We voted on a pastor today at our church’s congregational meeting. In times like these I’m glad I never let the people drag me onto the church board, despite all my church experience. It’s been a mess! The cataclysmic shortage of ordained ministers today has really cramped the style of the search team. Only a handful of real pastors are out there any more today. I remember when me and my seminary buddies had to compete like crazy for the limited number of open churches near the turn of the century. The transition of so many denominations into governmental agencies in the 20s certainly changed things for those connected to a denomination, but not nearly as much as the lack of people called to pastor churches. It seems everyone in the last 30 years has been called to some quasi-Christian business, tent-making, or parachurch work. The only thing that has made the ratios somewhat respectable has been the sharp decline in established churches across the country.

So the church members have been frantically looking for a minister. About half of those that applied for the job wanted to change the whole purpose of this traditionally Purpose-Driven church. There were the usual same-old-same-old suspects: the nomadic ministry types that wanted the church to renovate its downtown building into a Christian tattoo & piercing parlor, or a Christian Fitness Club, etc. Some of the ideas were interesting to some of the younger board members, but we’ve seen all these things done before and they just don’t work. When our church became a coffee house for five years from 2012 to 2017, things just never took off. After those days we became a more traditional church. That’s why I’m still here. I’m getting up there in age these days. In fact, I’m the same age now that my Dad was when he retired (although no one in their right mind retires before they turn 80 now!)

My church has similar traditional style tastes to my own. We’re not interested in converting to the more “contemporary” styles that seem to come and go every five years. Just give me a good band with guitar-driven tunes and a drummer that knows what he’s doing, and I can really worship God with a reverent spirit. Some of the most amazing times of worship I remember were back in the early days of the century when we would play Vineyard or Passion songs for hours on end at church. Of course the youngsters today tell me that stuff isn’t worshipful at all. They want us to accept the inevitable changes that are coming and move to a more indie-punkadelic style, whatever that is. One couple in the church wants to bring back the chanting and candles trend we’ve all beaten to death for decades! Don’t these kids realize that some styles have just worked and there’s no sense in tinkering with them. The traditional rock band and praise team worship style is just the way to go if you’re serious about worshipping God and not just following trends.

Getting back to the pastoral vote, we finally decided on a pastor after eliminating two other candidates that couldn’t cut-the-mustard, as they said back when I was a kid. One was a lady who teaches at the University in town. She would have made it on qualifications, but I think everyone was ready to have a man as a pastor for a change after three consecutive women in the position here since 2028. The other guy was a “missionary” from China sent here to revitalize the declining American churches. He came with his salary already paid for by the wealthy Chinese churches, but our church hasn’t reached the point of becoming a charity case yet. The candidate who made it was a young man in his forties who was born in Mexico, like many in our church. Before long we found out that he played lead guitar in a Christian Rock band I saw once back in the twenties. That was the clincher. I voted for him in a heartbeat. It’s nice to see a young guy still sticking with the traditions that work.