from the example of Jesus himself. As you may recall, before he selected his disciples, he spent the whole night in prayer (Luke 6:12-16). (Wouldn’t you love to eavesdrop on that prayer!) The way I figure it, if the sinless Son of God spent so long in communication with the Father before choosing those who would minister in his name, surely we ought to devote ourselves to prayer when we’re seeking a pastor. (Photo: Christ Praying in Gethsemane by Heinrich Hoffmann)
Times of personal and corporate prayer can be enriched through reflection on Scripture that leads into and gives shape to prayer. You might, for example, begin a time of prayer with a slow reading of Psalm 97, letting your prayers focus on the kingly reign of God. Or you might let the story of the call of Moses at the burning bush become the holy ground of your prayer.
Although most pastor search committees will not (and should not) function as a primary support group for members, committees will be strengthened if the members prayer for each other, both in group time and when they’re apart. There is a danger, here of letting personal sharing consume too much corporate time. But if members support each other in prayer, group cohesiveness will be increased.
Finally, as the search committee begins to focus upon a few strong candidates, prayer for each of these people is essential. Many times (almost always?) candidates are wrestling with god on their own. They’re confronting their own “demons” of fear, ambition, pride, inferiority, etc. They need God’s help, not only to discern his will about their particular calling, but also to grow more deeply in relationship with him.
The season of my life when I was considering coming to Irvine Presbyterian Church was one of the most spiritually challenging of my life. I was struggling with more than the question of whether God wanted me to take a particular position or not. This was a time of defining who I was and what was my life’s purpose. I was wrestling with God over the issue of trusting him. How grateful I am that the members of the Irvine search committee were praying for me as I found myself in a lion’s den of confused emotions and perceptions.
To be continued . . . .
Topics: Pastor Search Committees | 3 Comments »
Seek First the Kingdom of God
By Mark D. Roberts | Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Part 2 of series: Advice for Pastor Search Committees
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In my last post I began a series for pastor search committees. Today I begin offering some bits of advice for those who are charged with seeking a new pastor for their church.
My first word of counsel will sound familiar: Seek first the kingdom of God. As you may know, this is a phrase from the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 6:33). Jesus was not advising pastor search committees in this sermon, but his exhortation to seek first the kingdom is, in my view, both relevant to and essential for such committees. In fact, I think it should be their #1 priority.
I know this language will be confusing to some people, especially if you tend to think of the kingdom of God as Heaven, or as some blessed state of affairs on earth, or as an internal feeling of peace. None of these captures Jesus’ meaning of the kingdom of God, however. (If you’re interested in my long answer to the question “What is the kingdom of God in the teaching of Jesus?” please see my series What Was the Message of Jesus?.)
Here I’ll give a short answer to that question. The kingdom of God is God’s reign over all things, including ourselves. Thus it is not primarily a place (Heaven, Israel) or a state of affairs (universal justice) or a feeling (peace), but God’s sovereign rule. Where individuals on a pastor search committee seek first the kingdom of God, they commit to discovering and doing God’s will above all else. They surrender their personal desires and preferences. They are able to pray, truly, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” (Photo: Irvine Presbyterian Church in 1990, when I first started talking with their pastora search committee.)
Similarly, when a committee determines to seek first God’s kingdom, they agree together to pursue God’s will for their church and for their new pastor. Now, in most cases, pastor search committees have agreed to follow certain guidelines, perhaps their denominational polity or the results of a church mission study. I’m not suggesting that committees should disregard these sources of direction. But I am saying that they should give God first place, believing that he will work through their particular process if they are eagerly seeking his will.
If pastor search committees seek first the kingdom of God, they will also broaden their vision of what their church needs in a pastor. They will be less inclined to search for a manager who will maintain the status quo, or a caregiver who will help congregational members “feel the love.” Rather, a kingdom seeking search committee will look for a pastor who can lead their church forward in the soul-saving, world-transforming, community-building, creation-healing mission of God. (See my series: The Mission of God and the Missional Church.)
This bit of advice for pastor search committees – Seek first the kingdom of God – gets first place in my series not only because Jesus said it, and not only because Jesus said it was to take first place, but also because a healthy and productive search process needs this sort of individual and corporate commitment. Committee members, as normal human beings, begin the search process with their own dreams and desires, priorities and prejudices. Many of these may indeed reflect God’s own purposes. But it’s likely that at least some do not. Only when committee members surrender their agendas to God’s agenda will they be ready to find the pastor whom God has chosen for their church.
