The Rookie Pastor Manifesto

7/31/2019 The Rookie Pastor Manifesto

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A few things you need to know

Josh Tandy


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It is time.

Time to be who we were created to be.

Administrators

Speakers

Babysitters

Nickel and Nose Counters

Nice Young Men and Women

Maintainers

Programmers

Bored

Afraid

Restrained


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Pastors

Kingdom bearers

Bold

Painfully Humble

Servants

Leaders


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It doesnt matter if you get paid or if you volunteer. Nor does

it matter if you are still unpacking your ofce or if you havehelped many pack up their ofces. If you are a pastor, act likeit.

Before you interview or send out any resumes understand yourcalling. Before you start looking for something else understandyour calling.

Personality tests are great tools but they dont speak to calling.Calling comes from God and God alone. Others may speak tothis or conrm it, but it comes from God.

Get on your face. Pray in silence. Try things and be receptiveto the Spirit as you do. Let God close the door. Figure out

what you were created to do. You could articulate this as aposition or location, but at the core this is about your personalmission from the Creator of the Universe.


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Knowing your calling does not mean you get to live in your

calling.

Cleaning out the church van, leading the church choir,dressing up as the mascot for VBS, going to committeemeetings and any number of other things are all things you willbe doing that are outside of your calling.

Ministry is preaching, leading, and counseling but it is alsoabout cleaning toilets and ofce work and monotonous work.

I wasnt prepared for this reality. I should have been, but Ibelieved that I would be able to lock myself in a roompreparing messages and go on youth trips.

There is a line that you will have to discover here. At somepoint you will be operating so far outside your calling that youwill become frustrated and cynical.

Being 100% within your calling is not a realistic expectation asa Rookie Pastor, gure out how broad your calling is and whatyou need to serve from a sustainable spot.

It will be humbling, but you could probably use some of that.


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The condent excitement that we have when we rst start is

close to something useful but is as misguided as it is helpful.

At the root of this is pride and pride is antithetical to calling.

Be condent in your calling not in your abilities or youropinions or even your theology.

We need pastors that are condent in their calling.

Pastors who dont try to preach like their favorite podcastpreacher. Or want a church like the last church memoir youread. You dont know the reality because you arent there. Youdont have their calling, you have yours and this should giveyou peace.

So if in your mind your calling has to do with book sales,attendance numbers, and conference invitations. Repent.

The specic calling as a pastor should bring glory to God asyou:

Live faithfully to that calling


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Minister to your family rst

Help others experience their calling through enabling and

equipping

Live out the Gospel and Kingdom as you sing it and preach itand forgive and reconcile with those who dont reciprocate


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We like to argue about Scripture. It is important and at times

life giving. But to paraphrase Mark Twain lets concernourselves with the Scriptures in which we have no doubt.

Entertain the possibility that Bible College and Seminary werenot the conclusion of your education. That potentially youhave yet to complete your formation. And that your favoritepreacher/author/leader may be mistaken.

Rookie Pastors usually nd themselves working under otherpastors who are more experienced. The generational gap,among other things, tends to create tension. If you havent

already you will nd how easy it is to be critical of thoseleading you, but it isnt effective.

Find a way to learn from those around you. It is great for yourdevelopment, humility, and garners respect that will make therelationship more effective. If you cringe of that because itsmacks of politics, Im sorry but this is the reality of ministry.


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Speaking of learning respect those who came before. Your

arrogance is giving all of us a bad name.

I know you have some great ideas and are ready to go, but tapthe breaks. There is a difference between urgency andrecklessness.

The stereotype for Rookie Pastors is that we are prideful and

unreliable. Stereotypes exist for a reason, but they arent fair.You can be bitter about this or you can do something about it.

Yes, you will have to overcompensate but leadership is aboutdeveloping trust. The only way you can build trust is byconsistently leading and serving with humility.

You cant coach speed and there is no replacement forexperience. Put in the time and pay some dues.


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As you settle in ght the urge to drift.

No one begins ministry aiming to achieve the rst list in thismanifesto. Yet we all are tempted.

We live the rst list when cynicism creeps in. When we getlazy. When we start thinking more about the next job than ourcurrent one.

Cynicism is easy and has zero redeeming value. Ive seencynicism in myself and in other Rookie Pastors when wevebeen burned. We get cynical when we lose sight of why we arepastors in the rst place. It all comes back to calling.

Fear leads to laziness. A fear of taking a risk. Fear of conict or

of making someone upset. Fear paralyzes and results inlaziness. Working harder isnt the solution, understanding thefear is.

Probably the biggest obstacle that Rookie Pastors face is themoment they start focusing on their next ministry position.The grass is and always will be greener. The only way to take a

step towards your ideal ministry position is to fully commit towhere you currently are.


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No one has ever set out to have a mediocre ministry.

Turning into a steward of a stale past isnt a long-term goal.

You dont set out to fall into these ruts, but we do. Thechallenge wont be dealing with the big problems that pop upfrom time to time. It will be the sustained, almost repetitiveissues that come.

If you wash out of ministry chances are it wont be because of abig theological brouhaha. Youll end up looking for anotherline of work because you got fed up living something youdidnt expect.

This disconnect is hard to deal with, particularly as you dont

see it coming until it has knocked you down.

What we are doing does matter it does count. Whether we arepastoring a handful or thousands it counts. It counts when wecant go to another meeting and when the critics are the

loudest. As you clean up another mess a student left know thatit counts. Even the inherited events and programs that youhate, they count too.


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It all counts because we have been called to something biggerthan we understand.

We help others move into a new Kingdom, a new reality.

Whether we are young or old, liberal or conservative, paid orvolunteer, artistic or practical, supported or alone, underfunded or under staffed, barely holding on or brimming withexcitement.

It is time.

Time to be who we were created to be.


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Josh Tandy is a Rookie Pastor who works with students, small

groups, and gets to preach from time to time.

He is also a writer and a pastor to pastors. Indianapolis is wherehe and his wife Heidy are raising a son, Isaac.

Connect with him: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Email
http://www.rookiepastor.com/http://www.facebook.com/pastorsinprocessmailto:[email protected]://www.facebook.com/pastorsinprocessmailto:[email protected]://www.rookiepastor.com/

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The Rookie Pastor Manifesto