Interim or Intermittent?

One of the joys of serving Kentucky Baptists is visiting and preaching in churches across our state. I love our city churches and our country churches and all those in between. This year I have been in a number of our churches and have served as an interim.

On my first Sunday as interim pastor, a lady came up to me and excitedly said, “Oh I am so glad to meet you. Are you our new intermittent pastor?” I said yes I am your new interim pastor not intermittent.

We both had a good laugh but I have thought a lot about that title, “intermittent pastor.”  Does such a pastor exist? Is our leadership style intermittent? The word means to occur at irregular intervals or happening sometimes but not regularly or often.

If these pastors/leaders do exist, let me suggest some things they probably do or don’t do.

1. When we don’t listen to our members we can become intermittent.
2. When we don’t engage the community.
3. When we start a new emphasis with lots of energy but after a few months and before it really catches on we are already promoting something new.
4. When we are present for meetings but really we are not there. Our body language says, “I would rather be playing golf or at a different church.”
5. When our leading is inconsistent and sporadic. Churches desire to follow a leader. A pastor is constantly navigating the congregation through change and hopefully change that produces kingdom growth. If a pastor stops providing Godly leadership, the church will suffer.
6. When a pastor is always seeking to impose on their congregation other models of worship or ministries that don’t fit the context of where their church really is.
7. A pastor is an intermittent pastor when their personal walk with the Lord is shallow. Do you ever read Scripture not to preach or teach it but to see what God is saying to you?
8. When they say one thing from the pulpit (let’s share our faith) but they have not personally shared the Gospel for months.
9. When they show favoritism to certain members of the congregation and ignore others entirely.
10. When they are always looking for greener pastures. In other words they see where they are not as where God called them to be but as a stepping stone to get to a bigger, better church.

I know none of you reading this blog would consider yourself an intermittent pastor or leader but if you know one, pass this along to them.

In the interim, let’s do all we can to be real, authentic, Godly leaders as we move our churches forward for the glory of Christ.

Keep the Son, in Your Eyes,

Mike James