KEEPING THE DRIVE ALIVE
An interview with Lloyd John Ogilvie
July 1, 1989
Many pastors identify with the old story about the minister who daily went down to the tracks at the center of town and cheered uproariously as the train steamed past, because it was "the one thing I don't have to push." Wearied from pushing and prodding and imparting commitment to ho-hum programs and parishioners, pastors relish the idea of something that makes progress by itself.
Lloyd John Ogilvie has led several churches, small and large, easy and difficult, appreciative and demanding. For the last seventeen years, he has been pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood (California).
Yet after many seasons of ministry, his commitment to his Savior and the church have remained at full throttle-or even accelerated. Today he writes books, edits the Communicator's Commentary series, appears weekly in the "Let God Love You" television program, speaks at evangelistic events, and manages to pastor an active church as concerned with the runaway teen as with the up-and-outer.
LEADERSHIP editors Marshall Shelley and Jim Berkley recently visited him to discuss how he keeps such a holy head of steam.
As we listen to pastors, we hear over and over how congregational apathy irks them. What is it about spiritual listlessness that so bothers pastors?
Many pastors are Type-A personalities; they're racehorses. They've found a great deal of their identity in activity, advancement, production. Therefore, it's abhorrent for them to be a part of a plateaued institution or one holding back.
Also, for pastors to be effective, they must have a burning conviction about what God wants to happen in their churches and in people's lives, a clear vision as to what the church ought to be. But it's never there. So learning to live with what is, and continually ...
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