The Window of Opportunity

There was recently a discussion in sports talk radio here in Oklahoma regarding the window of opportunity for Assistant Coaches being hired for a Head Coach position. The conventional wisdom as the analysts put it, is that there is a window of opportunity for Assistant Coaches that will not always stay open. There was also the discussion of coaches having the opportunity to move to a "better" job. If the window of opportunity closes, then you may be subjected to toil in an area that is substandard for your talent and you may always have the tag that you could have done so much, but....

After examining this conversation with some deep thought, I began to think about a conversation that I had with a senior minister in my community who has preached for over 60 years, but has never served as pastor. He has in fact served as Interim Pastor for several churches, but was never called as the Senior Pastor. During our discussion, he told me that he knew that God had called him to pastoral ministry, but he never seized the opportunities when God opened doors for him. From his perspective, it should not have been those small rural churches with only 15 members extending a call to him, but rather those urban churches that had a vast amount of members and resources and only needed that final piece of the puzzle: A pastor with a good relationship with Lord and the ability to lead his fellow man. Unfortunately for this great Man of God, it does not always work according to his plan. Therefore his advice to me was to better discern the voice of God and move when he says move.

This leads to the original statement regarding the window of opportunity. Although I am only 30 years old, I have been preaching for 10 years and been extended a total of 10 calls, only to not accept any of them. I have always been under the belief that an Associate minister should get a blessing from his or her pastor to leave and I have never received that clearance. Not because he did not feel that I would be successful or that I was not ready or even called into that area of ministry, but more rather because he feels that the need for me to be at our church is greater than the need for someone else to have me at their church. Additionally, he has always had a thought that I would assume the pastorate there upon his retirement. It can get difficult waiting on your opportunities to present themselves with the right circumstances where everything seems to fall into place. Could it be that I'm too loyal? Could it be that I desire too much? Could it be that I am where I need to be? Could it be that others are telling the truth and I am just not listening? Or most importantly, Is God talking and I have somehow unintentionally pressed the mute button? To be honest, I am not sure what the answer is, but I am watching the window while the answer is being revealed.

The discouragement of "church"

I recently had the opportunity to be involved in a church meeting at a local church in our community and I was very disturbed. The meeting initially had a positive direction until there was a discussion about some changes being made to the edifice to make it more attractive to visitors and more functional for the current and future members. One of the things that was absolutely disappointing was that the church needed new pews, but the older members were so attached to the old ones that they had worked hard to purchase that they began to beome intensely angry with the pastor for even mentioning that a change needed to take place. It even got to the point that one of the older couples in the church began to exclaim that maybe they needed a new pastor who would appreciate their old pews. How trivial of a matter! I certainly am not suggesting that we do not honor those who made sacrifices to get us where we are, but I am suggesting that they allow us to honor them by continuing to advance what they have started. It can be discouraging to youth and young adults to feel as if they have no say or part in what happens at their place of worship. This also happens to those who have served long and hard to make the church a beacon of light. The older they get, the less they are heard. A happy medium should be met and we must understand that we will not be excited about everything that takes place, but at least we can appreciate it if it benefits the overall ministry.