3 Essentials to Survive an Attack in church: Fight or Flight?
The Best Antidote for a Fledgeling Church and for Antagonistic Church Members: A God sized Vision and Faith
What's wrong if church members feel endeared to an old time religion preacher who may have had a moral lapse, a financial accountability lapse, or a loss of trust and confidence? After all, isn't there a time and place for restoration and reconciliation in the vineyard of Most High?
I guess it all depends from whose point of view you look at it. I have no problem if church members listen and follow Rick Warren, Joel Olsteen, Robert Schuller, Andy Stanley, or to bring it more close to home, Jose Rojas, Alejandro Bullon, Carlton Byrd, Dwight Nelson, Mark Finley, Ron Clouzet, Shawn Boonstra, etc., since I want church members and laity to be under the Word of God and learning from any Christian preacher who preaches and teaches the Bible faithfully. Oh, don't forget, John McArthur too. Since I don't preach too many borrowed sermons from these celebrity preachers, I don't mind. In fact, if they listen to preachers like T.D. Jakes, the master pulpiteer of our times, then when they listen and see me preaching they will actually start praying for me, so that my level and commitment to preaching will grow. We don't want to stay forever just as we were after the B.S. in Theology, or the Master of Divinity. No, we want to grow as preachers. I welcome suggestions and ideas. Pastor use more PowerPoints, use visual aids, don't just be a talking head, use feed back through text messaging at the end of the sermon, etc. I appreciate those church members who have a passion for excellence in preaching and in the services of the church.
However, when church members and especially leaders are listening to "fanciful theories" and are judging and criticizing your ministry and preaching based on what someone else's hobby horse or pet sermon topic is, especially when the Preacher they listen to is on television, then "Houston, we have a problem!" It's time to do some spring cleaning in the church and in the lives of church members. Remember, dirty Bibles lead to dirty lives. Yet, dirty Bibles (from non-regular use) and sweat stained television and cable tv remote control devices, lead to ignorance and to an affixiation with topics that may not be central or key to Christian salvation, faith, and practice. Watch for people's television and cable tv remote controls, when you visit them. Inspect them with a magnifying glass. Also ask people to show you the Bible they study with on a regular basis. You'll be surprised! (This is a joke, don't actually do it.) It will be the equivalent of the 1960s when pastors in Los Angeles, especially anglo pastors would visit their church members and go into their kitchens and open their pantries to see if there were any coffee containers or coca cola bottles. Imagine how we would fare off today, if that was still the case!
Start to preach powerfully and biblically. Read the book by Derek J. Morris, "Powerful Biblical Preaching" and get on your knees and open your Bible at your study desk. Pray Adventist Sermons. Like E.E. Cleveland, the only Adventist Evangelist that I know who baptized 1,000 people in one tent effort, used to say, "Preach like a Seventh-day Adventist Preacher. How should a Seventh-day Adventist Pastor sound like when he preaches? ... You've got to tell them "the nations are angry, and His wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged", Revelation 11:18. Maybe your preaching content has veered people away to start hungering and thirsting for the Gospel, and unfortunately they have ended up at the Devil's banquet feast instead! Don't be discouraged. Help is on the way. God wants to make you into a superb preacher, better than Henry Wright or Billy Graham. That is why God has called you! He wants to use you and polish and refine you to be an excellent preacher for His Glory!
However, your preaching may be Adventist and excellent and church members may still be looking for "present truth" in a container filled with poison tainted bread. They are looking for the bread of life, maybe Ezekiel 4:9 Bread, but have ended up finding a counterfeit. Bring them back. Do what you can, but also be willing to recognize that some people are just Devil's Rabbits. They will hop from church to church looking for the latest message discovered secretly from Ellen G. White's writings in Washington D.C., and they will never be happy with any type of preaching. They just want to be scared into the truth. They want to hear that the National Sunday Law is here, it's in Congress, and the Mark of the Beast is already being stamped upon unfaithful Seventh-day Adventists. Do yourself a favor, and just follow Paul's advice to Timothy. "Preach the World, be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort will all longsuffering and doctrine", 2 Timothy 4:2. Just keep preaching faithfully!