Before I move on, I should mention a couple of implications of the “seek first the kingdom” principle. One is that members of search committees should, in general, not have close relationships with potentially strong candidates. For example, in one of the associate pastor searches in which I was involved at Irvine Presbyterian Church, we had an “internal” candidate for the position (a member of our church who was eligible for and interested in the open position). One member of our search committee was one of this inside candidate’s best friends. Not only was it impossible for him to be objective about the search, but also it almost killed him when, in the end, he felt compelled to vote not to call his friend. In fact, this man ended up leaving our church because the committee experience had been such a difficult one for him emotionally.
A second implication of the “seek first the kingdom” principle is that members of pastor search committees should be people who are already seeking God first in their lives. A pastor search committee is not a place for immature Christians to grow up in the Lord, even though, as I have already written, most committee members will, in fact, grow considerably in their faith through the committee process.
Tomorrow I’ll press on to the next point.
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Advice for Pastor Search Committees: An Introduction
By Mark D. Roberts | Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Part 1 of series: Advice for Pastor Search Committees
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For some odd reason, these days I seem to have several friends who are serving on church committees charged with seeking a new pastor. They have asked me, not only for suggestions of potential pastoral candidates, but also for any advice I might have for them and their committees. In this blog series I want to collect and share a few of my thoughts about pastor search committees and what might make them successful. I realize that this series won’t be directly relevant to many of my readers. But you may know people who are in the midst of a pastor search. Or you might want to read this series out of curiosity, or to prepare for your own future service on a committee.
In my denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), we call such committees “Pastor Nominating Committees” because their goal is to nominate a candidate for a pastoral position. Only congregations in the PC(USA) have the authority to call a new pastor (with concurrence of their presbytery, the local governing body). But I’m calling this series “Advice for Pastor Search Committees” because it will be more easily understood by Christians from various denominations and independent churches. For the most part, what I want to share is not relevant only to Presbyterians. (Obviously, if you’re in a church where pastors are assigned by bishops with no input from congregations, or where pastors pick their own replacements, this series won’t be especially relevant to you. But even bishop-led denominations often rely on pastor search committees to assist in the calling of pastors.)
I mentioned that I have several friends on pastor search committees. One obvious reason for this is that my former church now has such a committee in place in order to find my successor. It’s no surprise that several of my friends are on this committee. But I also have a number of friends and acquaintances from other churches who are on pastor search committees. Some of these have asked for my counsel about their process as a committee. (Photo: The First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, where I grew up and where I served on staff for seven years, is looking for a new senior pastor.)
What I offer in this series is not meant to be some sort of definitive guide for a search committee. Rather, I want to share some random ideas in the hope that these may be helpful to my friends, and perhaps also to others who are in the pastor seeking process.
My advice here is based on a number of things. First, I’m reflecting on my own experience serving as a member of a pastor search committee. Four times while I was senior pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church is was a member of such a committee as we were looking for associate pastors. (Different presbyteries have different expectations for pastors. Los Ranchos Presbytery required me to serve on the associate pastor search committees.) I have more limited experience as the person being sought by a committee. Only twice have I had more than an initial phone call with a pastor search committee (once with Irvine and one other time). But I have spent lots and lots of time throughout my life listening to pastors and members of search committees. I have watched search processes that have been successful. And I’ve watched those that have failed. (A successful search, in my opinion, produces a pastor who serves fruitfully in a church for at least five years.) So, what you’ll get in this series is the compilation of my experience and that of many others.
A Word for Individual Committee Members
Before I get to my first bit of advice for committees as a whole, I want to say a word for individual committee members. Most folks join pastor search committees because they care deeply about their church and its future, and they want to help their church to have a good pastor. They see the committee process, therefore, primarily as a task that will lead to a positive result for the church.
