A Pastor Out To Pasture

“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” Psalm 16:6 (ESV)

I do not remember who said it, but a single sentence haunted me for a few years as I was considering and praying about the idea of retiring from my position as Pastor-Teacher at the First Baptist Church in Atwood, Illinois. To my best recollection the sentence was, “Don’t let your fear of retiring keep some qualified younger man from having a place to serve; God will take care of you.”

Ouch.

The main problem for me was that serving Jesus at the First Baptist Church of Atwood was the most wonderful experience of my ministry. My thirteen years there were not the most productive years of my ministry, but they were certainly the most joyful.

It may be typical that the most “productive” years of my ministry were also among the most difficult. But that was a different church and a story for another day.

Thankfully, the last years of my ministry at Atwood were very productive and due to the blessings of God, our church led our Association in baptisms the last three years I served there. One of the most amazing things was that after thirteen years there the Church was almost “twice as large” and, it was “half as old.”

Our average Sunday Morning attendance had gone from the 80’s to the 140’s and the average age of those attending weekly had gone from 61 to 29.

And those are just the numbers. No one in ministry has ever been more loved and appreciated by a church than my beloved Atwoodites loved and appreciated me and my wife Lin, which, of course, made the decision to retire all the more difficult.

I decided in 2017 that, as the LORD allowed, I would retire on July 31^st of 2020 which would be two weeks to the day after my 70^th birthday. In July of 2018, I informed our Elders of my decision and in July of 2019 I informed the church. One of the key reasons that I gave the church a full year’s notice was my desire that we would have our new pastor selected, called, and in place by the Sunday following my retirement.

By the grace of God, we did.

Being “a pastor out to pasture” is an old joke and I have heard it many times over the years. Funny thing; it was much more humorous when we were speaking about someone else! That is exactly the picture that I had in my mind over the last three or four years at Atwood.

So, what is the work of a pastor out to pasture? I think a primary thing is to encourage other pastors who are still actively serving in a local church. Personally, I think my first priority is to encourage the wonderful young pastor whom the LORD sent to serve us at Atwood FBC!

Over the years, I have heard pastors comment that things were hard in their ministry because they were following the “hero pastor” who preceded them. I am thankful beyond words to realize that I preceded the “hero pastor” of our Church.

Almost every pastor I know and have known honestly strives to be their best but it is a simple reality that some men are more gifted than other men and the LORD uses some men in ways that he does not use others.

Our beloved pastor, Woody White, is certainly one of the most gifted and able men – especially young men – that I have had the joy to know in my over forty years of ministry! He is really bright, well-educated, and a gifted expository preacher.

God has blessed him with his wife Brittany who is every bit as bright as he and is fully committed to Woody and to the ministry of our church. Pastor and Brittany are gifts of God to me and our church for which I am very thankful!

Seven weeks after my retirement from Atwood FBC, Central Baptist Association of Decatur, Illinois, whom I served for sixteen years prior to going to Atwood, called me to serve them again, this time in a part-time capacity as their Associational Mission Strategist which allows me to continue to serve Jesus by serving HIS people and to carry out my passion for serving pastors as I have opportunity.

Thank YOU, LORD!