THE BREAKING OF A PASTOR
Early events shape a lifetime of ministry.
Burdette R. Palmberg
July 1, 1986
Casual curiosity suddenly became a preoccupation. Nearing graduation from seminary, I had come upon statistics on the duration of the first pastorate for recent graduates. The average had been just over two years. And that included a few who had stayed much longer.
Why were these pastors, so full of excitement and so well trained, hitting a wall after only a couple of years in their first parish? Was their inexperience the culprit? Or was it the fault of all those churches ripping unsuspecting graduates to shreds?
My "just about to graduate with only one church casually looking at me" anxiety was increased by my finding. What if my first church is a scarring experience? When that one-and-only call came, I accepted. After all, that church was rather lonely in its interest in me, so how hard did I have to search for God's will? I did resolve, however, that I would not make my contribution to the brief-tenure statistics.
After all, I reasoned, I'm a man of good training, high energy, excellent background, supportive family, strong will, pretty fair ability, solid conviction, and straight teeth. I will do all right. Besides, I have a lot of courage and am not afraid to stand alone.
Had I also had a touch of humility with even a modicum of self-analysis, I would have seen I was on my way to a short career in that church. Maybe in every church I would serve. What I saw as ego strength coupled with courage was interpreted by others as ego fragility and bullheadedness.
The breaking of a pastor: it has happened before and it was bound to happen again. This time it happened to me.
Headstrong pastors, like frisky colts, often need breaking. My breaking happened in a way that moved me through the succeeding years with more grace. At times, ...
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