This perspective is fine, and substantially true. But I want to suggest another dimension of serving on a pastor search committee. It has to do with the individual member’s spiritual growth. Over the years I have heard from many people that serving on a pastor search committee helped them to grow significantly in their faith. Such growth is a result, in part, of members gathering on a regular basis to talk about the kingdom of God and its implications for their lives. Also, growth comes because committee members tend to spend much more time in prayer during a search process as they pray with the group and on their own. Then there’s the whole matter of trusting God. Given how much rides on the decision of a pastor search committee, members often feel overwhelmed. They find that they have to trust God more than ever, and such reliance on the Lord is essential to spiritual growth.
Now I’m certainly not suggesting that somebody should volunteer to serve on a pastor search committee primarily as a means to grow in Christ. The first motivation should find the right pastor for their church. But, if you’re ever on a search committee, I’d encourage you attend to what God is doing in your life through the process. How are you being challenged? Encouraged? Stretched? Reassured? How might you be different at the end of the process, by God’s grace?
In my next post I’ll offer up my first piece of advice for committees. Stay tuned . . . .
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Sunday Inspiration from The High Calling
By Mark D. Roberts | Sunday, February 1, 2009
“There Is No God”
For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,
those greedy for gain curse and renounce the LORD.
In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, “God will not seek it out”;
all their thoughts are, “There is no God.”
Throughout Britain these days, buses are displaying signs paid for by donations to the British Humanist Association. The signs read: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Not to be outdone, America had its own anti-God display recently. Last December in Olympia, Washington, an atheist group posted a sign next to a privately sponsored nativity scene. The sign read: “At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”
Though the forms of propaganda might be new, the enthusiasm of atheism is not. Ages ago, the Psalmist bemoaned the pride of the wicked, who boasted of their selfish desires and who were convinced that “There is no God.” Therefore, when we see the boldness of today’s atheists, we mustn’t lose heart. Rather, we must be confident in our faith, clear in our communication, and conscientious in our actions. For, not only is the atheist creed false, but it also lacks the power to change lives. Thus, we have the chance to persuade people of the truth of the Gospel, both through our words and especially through our lives.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: Are you living in such a way that people around you can see God’s presence in your life? What could you do this next week to live in a way that reflected the reality of God?
PRAYER: Dear Lord, yes, there’s nothing new under the sun. Those who deny you continue to proclaim their “truth” and delight in their freedom to live without your guidance.
Today I pray for those who are steadfast in proclaiming and defending your truth in the wider world. Give wisdom to faithful theologians and apologists. Protect their hearts from attack and discouragement. Grant them humility even as they speak of the truth with boldness.
I also pray for myself today and for all who know you that we might live in this world in a way that reveals your reality. Help me to be a person of true grace and humility. May the way I treat each and every person I meet reflect your hospitality. May I, and all of my brothers and sisters in you, truly be salt and light in this world. To you be all the glory. Amen.
Daily Reflections from The High Calling.org
This devotional comes from The High Calling of Our Daily Work (www.thehighcalling.org). You can read my Daily Reflections there, or sign up to have them sent to your email inbox each day. This website contains lots of encouragement for people who are trying to live out their faith in the workplace.
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A Fantastic Video Clip
By Mark D. Roberts | Saturday, January 31, 2009
I expect many of you have seen this clip of Jason McElwain, but if not, it’s well worth two minutes and eleven seconds of your time. Enjoy!
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A Postscript on Billy Graham
By Mark D. Roberts | Friday, January 30, 2009
Part 4 of series: The Inaugural Prayers of Billy Graham
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As I wrap up this short series on the inaugural prayers of Billy Graham, I thought I might share a couple of personal stories.
In the late summer of 1963, Billy Graham preached at a crusade in Los Angeles, California. It was the third of seven Graham crusades in the greater Los Angeles area (1949; 1958; 1963; 1969 in Anaheim; 1974; 1985 in Anaheim; 2004). This crusade spanned many days, and, even though the weather was quite hot, hundreds of thousands of people flocked to hear Billy Graham. (Photo: The headline of the Los Angeles Times, September 9, 1963).
Among them was my family: my mom and dad, my grandparents, and me. I’m not sure how many nights we went to the crusade, but I do remember that we took picnic suppers, that Rev. Graham wore a raincoat after he finished preaching even though it wasn’t raining, and that after one of his sermons, I went forward to become a Christian. There I met my “counselor,” a very nice man who reminded me of Crazy Guggenheim from the Jackie Gleason Show. He used John 3:16 to help me invite Jesus into my heart. Even though I was just six years old, I meant what I prayed that night . . . and still do, forty-five years later.