The Challenge of the Success of Non-Adventist Churches
Dare we say that as pastors, we face a great challenge. We are in the world, yet not of the world. We are a Protestant Christian Church, but not like every other Protestant Christian Church. We have a message to give to the people. It's ok to learn from other ministries and churches. You are a dead man or woman if you don't take notice of what method's and principles help to attract the lost to hear the Gospel story. Yet, as Seventh-day Adventists, we have something worth sharing also. It's tragic that some church members and perhaps pastors feel that "We have nothing to offer the world." I beg to differ. We have something glorious to offer other churches, other Christians, and lost people." It's the Sanctuary Message. A message not just of forgiveness, but of total restoration. That's good news for the thief or adulterer who keeps committing his sin even after baptism. Let him or her know that Help is available in the Sanctuary Message. Jesus is the Light, Jesus is the Bread, He is available to us every single day. Hallelujah!
What should we do if Hugo Gambetta or any other non-SDA Pastor is having success in reaching people? Should we envy them? Should we emulate them? Should we stop and see what they are doing that is being successful and try to implement that same principle in our ministry? I believe we can. Maybe, we need to take our ministry to the next level. Pray, pray, and after you have prayed, pray some more. Never do ministry alone, and always take the Holy Spirit with you! Ask God for a God-given and God-annointed Vision and depend upon him completely. Keep pushing the boundaries of your ministry, for God definitely wants to enlarge your ministry and territory.
For me, I am not the least concerned about Hugo Gambetta's ministry. If anything, I pray that people will be lead to faith relationship in Jesus through his ministry, El Evangelio Eterno (The Everlasting Gospel). The problem is when a ex-church leader claims to still be Adventist, yet personally attacks the church organization, hierarchy, and proclaims to be the sole possessor of truth. They claim to be God's modern day Prophet, and the only ones with special inside knowledge of last day events. Beware! Don't fall into that form of beastly preaching! Preach a balanced diet to your flock. May your preaching be entertaining, but not entertainment. Keep your audience on the edge of their seats because you are passionate about your subject.
Yet we can learn that successful television ministries take advantage of air time. Maybe it is time that you sharpen your sword and sermons and hit the air waves with a creative, engaging, and attractive radio or television program. Talk about families, Health, Prophecy, Biblical Archaeology. Step up your outreach just a little bit more. Don't worry about the success or other ministries. Worry about whether your vision is too small, and whether you need to ask God to "Super Size your Faith!" ... Cry out, "Lord, Super Size my Faith, My Vision, and My Ministry! Give me all that I can handle and even more!"
Practical Steps to Surviving threats in the church
Here are a few to conclude this blog:
1. Confront pessimists, naysayers, and enemies of the church in a timely manner. Tell these people that it is not permitted in church to speak negatively or pessimistically or in a threatening manner. If they are leaders, take it to your board of elders, church board, and have such people disciplined from participating in church leadership for 3 months.
2. Have an emergency plan in case of a expected catastrophe in your church. A shooting, a child gone missing, an earthquake, a fire. Have someone who will dial 911, and someone who is willing to take a bullet for you if necessary.
3. Win your foes and enemies into your friends. Use the Pastor Bullon Method. I got this one from Hawaii just less than a month ago: When you have enemies in the church, especially elders who are Patriachs and feel they own the church. Visit them, and tell them.
"Brother so and so ... I am here to apologize for what happened the other day in our board meeting or at church. I was wrong. I am a young pastor, and I never grew up with a Christian Father. I wish I had someone like you who could be a mentor and a spiritual father to me. Someone to help me because I don't have a lot of experience. I would like you to accept my apology and to please pray for me. Would you also consider being my mentor and spiritual father in the faith?" ... The elder will then possibly pray. "Dear God, thank you that pastor Garcia recognizes that he is wrong. Please help him to grow and to learn from his mistakes. Amen!"
That elder or enemy may become your best friend and defend you tooth and nail till the end. Be sincere. Be willing to say you are sorry and admit your mistakes (even if you feel you may be right). For Pastor Alejandro Bullon, this old elder of his first church assignment as a youthful pastor went on to be his best supporter and defender. It helped that the elder was a person of influence and means in the church. He supported Pr. Bullon financially with any project and defended him as his very own son. Years later, when Pr. Bullon become an international author and speaker, the old elder would tell others. "You know that Alejandro Bullon? I helped to make him what he is today!" ...
Pray for your enemies and foes, and they will become your friends and greatest supporters.
4. Report real or perceived threats to your Conference Leadership and to the Authorities. It is better to be safe and out of a job, sorry and in a coffin six feet underground!
~ Salvador Garcia
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