Young Preacher

3.12.24 Young Preacher

This is pastor tim from Hazard First Baptist with today’s Good News.

I want to share a story with you, but I am not certain whether it is true or not. It is about a new very young preacher that took his first pastorate at an older church with an even older congregation.  

When the new young preacher arrived — the first young man under the age of 60 to be the  pastor for this congregation — the deacons debated whether to carry on the welcoming ritual and take him fishing as they had done with all previous pastors.

There was some disagreement, but in the end tradition prevailed. They invited him on a fishing trip to the local lake.

As the boats moved out in the pre-dawn darkness, the young pastor realized he had not dressed warmly enough for this expedition. He shivered in silence for a time, but finally decided this was foolish. The older guys had not told him how to dress for the cold spring day.

However, not wanting to be troublesome to these senior and seasoned fishermen, he gently stepped out of the boat, walked across the water toward the landing to retrieve an extra coat and hat, and then returned. Everybody watched, wide-eyed, but no one said a thing.

At least, not until the next morning, when several of these old fishermen sat grumbling and drinking coffee at the cafe with friends. The new young reverend was the topic of conversation.

“Not only are we stuck with a youngster for a preacher,” said one of the men, “but we’ve got one that can’t even swim!”

Well, we often don’t recognize gifts in others, plus we often only think of their shortcomings, we often pick out their inefficiencies. Paul writing to the Corinthians said in 1 cor 13 : 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love looks for the positive in others. Over the years I have learned a valuable principle that I try to remember when interacting with others. (You may want to write this down). We all are quirky, we all have some unusual traits, we often refer to others that have more than their fair share of quirkiness as characters. These are folks that make life interesting. Are you quirky or are you a character, either way- God loves you.

This has been pastor tim with Today’s Good News.