Fairly recently I learned that my father, who had escorted me to the field, also gave his life to Christ that night. I had always thought that he came forward just to help me. It was special to learn that my dad became a Christian on the same field and the same night as I did.
As you can well imagine, ever since that time I’ve had a deep fondness for Billy Graham. Thus I have followed his life and ministry with interest and pride. There’s just about nobody in the world for whom I have more respect and appreciation than Billy Graham.
In 1985 I was working as the college director at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, under the leadership of Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie. “Hollywood Pres” was a wild place in those days. On Sundays in church you might see one of the leading stars in Hollywood. During the weekdays, however, the church campus was visited by hundreds of homeless people looking for food and clothing. A few of those folks were dangerous, and had threatened people who worked at the church. Thus, by 1985, the church receptionist, Daisy, sat behind bars, rather like ones you’ll find in some old post offices. I called the receptionist’s desk “Daisy’s cage.”
One afternoon I was talking to Daisy through her cage bars, when all of a sudden her eyes grew large with surprise. I heard some noise behind me, and, given the look on Daisy’s face, knew that I was about to confront some very scary homeless man. I turned around warily, ready for just about anything. There, standing three feet away from me, stood Billy Graham.
Now I was prepared to deal with some strange street person, but not my all-time hero. I opened my mouth to say something polite, but all that came out of it was: AAAAAHHHHHH! From his response to me, I expect Rev. Graham had heard that before. Without missing a beat, he said, “Hello, I’m Billy Graham. Nice to meet you, young man.” Like he needed to introduce himself! I finally gathered my wits about me and said, “Nice to meet you too, Rev. Graham!”
He explained that he was at the church for a meeting with Lloyd Ogilive as part of the planning for the 1985 crusade in Anaheim. I said that I would be honored to escort him to Dr. Ogilvie’s office, which I did. Along the way I explained that I became a Christian during his 1963 crusade, and how grateful I was for his ministry. He received this story graciously. I wondered at the time how many such stories he had heard over the years. Surely tens of thousands.
As I walked Rev. Graham to Dr. Ogilvie’s office, I noticed that he looked tired. Afterwards, I wondered how much longer he’d be able to do crusades. I figured the pace of his ministry must have been exhausting. Plus, by 1985 Billy Graham was 67 years old. As it turns out, he continued to preach at crusades for 20 more years.
I did not attend the Billy Graham crusade in Anaheim in 1985, but my father did. In fact, he worked at this crusade as a “counselor” for children. When young people came forward to receive Christ, as I had done 22 years earlier, my dad used John 3:16 to introduce them to Christ. He loved this ministry! It turned out to be the last ministry my dad ever did. Soon after the crusade his cancer worsened, and he had to pull back from his church involvement as an elder and Sunday School teacher. He died a year later. There is something wonderful about the way my dad ended his ministry, much as he had begun his relationship with Christ, on the field of a Billy Graham crusade.
I never had the opportunity to team up in ministry with Billy Graham. But I am blessed to be a partner with one of Billy Graham’s lifelong friends and fellow evangelists, Howard E. Butt, Jr. Before Howard founded Laity Lodge, he teamed up with Billy Graham in a number of evangelistic crusades. They worked together to encourage lay people in their ministry, and were close partners in the founding of Christianity Today. What a privilege to know and share life with people of such incredible faith and vision!
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Billy Graham’s Inaugural Prayers, Section 3
By Mark D. Roberts | Thursday, January 29, 2009
Part 3 of series: The Inaugural Prayers of Billy Graham
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If you read all four of Billy Graham’s published inaugural prayers, you find some interesting continuities and discontinuities. I have already examined many of these. I want to finish up this brief series by noting a few other aspects of Graham’s prayers that I find interesting.
Praying for the President Plus
In 1969, Billy Graham prayed for the nation and for Richard Nixon. Some of what he prayed now sounds sadly ironic, such as:
And in the lonely moments of decision grant him an uncompromising courage to do what is morally right. Give him a cool head and a warm heart. . . . We pray that Thou wilt so guide Richard Nixon in handling the affairs of state that the whole world will marvel and glorify Thee.
