Cookie-Cutter Pastor
The hardest part of being a pastor is the feeling that you are always on a stage; always on display. People come to you with problems, with bits and pieces of their life and expect that you will react a certain way. Often, when you do not respond as expected, they get offended because their image of what a pastor is or what he is to be does not match up to what they see.
As a Texas redneck this has been one of my greatest problems in ministry. Depending on where you are most people expect the pastor to act in a certain way—dour and serious. There was a time in my life when I was very serious. I seldom laughed and saw nothing funny in this world. I carried myself in a way that many expect from their pastor. The problem is that was before I was saved. I was so eaten up with the cares and concerns of the world, with baggage from my father and with experiences of hurt that laughing seemed out of place. Of course I would laugh at the occasional dirty joke or when someone did something funny, but life was not happy and I had no reason for joy.
Salvation brought out something very different. I began to laugh and find things funny. I began to enjoy people and wanted to be around them. I sought opportunities to be with others and went from being introverted to being an extrovert. The funniest reaction is that the fruit of my salvation, laughter and joy, has caused me more trouble in ministry than anything else. Seldom have “good church people” known how to deal with it. They could overlook this in others but their pastor was supposed to act a certain way and I just couldn’t.
The church has done a good job of getting away from cookie-cutter Christianity: the expectation that all Christians are to be and act the same. Isn’t it time to do away with cookie-cutter ministry. Every church leader brings different gifts to the mix and those gifts should be welcomed, no matter how God has packaged them.
