NO CROSS, NO CROWN
#577 NO CROSS, NO CROWN
Autobiographical
Scripture Galatians 6:14-18 NIV Orig. 3/5/1972; 5/1975
Rewr. 10/31/1985
TRANSCRIBER: Preached to a congregation “in view of a call,” a term some pastors/churches use for the period when a pastor is being considered for a position, this message is a tour of churches my father had served during, at that point, 25 years in ministry. (He preached another 25 years after that.) It has many incomplete thoughts that he employed to trigger his memory as he spoke. Where I could, I have filled in some of the blanks to provide more information.
Passage: 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to[b] the Israel of God. 17 From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
Purpose: To share with a potential church family a realistic measure of my experience and my pastoral challenge.
Keywords: Pastoral Testimony
Introduction
Harold Cooke Phillips, in his book Preaching with Purpose and Power, touched on where we are tonight, a church in the throes of decision. He wrote (p279), “As Hal Luccock has written, ‘Jesus was not crucified for saying “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow,” but “Consider the thieves in the temple, how they steal.”’ It is evident that He aroused the bitter hostility and determined opposition of the social, economic, political, and religious powers of His age. An irrelevant gospel would never have done that. And He predicted that His followers would be brought before governors and kings for his sake (Matthew 10:18), as they were and have been. But only a word that touched life deeply and widely could have evoked such relentless opposition. The cross, then, is a symbol of the involvement of our faith in all that most deeply affects life. Sir George McLeod of Iona puts it vividly: ‘I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the center of the market place, as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town’s garbage heap, at the crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write His title in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek, at the kind of place where cynics talk smut and thieves curse and soldiers gamble . . . . That is where He died and that is what He died about.’”
It was my purpose this morning to preach to you as typically as I can. I did not want to suggest a preaching ministry that I could not sustain. Neither would I have you doubt what is clearly the pastor’s primal undertaking. Tonight, I want you to get to know me. I am a person, foremost, a preacher. After [this] you need also to know the man, as well as his [experience].
I. Pleasant Hill—Grounded on a Rock.
I went prepared. I had the educational merit: Strong high school/all extras; good college background—Auburn, Louisiana College; Seminary. Vocational skills: part-time jobs; summer supplements; labor force in Baton Rouge; full-time job through seminary. Military training—U.S. Army.
But I quickly realized that what I needed most, these skill didn’t provide: Grasp of extended preaching; ability to counsel; administrative leadership.
A church short on sophistication and long on love and patience with their new, young pastor. During a period of personal turmoil, mid-sermon I glanced down at the pulpit and saw for the first time the inscription “We would see Jesus.” J.O. Fogleman, elderly former pastor of Pleasant Hill, came to me and said, “Brother Pastor, if there is anything left, I want to give that, too!”
II. Trinity—Doctrinal Integrity.
It was a church in financial disaster. A city of 8,000 with 10 Baptist churches. Radio ministry tucked in between Trinity Baptist Church and several other churches. It was in the throes of practical and moral problems. First day and a five year old lad with a mouthful of chewing tobacco. A young girl named after a disastrous event in World War II.
But they did respond to love and caring. I went back to bury one of them seventeen years later, just a month ago. Her son called just days after my return from Memphis where I had had cancer surgery.
Every experience was a new one. Disconcerting. Disheartening. Deflating. Demanding.
Then came a providential bombshell. My neighbor pastor had invited Bertha Smith. Go Home and Tell—Isaiah 66:8 “As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” We went to every service. I listened. I prayed and she interrupted. God owed me nothing. If I was His, it was without conditions.
III. First Baptist Church—Demands of the Spirit.
It was clear early that it would not be easy. On first Sunday, two deaths. 80 year old member, 10 year old child. It was a church in the doldrums. No financial problems; I remember thinking how nice it would be to have some. [There are] worse problems than financial.
The greatest need was for a strong pulpit ministry. These were city people in a Catholic culture with a mission eight miles away in Loreauville.
Suddenly we began to lose members. The oil patch was surging. I had been forewarned. But oh, how it hurt. Within six months, half the large pulpit committee was gone.
For the first time, some major personal problems. Ann had major surgery. Frith (daughter) and Claude (father-in-law) in accident; we nearly lost her. The Holy Spirit showed Himself alive and well. Romans 8:16. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” I Corinthians 12:7 “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.”
Curly Romero—“How’s your church doing?”
IV. Riverside—Ministering in Metropolis.
Learning to set priorities. The size of the church. The need of my family. Ann’s difficult years teaching.
Learning opportunity. Full-time staff. Community on the edge of the city that knew no community.
Continuing to feel a need for an improved pulpit ministry. Yet, in seven years not one class at seminary; strong relationship with professors. But many pastoral ministry seminars at Southern Baptist Hospital.
Learning to lean on Jesus. Fritha spent a year at Louisiana College on the staff, then to Liberia—then a political coup and the terrible ordeal of waiting and wondering, and trusting.
Rhonda added to our family happily upon her marriage to Rob Burns, member of Riverside family.
V. Transylvania—Finally, a Chance to Study.
A church with few needs to meet. Community, homogeneity, limited horizon.
A church with a poor self-image. These five years will enhance that image.
Openness to involvement. Class at NLU (Northeast Louisiana University)—gerontology. Seminar at St. Francis/Glenwood Hospice. Enlarged work with senior adults. Plenty of time for myself and my wife. Time to grow in study and sermon construction. Even time to participate in Louisiana Baptist Convention activities—Third stint on Executive Board, active role with state missions committee.
Having a new door of vision and opportunity following surgery. What does the future hold? No guarantees! A line from a poem came to mind “A bird with a broken pinion never flies as high again.” It is my hope to prove otherwise!