H. B. Charles Jr.: Never Lose the Wonder of Pastoral Ministry

H. B. Charles: Leadership is not the title, office or position. Leadership is influence. Influence requires trust. Trust takes time. And so I think the mistake I make is what a lot of young pastors make, trying to go too fast without earning the respect of the congregation and leading through influence, rather than the fact that you have a new title. If you do that, it’s usually going to go wrong one way or the other.

In difficult days and seasons of ministry, I have them every pastor does. I am strengthened and encouraged by the reminder of my calling, and the sense of both privilege and duty gives me a sense to keep pressing on. On one hand, the thought of the unspeakable privilege that God would use someone like me to do something as important as this, to herald His word and shepherd his flock. I think it’s the spirit of the Apostle Paul who never got over the sense of amazement, over grace that a persecutor of the church would be an apostle for Jesus Christ, the pastor should be preaching the gospel to himself so regularly that you never lose the sense of Wonder, of the awesome privilege it is to do anything for the Lord, and then at the same time, on the other hand, we should feel the weight of the of the burden of the duty of the responsibility of being on assignment for the Lord Jesus Christ, I’ve lived with Second Timothy chapter four, that bids the preacher to preach the word. Just reflecting on this and meditating and studying on that passage again a few months ago, I couldn’t get beyond verse one where Paul says, I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and His appearing in his kingdom, will come and judge the living and the dead. All of that weight of the Godhead, the second coming, the final judgment, the consummation of the kingdom, that weight of eternity, the presence of the Godhead is the platform from which Paul issues this charge, and the reminder that you won’t have to answer to your congregation, to boards or to your own expectations. But we must give an account to the Lord Jesus Christ for our faithfulness to the assignment that he’s entrusted to us. When you feel that weight of duty, it strengthens you to do verse two, to preach the word and to be ready in season and out of season, to reprove and rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching. So I trusted the gospel as a boy and was baptized, and it was not long after my profession of faith that I felt a strong burden that the Lord would have me to spend my life preaching his word. I had heard the ministers in my dad’s church talk give testimonies about running from the ministry as a boy, but I knew the story of Jonah, and I knew that didn’t work out well, so I was too afraid to do that. But as a boy, I was convinced that I would spend my life preaching the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. I preached my first public message as a boy, 11 years old. I’m not recommending any of this. It is my testimony. My father was a friend of preachers in our city, in Los Angeles. And so it is as if a whole city of pastors adopted me and gave me all kinds of opportunities and fussed about things I got wrong and encouraged me when I got something right. And in a lot of ways, they nurtured me just as much as I. Nurtured them, and I served them until the Lord called me to the other side of the country to pastor the church that I now serve. But when I talk about my family in Los Angeles, I refer to my biological family that’s still there, and that church family that nurtured me from a 17 year old boy preacher into adulthood manhood and taught me how to be a pastor.

The biggest mistake that I made as a brand new pastor was thinking that I was the pastor. You can forgive my delusion about this, because my name was on the sign in front of the church, and my name was on the bulletin that they printed every week, and my name was this was the name was on the side of the bus that picked people up every week, all of the trappings made me think that I was the pastor, and in that church, there was a dear older lady who would get up after I made my recommendations, and she would just simply say, I don’t think we should do that. And whatever I was proposing, the church would vote it down, and that was an important lesson for me, that leadership is not the title, office or position. Leadership is influence. Influence requires trust. Trust takes time. And so I think the mistake I make is what a lot of young pastors make, trying to go too fast without earning the respect of the congregation and leading through influence, rather than the fact that you have a new title. If you do that, it’s usually going to go wrong one way or the other. I’ll just say it again. Leadership is influence. Influence requires trust, and trust takes time.