Ready Aim....

Below is a messadge from Bro. Mike McGuire who is the Southeastern Baptist Association's (SEBA) Director of Ministries. This message is directly from the SEBA newsletter for October. To often we can have a very self centered mentality and be upset about something, and miss what God wants us to do. Below Bro. Mike points out a very real problem for many pastors everywhere. Hope you enjoy.
Pastor Dusty
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Mike’s Missive
READY, AIM . .
It seems as though the pastor is always the last to know. I’m not talking about current events, or the latest technology. I’m talking about problems in the church. Several years ago a church member apparently had abone to pick with me. The trouble is, she never came to me to talk about it. Three months from the time of the alleged incident passed before I found out I had been put in the doghouse. Rather than talk to me about the incident, she told someone else who told someone else who told someone else who finally came to me and asked if I knew of the offense. By the time I found out and talked to the person, too much water had passed under the bridge for the relationship to be healed. Now if I were standing near you and I accidentally began stepping on your foot, what would you do? You would probably wait a split second, and then you would say, “Uh, Brother Mike, excuse me; you’re standing on my toe.” I would remove my foot and apologize profusely for that incident. It would be over. No hard feelings. However, when a preacher figuratively steps on someone’s toes and offends that person, it seems as though that person tells everybody in the church except the pastor. He or she calls everybody and says, “Do you know what the pastor said, did, or didn’t do, etc.?” Before you know it, the story has gotten all over the community, and usually way out of proportion to the actual occurrence. The Greek word for that is . . . gossip. The NIV calls it “malicious talk.” (1 Tim 3:11). King James calls it slander. In the New Testament it comes from the word “diabolos,” which means “false accuser, devil.” When you gossip about your preacher, or anyone else for that matter, you are playing the role of the devil is his or her life. Read carefully Paul’s admonition in 1 Tim 5:19 “Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is
brought by two or three witnesses.” If someone comes to you with a “concern” about the pastor, ask them if they have gone to the pastor first to try to resolve the issue according to Mat 5:23 and Mat 18:15-17. If they have not, offer to go with them and talk to that pastor or staff member. If they will not follow scriptural procedure, then you are obligated NOT to listen to them. In fact if you do, you are “entertaining an accusation” against that person. Church members hide behind the guise of not wanting to cause conflict in the church, so rather than confronting the pastor directly and openly, they take pot shots at him. They feel that it is better than being out
in the open. They snipe at him from the protection of hiding in the bushes and behind the rocks. The pastor knows someone is shooting at him, but he does not know who is doing the shooting or where it is coming from. Probably least of all does he know why they are shooting at him. Suddenly the bullet hits home. The damage is done. Another pastor or staff member falls. A reputation is ruined; a life is destroyed all due to gossip. All of this could have been avoided by following the scriptural mandate. The next time someone brings you a “concern” about your pastor or staff, ask yourself whose side you are on, God’s or the devil’s?
Your Missionary,
Bro. Mike