It’s been over four years since I resigned from my pastoral position I held for 21 years.
When I resigned I told my wife, “I’d just like to have a pastor and go to church for a while.”
I was hoping that was going to happen.
Unfortunately, that’s not how things worked out. Due to circumstances that popped up, after three months at the new church we attended, I ended up preaching for five straight months. Then I preached several months more the next year. In the first three years there I preached/taught two-thirds of the Sundays.
Then things got weird.
I don’t want to go into any details and I don’t want to badmouth anyone, but it became obvious I should go.
Several of the people who also had left the church were interested in getting together on Sundays, and well, long story short, I’m sort of being a pastor again.
And yes, I am aware of what this sounds like and I’m also aware of the warnings about starting a new church with disgruntled people from another church. I know everything that could possibly be said about the situation. I know!
Although this is not the route I planned on going down, it’s been good in its own way. I missed being in the arena, I missed preaching, I missed helping people, and having those conversations with people only pastors end up having.
I don’t know how this new preaching gig is going to work out. If the past is any indicator, it won’t work out well! But I’m determined to be better and learn from mistakes and do even better to stick with Scriptural instructions for how such things ought to be done.
The situation is not ideal, but we’re hoping to make something good come out of the weirdness.
If you’re interested, I am posting my sermons on Spotify. You can click here to listen.
We’ll see what this new chapter brings.
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If you want to know how the last pastoral gig went, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. It includes 9 tested and true tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!
Failing Pastor 
Brother,
Holler if you need anything.
In Him,
Tom
Rev. Thomas M. Cox, MDiv./PCA Flat Branch Covenant Presby. Church, West Africa Reformed Mission, Flourish Coaching, Interlink Ministries
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You have more sense than most pastors I have known. You seem to care about doing things right and biblically. Your writings have a focus on following Christ, not men or politics.
I have never been in those particular shoes, but have been in quite a few situations myself:
1.) Taking a sabotaged church that was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt (and had to close because of it)
2.) Taking two different churches where most of the congregation (and all of the “deacons”) were related to each other, and having to leave both, because of gossip and bitterness spreading through said-families.
3.) Taking two different restarts that didn’t have the quality of people that could restart a church (and God did no great miracle in that way, so the churches had to close).
The miracle is that my wife and I still have the desire to be in the ministry. So, I get it. God’s calling is His calling. What seems like failure and being gluttons for punishment to the world & religious crowds is God’s grace and mercy.
I trust that the Lord will bless, guide, and protect you as you go about this endeavor.
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Thank you, sir. Sounds like an interesting road you’ve been on. It is amazing how a guy can feel, even after all that, of giving it another go.
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Funny….you don’t sound like you sound like in my head! 😆😆😆
Blessings to you brother!
Steve Kape
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Sorry to disappoint. It’s a thing I do.
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lol.
Steve Kape
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Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but the task of writing your book, which is an excellent examination of the subject, likely helped cement in your mind the various landmines that are common in church ministry.
Pastors would be wise to write down their thoughts regarding their congregation’s dynamics, if for no other reason than to read it later to see if it makes sense.
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The process of writing really helped me understand what happened and also gave me a clearer understanding of what the pastor and church roles should be. Thanks for reading it.
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