Pastors make mistakes, too!

Pastors are people who have been called by God and equipped by His Spirit for specific ministries for the sake of Christ's gospel. We are human. We make mistakes. We sin. We have strengths and weaknesses. In addition, most pastors will admit there are parts of ministry we love and other parts we would prefer others do.

For the sake of pastors everywhere, I am prepared to expose a few of my weaknesses, blunders, failures and regrets. Some are of little consequence; others will bother me the rest of my life. I share them because I think that sometimes folks might have a perspective about pastors that fosters unrealistic expectations.

At my first church, with no secretary and no knowledge of how to run a mimeograph machine, I ran part of the bulletin upside down. Another time, I forgot to take the communion bread out of the baggies it was in on the trays under the communion cloth and didn't notice until removing the cloth in preparation for serving. Inspired, I had everyone bow their heads and close their eyes for prayer while I attempted to discreetly empty the communion bread onto the trays.

Early in my ministry, I served a church with a tradition of infant baptism. I was going to be baptizing twin girls and, not wanting to have anything unfortunate happen in the handling of them, I went to the church on Saturday night, found two dolls in the nursery and did a "dry run."

Very embarrassing to me was a funeral service for someone I did not know at all. I was called at the last minute by the funeral home. I was given a name and little else. Normally, I would visit with the family and learn about the life of the deceased as part of my preparation and pastoral counseling, but it was not possible in this case. It was closed casket; just immediate family were present. Standing in front of the family, I realized the name of the deceased could be either for a male or female and -- you guessed it -- I used the wrong personal pronouns. I did not find out until afterwards. I will never be able to forget that.

Once I substituted for a colleague who had scheduled a wedding but found he had to be out of town. Not being familiar with his church and having only performed a few weddings at that point, I forgot to have the candles on the altar lit prior to the beginning of the ceremony. It was critical they be lit for the unity candle part of the wedding service. Standing in front of the altar with the bride and groom, our backs to their families and friends, I scanned the table for a lighter or matches. I found a single stick match and whispered to the groom, "What can I light it on?" He suggested using my metallic pants zipper! Uncertain that it would work and uncertain I could pull it off discreetly, I opted for a quick prayer and striking the lone match on the wooden base of the candle holder. It worked! Since then, I've never forgotten to have the candles lit.

There are many other examples of my humanity I could share. My wife could add significantly more volumes to my book of foibles. Suffice it to say, I have had to apologize many times and have tried to correct mistakes I've made. I know I will make more. It only goes to prove that God calls ordinary people to do extraordinary tasks that, ultimately, He causes to make a difference in the lives of others. I am confident of this: God equips those whom He calls, and He loves me -- oftentimes in spite of myself.

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Mark Voll is pastor of the Village Bible Evangelical Free Church. The opinions expressed are those of the author.

Religion on 07/27/2016