My Beliefs as a Pastor of a Church
I am a conservative Southern Baptist in my views.
A pastor has a calling for God.
He should not be considered a professional, because he is a servant of the Lord. He should not be a people-pleaser, but not a dictator either. He must state the truth of Scripture with love and lead those God has placed in his care. Because the pastor is responsible to God for all that is taught and the Scripture followed, or not followed in the Church, and he will be doubly judged. I take that very seriously.
Case in point: Can a woman teach a Co-ed Adult Sunday School Class, especially if she is doing a good job?
According to Scripture, no. 1 Timothy 2:9-15 (NASB)
"Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint."
A Church has to decide, is it going to follow the teaching of Scripture in 1st Timothy or ignore it? When you start ignoring Scripture you are treading on dangerous ground. This could also be a sign of a Church controlled by women, if in fear of the reaction of women you do not follow what Scripture clearly states.
Remember, 2 Timothy also holds a requirement for a pastor, a standard that he must fulfill. A person either follows Scripture or not. Can I ignore those requirements if I don't like them?
I believe in the Sovereignty of God but I believe everyone has a freewill choice to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior or reject Him. I do not hold Calvinistic or Reformed theological views.
I firmly believe every believer has a role to fulfill in Church by using their physical gifts and talents as well as their Spiritual Gift to build up the Church and build their sense of belonging and being a part of the Church. Serving the Lord is rewarding and fulfilling and brings great joy. My role as the pastor is to help everyone understand their gifts and how to use them effectively to build up the Church to the glory of God.
If your Church is in the habit of chasing the latest fad and fashion coming out of the SBC, then I am not the pastor you want.
I am primarily an expository preacher and teacher. Which means I preach all the Bible in context. However, at times I may feel led to preach a subject-based sermon that may be relevant to a situation or incident that needs biblical clarification.
Today, too many Churches erroneously believe that if they get rid of their pews and put in chairs or get rid of the choir and get a praise band instead, then this will attract lost people to come to Church. Also, people believe if the Church turns to contemporary worship they can attract and keep their youth when they transition to adults. This view is faulty since if a person attends Church for the music they are attending Church for the wrong reason and keeping young people in Church is about relationships, not music. That is why I recommend a powerful book to pastors, Church leaders, and parents by Steve Parr and Tom Crites.
Why They Stay: Helping Parents and Church Leaders Make Investments That Keep Children and Teens Connected to the Church for a Lifetime.
If your Church has done that already, we can work from there and make the Church about Jesus and not our desires. God's plans are not thwarted by the efforts of man.
Understand this, lost people do not know anything about Church music. They do not come for the chairs or the music. The key to attracting and keeping people in the Church lost or saved is relationships, not just with the pastor but with all the members.
The back door to the Church is taken by people who leave the Church because they did not make the relational connections that people desire and they left because the felt like no one cared about them.
People come to Church and stay for usually one of four reasons.
1. They have a huge problem that is too big for them, and they are seeking God to help.
2. Someone invited them to Church, and hopefully invited them and pick them up and brought them to Church.
3. The Church went door-to-door sharing the Gospel and inviting people to Church.
4. It is the Church they grew up in and their family is there.
Furthermore, it is these four reasons people come and are open to hearing the Gospel that must be presented in every sermon.
Music. I am a singer gifted by God to sing His praises. I sing all kinds of songs, and if they are theologically sound and Biblically accurate, I will sing praise songs to hymns. Today, people have forgotten that singing is supposed to be an offering of praise to God; it is not about your likes and wishes. We have worship music wars in Church, and it ends up splitting Churches, they just reside in the same building, and Satan laughs. I believe the best strategy and a mature Christian would agree that we can sing both types as long as they are theologically and biblically accurate. Moreover, both sides get to learn all the songs. We in Church are too focused on self and what we want, when we should be focused on God and what is pleasing to Him instead.
I am NOT a King James Only person because having learned Greek and Hebrew, and I now understand some of the translation errors in the KJV. Remember, translations are not inspired or infallible, only original autographs, which have been lost through time but faithfully and meticulously copied from that time; so we can trust the early Greek and Hebrew copies. The KJV has been revised since 1611 30,000+ times, and if God inspired the KJV, then corrections would not be needed.
