S2E9 — A Tale of Two Pastors

The following is a transcript of a video from my channel, Almost Ordained.

Video link: https://youtu.be/5FiajDHNRH8

Opening: Welcome to another episode of “Almost Ordained.” I am your host, David, the guy who graduated seminary but never got ordained.

The Interim Pastor: You’re hired, but not for long

I’m thinking about what makes a good pastor, because the pastor at my church has announced he is going to retire. The process of searching for a new pastor takes a long time. In our denomination, we first look for an interim pastor, and try to fill that pretty quickly. His job — or her job, because in our denomination, women can be ordained. And some of you already are saying, “That means your church is an apostate church, because the Bible says, ‘Women should keep silent in the church.’” Yeah, I read that differently. I don’t have time to explain it now, but it will probably be a topic for a future episode.

Anyway, I’ve been in churches with an interim pastor twice, so I know pretty much what to expect. Basically, when the interim pastor comes in, they hold down the fort until the church finds and approves a candidate to be the permanent pastor. In one of those cases, we wanted to make the interim our permanent pastor, but he was going to move. His wife had received a job offer somewhere else that was just too good to pass up, so their gain, our loss.

So we are at the beginning and trying to find an interim, someone who is willing to come into the job knowing we are already looking for his or her replacement. It sounds unfair when I say it like that. But whoever it is understands. That’s the nature of the position.

I’ve had good relationships with my pastors most of my life. Having graduated seminary myself, I really respect the work they have to do to become ordained, and the work of a pastor once they get hired. Whoever comes next for us has big shoes to fill in my mind. He officiated my wedding, and he conducted the funeral service for my two grandparents who died four days apart. So I have a personal connection, and I’ve seen and greatly respected his leadership style over the years.

What Makes a Good Pastor?

Even so, not all pastors are good, so I appreciate the good ones even more. Which brings me back to the question, what makes a good pastor? Of course, it helps if they preach good…