In this prayer, Graham did pray for more than just Mr. Nixon: “What we pray for President Nixon we pray for Vice President Agnew and members of the Cabinet.” (Photo: Graham praying at the 1969 inauguration.)
In 1989, his prayer appears to have focused only on the nation and George H.W. Bush (though we seem not to have the text of the whole prayer). At least on the surface, Vice President-elect Dan Quayle was not mentioned.
In 1993, Graham’s prayer included more than just President-elect Bill Clinton:
And now, on this twentieth day of January, 1993, we commit to you President-elect Clinton and Vice-President-elect Gore, who you have permitted to take leadership at this critical time in our nation’s history. Help them always to see the office to which they’ve been elected as a sacred trust from you. We pray that you will bless their wives who will share so much of the responsibility and burdens.
It’s quite striking to see how much the Vice President is regarded as a co-leader with the President. I can only wonder what happened to lead Rev. Graham to pray in such a different way.
President-elect Clinton did receive some specific intercessions:
Make President-elect Clinton know that he is never really alone but that the eternal God can be his refuge and he can turn to you in every circumstance. Give him the wisdom you’ve promised to those who ask and the strength that you alone can give.
Perhaps most striking in the 1989 prayer is Graham’s specific mention of President Bush in his prayer at Clinton’s inauguration: “We thank you for his predecessor President Bush and the dedication he gave to this office. Bless him as he and Mrs. Bush continue their dedicated service to our country in other spheres.”
Graham’s last inaugural prayer was the most inclusive of all. In fact, nothing in the 1997 prayer was focused on President Clinton alone:
Give to all those to whom You have entrusted leadership today a desire to seek Your will and to do it.
So today we ask Your blessing on President Clinton and his wife, Hillary, and their daughter, Chelsea; and upon Vice President Gore and his wife, Tipper, and their children.
Give to all our leaders the vision of what You desire America to become, and the wisdom to accomplish it, and the strength to cross the bridges into the 21st Century.
We pray also for the members of the House and the Senate; for the Supreme Court; and for all who bear responsibility of leadership in this nation which is blessed with such ethnic diversity.
We have not solved all the social problems of our time, such as drugs and racism. Technology and social engineering have not solved the basic problems of human greed, pride, intolerance, and selfishness. We need Your insight, we need Your compassion, we need Your strength.
As both President Clinton and Senator Dole urged us in the recent presidential campaign, may this be a time of coming together to help us deal with the problems we face. O Lord, help us to be reconciled first to you and secondly to each other.
President Clinton shows up only in a prayer of blessing that includes his family and the Gore family. Otherwise, Graham prays for “all our leaders,” including specifically the Congress and the Supreme court. He even mentions by name President Clinton’s opponent in the 1996 election, Senator Bob Dole. I wonder if, over the years, Rev. Graham realized that prayers for the President weren’t nearly enough, and that the whole Federal government needed divine help. It certainly is curious that Richard Nixon got 216 words of focused intercession in the 1969 prayer, while Bill Clinton didn’t get one such word in the 1997 prayer. On the other hand, in 1969 the rest of the government outside of the President’s cabinet wasn’t mentioned, while in 1997 Graham repeatedly prayed for “all our leaders” and specifically mentioned “members of the House and the Senate” and “the Supreme court.”
How Billy Graham Ended His Inaugural Prayers
I got into this study of Graham’s inaugural prayers because of the furor over Rick Warren’s invocation at the inauguration of Barack Obama. One of the contentious issues was whether or not Warren should say “in Jesus’ name” at the end of his prayer. Of course, in the end, Warren surprised everybody by praying in the name of Jesus, Yeshua, Issa, and Jesus (pronounced Hay-Soos).
Billy Graham on the contrary, did not mention Jesus by name in any of his four prayers. Nor did he say the word “Christ.” But that is not to say Jesus didn’t appear in the prayers. Here’s what I’ve been able to find:
1969
Help us this day to turn from our sins and to turn by simple faith to the One who said, “Ye must be born again.”
O God, we consecrate Richard Milhous Nixon to the Presidency of these United States with the assurance that from this hour on, as he and his family move into the White House, they will have the presence and the power of Thy Son who said, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”
We pray this humbly in the Name of the Prince of Peace who shed His blood on the Cross that men might have eternal life. Amen
1989
[The closing appears to be missing from the archive text.]