My preferred English Bible translation is the New American Standard Bible or NASB. Most scholars agree that the NASB is the closest word for word translation from the Greek and Hebrew texts. There are other good versions and the KJV is in the list, ESV, NIV, Net, because of the great Greek and Hebrew notes. However, when I prepare a text to preach, I look closely at the Greek and Hebrew text to see if some nuances may exist that did not translate well into English.
The Bible is my guide, my Worldview, for what I believe and how I live. If the Bible says it is good, then it is good. If it says it is not good or sin, then it is bad and sin no matter what the world or culture thinks. This is why I do not believe women should teach men.
With that said, here are some topics where I take a stand and would never change.
1. Homosexuality is a sin and an abomination to God. No one can say they are a Christian and a Homosexual because to live that lifestyle is in open rebellion against God's Word. In the Bible, it is a capital offense worthy of death. Homosexuality is never viewed as acceptable in Scripture. With that said, understand that homosexuals can repent and be forgiven, and many have, and that does not mean we are unloving to them but honest with them that God has an extreme hatred for that lifestyle. I will never officiate a wedding or baptize anyone claiming to be a homosexual, inside the Church, or anywhere else.
2. Abortion, there is never a good reason to kill a child, born or unborn. God judges severely all nations that spill the blood of the innocent, and our land is polluted with their blood. Judgment is sure for our country unless we turn back to God.
I firmly believe that the model given by Scripture and proven through the centuries to be the best model is a Church primarily guided by male-driven leadership. That means I do not and will not endorse or allow women pastors or deacons in the Church or allow women to teach men, nor will I be a pastor of a Church that is controlled formally or informally by women.
That means if all the activities and direction of the Church are planned by women, apart from the leadership of men. I am not saying that women are not important in the Church, but there are God-given roles defined by Scripture that is best for the Church to follow. We need to make Churches more male-centric since studies show if a man comes to faith then there is a 92+% chance of the rest of the family coming to faith in Jesus. Too often Church puts little effort to reach out and minister to men effectively.
I firmly believe every activity at the Church must have a purpose and simply not based on past history or familiar to our culture.
During last mother's day I shared the "180" Movie, it is highlighting how Nazism and the tactics and outlook of the Pro-Choice movement are very similar. If you have never seen the video I highly recommend it for every Christian as apologetics for abortion. You can see the video by clicking this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y2KsU_dhwI
FYI, Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and recommended their faith to outsiders were called Christian apologists.
I have discovered that what a Church uses to draw people to Church, then that is what you have to keep doing to keep them there.
If people are not coming to the Church to learn about the Bible, God, and Jesus, and building a sense of community and belonging, then anything else we do is pointless. Churches need to stop their passive witness to their community by good deeds but instead actually witness and share the Gospel because this will have a more significant impact.
The Church exists to support the believers and share the Gospel. The Church does not exist to fix the problems in society nor are they responsible to provide support to non-believers. The notion of getting help from the Church by non-Christians comes from the Catholic theology of "Good Works" as one of the tools in their progressive grace. This has not been a Protestant view.
I believe every Christian should be able to defend their faith and share their faith. They need to be trained and taught that wherever they go and whomever they meet, they should be ready to ask five questions:
1. Do you have any kind of spiritual belief?
2. To you who is Jesus?
3. Do you believe in Heaven or Hell?
4. If you died today, where would you go?
5. If what you believe is not true, would you want to know the truth?
If they say yes, which 99% of the time they will, then you pull out your pocket New Testament and take them down the Roman Road, or use the Three Circles or Gospel Tract and share the Gospel with them. This is what I train people how to do.
Remember, I can not save anyone. There is no such thing as soul winners. My job, our job is to share the Gospel actively and accurately according to Scripture with love and faith. The Holy Spirit will do the rest. It is like fishing; we throw the bait in the water; the fish sees it, but it the Holy Spirit that makes it looks like something you want and need.
Also, if a person does not see a problem with their life or how they are living without God, there is no problem, and only when they understand there is a problem will they be open to the Gospel. I believe this is why God allows hardship and problems in people's lives, for them to understand they can't handle it themselves and they need God.
I say all this not to be harsh but to be open about my faith and position in the ways a pastor should lead the Church. So people can know where I stand.
I'm not perfect, I could be wrong. But I would ask you to show me the Scripture that shows I am incorrect. Because if I have misunderstood Scripture, I want to know it.
I could say more, but I will leave it at that. I know what I believe and why.