The Preacher or the Plan

One of the first things I did in ministry in the church was working as a summer youth worker in Blakely, Georgia.  Clark Pafford was the pastor.  He left an imprint on so much of what I did and how I did ministry for the next forty years.  I remember that he often told me, "The success of your ministry will be measured by what happens after you leave."  I am not sure I understood exactly what he was trying to help me understand at the time, but as the years slipped along I began to realize he was telling me not to make ministry dependent upon myself.      

It is a subtle temptation for many who serve the church.  The temptation manifest itself in the false idea that the church we are serving cannot function without us.  We begin to see ourselves as being indispensable to its future.  And, a further manifestation of the delusion comes as we create an cadre of people who buy into the idea that no one else can do the work.   One of the things I have noted over the years of going from one church to another is that not one closed after I left and someone else showed up to fill the pulpit.   

While I have always been a believer in the importance of strong leadership from those who serve the church, there is also some truth in the reality that God is often about certain things in given moments in the life of the church and we partner with Him in the work, or we can balk and set back the plan of God for a time.  But, if there is something He designs for the church in a particular place, He will find someone to do it.  The great temptation for any preacher is thinking the preacher is greater than the plan.