1993
I pray this in the name of the one that’s called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. Amen.
1997
This we pray in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
I only wish I could sit down with Billy Graham and ask him about these developments. It’s obvious that in 1969 he was playing the role of the evangelist. In latter prayers he continued to recognize Jesus, though not by name, and not with the evangelistic zeal of the 1969 prayer. I’m not at all suggesting that Graham was any less committed to leading people into faith in Christ. But it’s clear that his sense of the purpose of the inaugural prayer changed over time.
We see this most starkly when comparing the 1969 and 1997 prayers. The 1969 prayer consisted of an extended intercession for Richard Nixon, with a brief mention of the Vice President and Cabinet. The 1997 prayer included nothing specifically for President Clinton, and much more prayer for a wide spectrum of leaders. Moreover, the 1969 prayer was strongly evangelistic, while the 1997 prayer contained nothing about faith in Christ, who was mentioned only in the closing “in the name of the Father, then Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
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Billy Graham’s Inaugural Prayers, Section 2
By Mark D. Roberts | Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Part 11 of series: Rick Warren, the Obama Inauguration, and Praying in Jesus’ Name
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In my last post, I began examining four prayers offered by the Rev. Billy Graham at presidential inaugurations (1969, 1989, 1993, 1997). I note considerable variation in length (though I don’t have the full text of the 1989 prayer). I also note something I 2find most curious, namely, that none of the Graham’s inaugural prayers contains the words “Jesus” or “Christ,” though he figures prominently in them by other names. (If you want to read these prayers, please go to my last post for the links.)
Today I want to comment on several other features of the inaugural prayers that I find interesting:
1. Every prayer is offered to “Our Father and our God,” though the 1993 prayer reverses the order.
2. Within the first few words of the prayer, Graham mentions “this historic occasion,” though in 1997 he refers to is as “this historic and solemn occasion.”
3. Every prayer refers, near the beginning, to the spiritual “foundations” of the United States. The 1969 and 1989 prayers quote a passage of Scripture that reads: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” This is Psalm 11:3 in the KJV.
4. Every prayer also mentions the nation’s “forefathers,” except the 1989 prayer doesn’t use the word “forefathers,” but mentions George Washington by name instead.
5. Every prayer contains some confession of national sin. Two prayers include a request for foregiveness (1989, 1997).
6. Every prayer includes quotation of Scripture, though in varying degrees. Here’s my count:
1969 - 7 quotations
1989 - 2 quotations
1993 - 2 quotations
1997 - 2 quotations
7. Not only did the 1969 prayer contain more Scripture quotations, but also it was the one prayer that was openly evangelistic. It included such lines as:
Help us this day to turn from our sins and to turn by simple faith to the One who said, “Ye must be born again.”
We pray this humbly in the Name of the Prince of Peace who shed His blood on the Cross that men might have eternal life.
Can you imagine the furor if Rick Warren had prayed like this? Whew! It is interesting to me how much has chanced in our culture in the last 40 years.
8. The similarities between the opening lines of the 1969 and 1989 prayers are striking. It seems almost as if Rev. Graham pulled out the 1969 prayer when he was writing the 1989 prayer. This isn’t a criticism, by the way. Good prayer language deserves repetition. Just ask any faithful Catholic or Episcopalian. At any rate, here are excerpts from the 1969 and 1989 prayers (italics added):
1969: Our Father and our God, Thou hast said, “Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord.” We recognize on this historic occasion that we are “a nation under God.” We thank Thee for this torch of faith handed to us by our forefathers. May we never let it be extinguished. Thou alone hast given us our prosperity, our freedom and our power. This faith in God is our heritage and our foundation! Thou hast warned us in the Scriptures, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”As George Washington reminded us in his farewell address, morality and faith are the pillars of our society.
1989: Our Father and our God, Thou hast said, ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.’ We recognize on this historic occasion that we are a nation under God. This faith in God is our foundation and our heritage. Thou hast warned us in the Holy Scriptures, ‘If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?’ We confess that we are in danger of destroying some of those foundations, for at times our faith in Thee has faltered and we chosen to go our own way rather than the way that Thou wouldst have us go, both as individuals and as a nation. Forgive us, we pray, as we turn to Thee in repentance and faith. Restore us to Thyself and create within us a desire to follow Thy will for all our lives. As George Washington reminded us in his farewell address, morality and faith are the pillars of our society.
