The Subversive Pastor

I read an article in Leadership Journal recently that continues to trouble me. The article was an interview with Andy Stanley, pastor of Northpoint Church in Atlanta. Northpoint has experienced phenomenal growth in the last several years and is literally reaching thousands of people. What troubled me in the article was the way that Andy described the role of a pastor. Basically, he described a pastor as a CEO. He said that the role of a pastor as shepherd is antiquated and not efficient for the church. I got to the end of the article and felt nauseous (is that the right spelling? i guess i'm not being efficient with spell-check.) If this is what being a pastor is all about, then count me out.

I embrace and seek to live the life of a shepherd/pastor. I choose what is subsersive to the "religious" culture of our day. Call it antiquated...call it inefficient...I call it biblical and right. It is not about numbers, programs, or business goals. It is about setting hearts free, restoring broken marriages/relationships...one heart at a time. It is about journey, more than goal. It is about recovery, more than arriving. It is about honesty, more than getting it right. It is about trust, more than efficiency.

I am living in a new season of what it means to pastor and shepherd people. My calling to pastor is more real than ever. God has given me various assigments over the years to live out that calling. Some have been in the local church. Other assignments have been outside of the established church. This current assignment with Encounter is taking me to new levels of ministry and life-calling. I am learning so much right now about what it means to be a pastor...subversive to culture.

A few quotes from Eugene Peterson (my heart so connects with Peterson in his writings)...
"The biggest enemy to the Church is the development and proliferation of programs to meet people's needs. Everyone has a hunger for God, but our tastes (needs) are screwed up. We've been raised on junk food, so what we ask for is often wrong or twisted. The art of spiritual leadership is not to tell people that they can't have what they want, but to give them something of what they've asked for and not let it go at that. You try to shift the dimensions of their lives slowly towards what God wants."

"We are artists, not CEO's. The true pastorate is a work of art -- the art of life and spirit."