Preaching Well, Living Poorly

Ted Haggard stepped down as both pastor of his Colorado Springs congregation and as the president of the National Association of Evangelicals. He did so amidst allegations of drug use and a sexual relationship with another man. The tremendous irony and hypocrisy of the president of the NAE engaging in homosexual acts – the same man who served as a spokesman for “biblical marriage” and against homosexuality – was guaranteed to garner national media attention, so you’ve probably seen or read the news. It caught my eye for those reasons as well.

Two other events in my own life this past weekend also helped keep Ted Haggard at the front of my thoughts. For one, vacation is providing me opportunity to reflect on what it means to be a pastor – seeing as I am one now. While I have done church work before, this is the first time I have done so with my name on the outside of a church and with the title Reverend. And while I would consider myself to be of a different mold than Ted Haggard, we are both pastors and both susceptible to similar stresses. Even more, like Ted Haggard I too claim a Christian evangelical faith, and if you were to check out the statement of belief for the National Association of Evangelicals (www.nae.net), it wouldn’t look too different than the statement of belief of Fuller Theological Seminary where I received my education for ministry. The similarities are too similar to ignore. It would be foolish of me to assume Ted Haggard’s story is far beyond the trajectory of my own journey.

The second event that kept me thinking about Ted Haggard this weekend was church. Normally, where I go to church is a no brainer: where I serve as pastor. Vacation, though, presents the opportunity to attend different houses of worship, and this past Sunday, Anna and I went to a non-denominational, evangelical mega-church – not too unlike the church where Ted Haggard was pastoring and preaching. There were several things of note at this church: large multi-media screens, praise music to welcome and begin worship (interestingly, only the large cast of lead singers at the front of the sanctuary stood while singing), and an American flag next to the Christian flag and just beneath the stained glass window.

All of these things are a far cry from the traditional, liturgical style of worship I lead and participate in weekly. That is not to say that the service we attended this past Sunday was wrong or unappreciated. There were several things that were attractive and valuable in the service – enough to keep Anna and I discussing over lunch yesterday. But, what particularly stuck with me was how long the sermon was and how much emphasis was placed on the preacher’s ability to decipher and speak for Scripture. The sermon was at least forty minutes long, and following the sermon there was also time for the pastor to answer questions members of the congregation had written on the back of prayer cards.

Thankfully, this minister was very faithful to the text – even though his text was the whole book of Leviticus and several other selections from the New Testament. Still, I am unsettled that so much of a worship service is given over to the preacher. I know I don’t have much room to speak here, because I claim to be a child of the Reformation. And one of the critical pieces of Reformation theology is the place of preaching in the worship service. The Reformation began a steady ascension of the spoken word that took off on American soil with the help of revivals and big tents. Today, it is impossible to conceive of American Christianity without a resolute, determined preacher somewhere at the head. But this is precisely what I’m trying to get to: pastors in America are too frequently appreciated (or disregarded) because of their ability to preach. To be a good pastor today is to be a good preacher. And people yearn to be members of churches where the preaching is solid, relevant, biblical, hopeful, transforming, or any number of other qualities that gets thrown around social conversations. Think about it. When word gets out a new pastor is coming into town, do you expect to first hear about the pastor’s new ministry amongst illegal aliens or battered women, or do you expect to hear about how good of a preacher the pastor is (or is not, which spells certain doom for his or her ministry)?

Ted Haggard is a good preacher. At least I assume so. There are over 10,000 people that are a part of his church, so there must be something about his preaching which is infectious. But, it is also clear that the ability to speak the good news does not lead to the ability to lead a Christ-like life. The two – speaking about Christ and living like Christ – do not always lead down the same path.

I don’t have much to offer in regards to a solution. Any solution I would offer would be narrow-minded or simplistic. But as I reflect and pray over this matter today, my sense is that part of the problem comes when Christians are reduced to spokesmen or voices for the faith.

So many ministers want to be as influential as Paul the spokesmen without being Paul the pastor. And, as I have found in the early season of ministry, it is much easier to be good at preaching (and much more appreciated) than it is to be good at serving others. Most people are not all that concerned about what pastors do with their life outside of Sunday morning (unless of course they see you doing something profane or scandalous). Many assume pastors only work one day a week, and even that is only a half-day of work. And many ministers are eager to make their sermons so impressive that people will at least give them lots of credit for their half-day of work.

My assumption is that many a pastor begins ministry hoping to serve and to do good things for the Lord – while also maintaining personal balance and health. Over time, though, it becomes clear that true service to the Lord and the Church will require a great deal of time, energy and very little notoriety. Meanwhile, being a voice for many is something others are frequently all too willing to bestow upon pastors – especially when it comes to matters of morality. So, instead of living out the Gospel with their lives – or letting the Gospel stand by itself – many pastors feel anxious and obligated to let their ministry be about what they say rather than how they behave on a day to day basis.

I’ve been looking for pastors who will teach me a different way to live and do ministry. They are out there. Eugene Peterson is one. Richard Foster is one. There are others. They are not easy to find, but even the few that I have found have been a tremendous oasis for me as a pastor and as a person.

Wes