9. You’ll notice that in both of these prayers, Rev. Graham refers to God with “Thee” and “Thou.” This was common prayer language for people who used the King James version of the Bible. I expect it was how Graham prayed in private, as well as in public. Strikingly, in the 1993 and 1997 prayers, he addressed God with “You,” having retired the more antique language of the earlier prayers.
More next time . . . .
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Billy Graham’s Inaugural Prayers, Section 1
By Mark D. Roberts | Monday, January 26, 2009
Part 10 of series: Rick Warren, the Obama Inauguration, and Praying in Jesus’ Name
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Before I wrap up this series on inaugural prayers, I’d like to examine several prayers offered by the Rev. Billy Graham. No religious leader in our nation’s history has been more involved in presidential inaugurations than Graham. He has offered several prayers, as well as sermons at worship services associated with inaugurations.
Several of the texts of Graham’s inaugural prayers have been collected in the Billy Graham Center Archives at Wheaton College, and have been made available online. This collection includes:
January 20, 1969 - Inaugural prayer for Richard Nixon
January 20, 1989 - Inaugural invocation for George H.W. Bush
January 20, 1993 - Inaugural invocation for William J. Clinton
January 20, 1997 - Inaugural prayer for William J. Clinton
I don’t have the resources to know if these texts are exactly what Graham said. Curiously enough, the archive text of the 1989 prayer for George H.W. Bush contains no closing, no “in Jesus’ name,” no “Amen,” no “Play ball!” It also appears to omit some words from the center of the prayer, because it now reads, “May we never forget that . . . .” I seriously doubt that Graham actually said, “dot dot dot” or “yada yada yada.” But, at any rate, we do have four of Graham’s inaugural prayers, more or less. I think it will be interesting to examine them. If you do too, keep reading. If not, come back to visit in a couple of days.
Some General Observations on Graham’s Inaugural Prayers
First, there’s an interesting variation in prayer length:
1969 - 654 words
1989 - 298 words (edited)
1993 - 298 words
1997 - 525 words
Did Graham sense that Richard Nixon needed a lot more prayer than the others? And that Bill Clinton came in a close second? Both Presidents got in a heap of trouble in the terms following Graham’s long prayers. Nixon resigned. Clinton was impeached. Is a long inaugural prayer a jinx? (Rick Warren’s prayer for Obama was 482 words. Without the Lord’s Prayer, it was 415 words. That seems to bode well for President Obama.)
Among the 1775 total words that Billy Graham uttered in these four inaugural prayers, you’ll find words we associate with Christianity, such as “love,” “faith,” “hope,” “justice,” and “forgive.” But what I find most curious is that in all four of Graham’s prayers you will not find the words “Jesus” or “Christ.” You’ll find references to Jesus, even blunt requests for people to come to faith in Christ, such as “Help us this day to turn from our sins and to turn by simple faith to the One who said, ‘Ye must be born again.’” (1969 prayer). But for some reason, Graham never named Jesus by name, using his English given name, “Jesus,” or his title that has become synonymous with his name, “Christ.” In four prayers, no name of Jesus appears. (Rick Warren made up for this by using four names of Jesus in his one prayer!).
I would love to ask Billy Graham why he chose not to say the words “Jesus” or “Christ” in his inaugural prayers. One could surely not accuse him of being ashamed of Jesus in public. In fact, he has probably said the name “Jesus” to more people than any other person in history. I wonder of Graham if somehow sensed that using the literal name of Jesus would be unhelpful in some way.
Tomorrow I’ll get more into the substance of Graham’s prayers. For now, I want to note one other bit of fascinating inaugural history. According to the Billy Graham Archives website, in January, 1969, Graham spent the last night of the Lyndon Johnson presidency with the Johnson family in the White House. Then, the next day he prayed at Nixon’s inauguration. Twenty four years later, he spent the last night of George H.W. Bush’s presidency with the Bush family in the White House, before praying at the inauguration of William J. Clinton. This speaks volumes about the unique ministry of Billy Graham, who wasn’t just a preacher who prayed in public, but a pastor to presidents from both parties. (Photo: Billy Graham [left] and three former presidents at the dedication of the Billy Graham Library in May 2007.)
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