Dreaming BIG in the LCMS with Pastor Matt Popovits | Lead Time

[@padredave53]

I was a worker/priest for the first 20 years of ministry (I taught community college) and served one parish on staff, then took an inner city church in serious decline. Lots of troubles, but many joys. I left it better than when I got there….still going on to this day. After retirement, I did some intentional interim and then took another parish in trouble. Different skill set but I did some innovative ways of integrating the Lutheran high school leasing the ground to the school getting title to the land in return for Calling a Pastor after I retired to teach theology and be Pastor of the parish. Still going. Maybe I am just a glutton for punishment but loved it. After that retirement I immediately started doing vacancies and pulpit fill. Now on staff of the best parish in the LCMS doing my passions: traditional liturgy and pastoral care. I wish I had role models early on, but absent that I made it up as I went along (guided, of course by the Holy Spirit and a couple of awesome English District Bishops)

[@jerryjohnson788]

Thoughts on how bi-vocational or part-time pastors can be effective? Mark seems to be like a lot of larger church pastors with a staff and the paycheck to devote 25-30 hours to sermon prep… I just finished an Army Chaplain career and now work 40 hours a week at a hospital. In the Army I preached 1-2 times per month in chapel and fought bad habits from not having enough hours for chapel prep. I occasionally now fill in at an LCMS church of 100 or so.