Broader Pastures, More Breeds
October 1, 2000
Almost 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to find the source of the Missouri River, and from there to discover a relatively easy water route west to the Pacific. Such a waterway, they discovered, doesn't exist. But they did succeed in mapping the Northwest and, 15 months after they began pushing themselves upstream, they found, near today's Montana-Idaho border, the source of the mighty Missouri. Lewis's journal records that on August 12, 1805, a member of the expedition, Private Hugh McNeal, "exultingly stood with a foot on each side of this little rivulet and thanked his god that he had lived to bestride the mighty and heretofore deemed endless Missouri." The Missouri at its source looks a lot different than the powerful current that flows into the Mississippi River near St. Louis. Likewise, the role of the pastor has broadened significantly from its origins in the hills of Galilee. Several major tributaries have contributed to the currents of contemporary ministry, but it's the same river. The pastor's biblical beginnings
The term "pastor" comes from the Latin word for "shepherd," the metaphor used in both Old and New Testaments for one responsible for God's people. The primary shepherd/pastor is the Lord himself (), but the Bible also recognizes human undershepherds—some good, some not so good. In his day Ezekiel condemned these undershepherds for looking after themselves and neglecting the flock. "You have not strengthened the weak … or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost" (34:4). The New Testament instructs elders to be good shepherds. "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock," writes Paul. "Savage wolves ...
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