Great Blog Post

I read a post today from Pastor Troy Gramling, lead pastor at Flamingo Road Church. He has an excellent perspective on the subject of the upcoming Presidential Election. I am sure glad our pastor reads his blog daily.

http://troyandsteph.com/

I try not to pontificate on my blog, but there is something keeping me up at night and I have to share it with you. It’s the way we (in the ministry world) whine about how many immature Christ followers there are, but then we do everything in our power to keep them that way. It may be unintentional, but it has the same results either way. What am I talking about? It is the way we TELL people what to do instead of giving them the tools to discover the truth on their own. Exhibit #1 – The Election. I’ve heard pastor after pastor say, “I’m not going to tell you how to vote," then do precisely that. On both sides of the aisle, right after the man or woman of God says, "I’m not going to tell you how to vote," they bring up what they perceive are the important issues. I’ve heard this same sermon for three decades now, the names are changed but the message is the same. It goes something like this, "Our country is going to hell literally, and if you don’t vote for who I believe is the best Christ follower and who stands for the issues that I believe are most important, then you are being deceived and you are the reason that God is judging our country." Please don’t misunderstand me, we should study to see what God’s word says about all the issues, and IT is the pastor’s job to proclaim, "thus sayeth the LORD." But to manipulate the congregation with FEAR and DOUBT; to appoint ourselves as the only one who knows what the REAL important issues are, is a misuse of the pulpit. According to Ephesians 4:12 we are “to equip the saints for the work of ministry." To give them the tools they need to make decisions. When we tell them what to do, we stunt their growth and keep them from growing decision-making muscles. Many congregations recognize the voice of their pastor more readily than they do the voice of our Lord. In John 10:4 it says “his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” Are we afraid that the Holy Spirit won’t do his job? The lack of growth in our churches is not because we lack programs or resources. It’s not even because of bad doctrine. It is because we, as pastors, are too insecure to let the sheep mature. When parents use our pastoring techniques in the home and don’t let their children grow up and develop decision making muscles, they go off to college and go wild. Why? Because there is no one there to tell them what to do and they don’t know how to make godly decisions on their own. If we are going to tell our congregations who to vote for--and don’t say that we don’t, lets have enough integrity to admit that everyone knows where we stand by the verbiage and illustrations we use--are we going to tell them who to marry, which house they should buy and what profession to go into?