The Pastor’s Piece – July 2, 2023

The Pastor’s Piece

FCFI

July 2, 2023

When I was still in high school, I had a brother who was going to college with plans of being a pastor someday. On a trip home from Chicago one weekend, a salesman was on the farm and asked him what he was studying at school. He said he was studying to be a minister. I  remember that guy’s response. He said: “Oh, that’s good. You’ll have job security because everybody has problems all the time and we all need a pastor.” I hadn’t really thought of being a pastor as somebody who would be helping people with their problems all the time. Maybe it was because at that stage in my life, I didn’t realize that people had problems all the time. I thought all a pastor did was get up in front of people and preach sermons. Come to find out, that’s only part of what a pastor does. A few years later, I found myself sitting in a Bible college classroom studying to be a pastor. A few years after that, I am engulfed with people every single day, and it definitely is all good. I love people. I love the fact that I can share in their lives, the joys and, yes, even the sorrows. It’s all part of life.  

But pastors also need some down time. So, last week on my day off, I dusted off my 1941 Farmall H, put in a little gas, and cranked it over. Just about as fast as I could get my finger off the starter button, it fired up. I had some sucker mulberry trees that were growing in our little pine forest, as we call it, and I have been wanting to get them out of there for a long time. Rather than cut each tree up into little bite size pieces and load them up in the truck and haul them away, I decided to lay a 20 foot log chain down on the ground and stretch it out from end to end. Then each time I cut a tree down, I would drag it across the log chain and drop the stump end on the chain. Some of the trees were large enough that it took every ounce of strength I could muster to move them around by hand after I cut them down. But I did. And I knew that by the next morning I would have some sore muscles in places I didn’t even know I had muscles. After setting a few trees down, I wrapped the ends of them with the chain as tight as I could, then I hooked another chain up to the tractor and dragged the whole pile out to the burn site and unhooked them. I repeated this routine a few times until I sensed I was about to wear myself out. Then I cleaned up the debris, put the chain saw away, parked the tractor and grilled some burgers. Since the tomatoes in the garden are not yet ready for consumption, my wife headed into town to pick up a few groceries, tomatoes included. That night we had some of the best burgers I’ve ever tasted. 

The next day, I was back in my study preparing my Bible lessons for the week. Late in the afternoon, my wife asked for help covering her flower garden with mulch. That turned out to be a pleasant task and was just the final touch her garden needed. The next day, I went on house calls, where I visited different families from the church and prayed with each one. That night, we had our mid-week service where we prayed, had dinner, and studied the Bible together. 

When I was in school, I learned a lot of things that a pastor needs to know, like how to put a sermon together, and then preach it. But they didn’t really teach us how to be a pastor. I don’t think they can teach you that. That is something you learn with time and experience. Probably the most important aspect of being a pastor I learned from a farmer who happened to be my dad. When I was still in school and was preparing to preach a sermon at my church, I was fretting quite a bit, because I knew that some of my Bible professors would be in the audience. It was intimidating to say the least. I’d be preaching to doctors and theologians. I was talking to my dad on the phone a few days prior to that event and telling him of my fears and intimidation. He listened quietly, hardly saying a word until I was finished talking. Then he said: “Kev, just be yourself. You don’t have to try to impress anyone.” 

I’ve carried that nugget of advice with me now for the last 37 years. Thanks, Dad.

(Kevin Cernek is Lead Pastor of Martintown Community Church in Martintown, Wisconsin).