If you do a search on bi-vocational ministry you will find a lot of great articles addressing the demands and benefits of bi-vocational ministry, why it matters, what pitfalls to avoid, etc. All of these are great articles written by great pastors or church leaders.
Today I want to address some of the experiences and wisdom I have gained in serving as a bi-vocational pastor in two church revitalizations. It is my belief that some churches need to be closed and a new church planted, but not all of them. I believe that some churches just need someone willing to work a secular job and invest some time in the church. Through working with the existing board and the leaders who have put their blood, sweat, and tears into the church in years past, I believe a pastor can see great success. Rick Warren respects bi-vocational Pastors so much that he dedicated his classic book “The Purpose Driven Church” to them.
Around seven months ago my wife and I were voted in to serve as the Lead Pastors for Grace Fellowship Assembly of God in Farmersville, Texas. Farmersville is on the Eastern edge of Collin County about thirty- five miles from Dallas. Grace Fellowship is a church with a rich history. The church will celebrate one hundred years in existence in 2021. One interesting side note is that in 1938-39 the church was Pastored by Rev. Kenneth Hagin Sr. when he was a minister in the Assemblies of God. Grace Fellowship has had its ups and downs through the years, the facility is debt free and is located right off on US Highway 380 in a very strategic spot for a town like Farmersville…right across the street from Dairy Queen. The morning that I “tried out” for Grace Fellowship there were 18 people in attendance, and we were voted in with 17 “yes’s” and 1 “no”. Now that I have been there for seven months, I am pretty sure who the one “no” vote was but that is for a different Field Note.
My wife and I have been married for almost 18 years and have served as Children’s Pastors, Youth Pastors, College, and Career Pastors, Christian University staff, Interim Pastors, and Lead Pastors. My wife is an elementary school librarian and has been very successful in her field. When we were voted into Grace Fellowship it was too late in the summer for her to find a new school to work at, so we have stayed put for this school year and commute the 70 miles one way to church. For the past two years, I have worked as a project manager for a company out of Plano called Crest Exteriors selling and overseeing the installation of mostly roofs, fences, gutters, etc. Commission-based Construction has allowed me to have some flexibility with my schedule but is not for the faint of heart!
I do have to give the board and leaders at Grace Fellowship a lot of credit. They told me right off the bat the biggest need in their church was spiritual leadership. I told them that my intent was to not treat the church as a “preaching point” but as a viable, growing, church with ministries we were either going to re-start or develop from scratch. I am happy to say that since we took leadership of the church, we have added new members and a new missionary we support while also updating the stage area with some remodeling, buying a new computer for the media needs at the church and new high definition security cameras that are desperately needed at such a visible location. I am currently in the writing phase of a Doctorate of Ministry degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and my D.Min emphasis is in expository preaching. It is my belief that we can have both an emphasis on the exposition of the word of God and an emphasis on the moving of the Holy Spirit. This has been my philosophy in the pulpit and the people have responded well up to this point. Expository preaching has been such a great tool as a bi-vocational minister. On Wednesday nights I have just finished leading our adult Bible study through the book of Acts and am now in the second chapter of Romans. There is never a time when I panic to find something to preach about, the subjects are in the exposition of the text.
I could go on about my time so far as a Lead Pastor/Project Manager/Dmin. student, but I want to give you some practical advice drawn from my experience. These are three imperatives that I believe are essential for bi-vocational ministry.
#1 Effective Time Management
This is not an area where I serve as a good example. In my secular job on any given day I can start in Waxahachie, which is south of the DFW Metroplex, go to my company’s headquarters in Plano, which is north of the DFW Metroplex and then wind up in Ft. Worth for an inspection or adjuster’s meeting which is west of the DFW Metroplex. Keep in mind that my Church in Farmersville is on the east side of the DFW Metroplex. There is a reason why my truck currently has 208,000 miles on it.
I forgot to mention that in addition to serving as a Lead Pastor/Project Manager/DMin. Student, I am also an adjunct professor for an online Bible College. My current class meets on Tuesday nights at 5:30pm-8:30pm. I’m not telling you this to impress you (or depress you) but to let you know that I must guard my schedule and be very intentional in time management. If you don’t work your schedule, it will work you.
Just this past week I was feeling overwhelmed by the pressures of the job and ministry and God reminded me of the importance of Sabbath rest. In reality, I really need a vacation (don’t we all) but that is just not practical for me at this time, so I must intentionally set aside time for rest. Doing this requires discipline and time management to be able to “unplug” my brain for a while. God reminded me a weekly Sabbath rest can do this for me. If I take the time to slow down, calm down, bow down to our Lord’s design for creation and wisdom for my life, the Lord can impress upon my heart what is important in life. He will do this if we slow down and calm down and worship him and listen for his Holy Spirit to speak to us. Proper time management will help us slow down and calm down in Sabbath rest.
#2 Overcome Insecurity
One of the worst traps for any minister is the game of comparison. Social media has made comparing so easy for us and we measure ourselves and our definition of success against each other. It is easy as a bi-vocational minister to doubt your calling because you feel “if I am really called to this, then I shouldn’t have to work a secular job to support myself.” A close friend of mine I served on staff with years ago was recently installed as the Lead Pastor in a church he had served 11 years in and the Pastor had retired. I went by the campus of his church to visit and say hello before I had a roof inspection in the area. I must admit when I pulled up to his beautiful 7 million-dollar facility I was envious at best and downright jealous at worst. The Holy Spirit convicted me almost immediately and reminded me that he didn’t call me to be my friend, he called me to be me. My friend had worked very hard to get where he was, and I knew first hand his ministry had not been a cake walk.
When you take on a church revitalization, you must stay realistic with your goals. If you are like Steven Furtick and your church explodes to 10,000 in a relatively short amount of time then more power to you, but that is the exception, not the norm. I’m finding joy in small victories like launching a new ministry from our church where we are going to do car repair for single moms and the elderly on a fixed income because I have a mechanic who is donating his time and shop for us. Or joining with other churches in town to support City on a Hill which is a food pantry and clothing thrift store in our town.
In the seven months since I took the reigns as Lead Pastor, we started with 18, the highest attendance we have had on a Sunday morning is 61. I don’t know if I should be offended that we had guest speakers that day or not. But just in seven months, we have been able to lead people to Christ, pray for and witness miracles, increase membership and giving, and increase the facilities. When I was an undergrad student at Southwestern Assemblies of God University, a missionary preached in Chapel one morning and gave a message that has stuck with me through the years. His message was simply “just show up”. If you will be faithful and just show up, it is amazing what God will do through you when you are in the right place.
#3 Trust God
Trusting God is a common theme throughout the life of any Christian. Being in commission-based sales and church revitalization has really stretched my concept of how much I trust God. The largest roof I have put on a home was a three-million-dollar home in Plano, Texas which is a very affluent area. I walked up to the door of the home and knocked and prayed and asked the Lord “Lord if this roof has damage someone has to put a roof on it. Please let it be me!” Much to my shock, the roof did have damage and the customer wanted to go with me as the contractor. Then I met with the adjuster. He said, “we don’t have to get on the roof” and used a drone to take pictures and look for damages. He said, “yeah, I’m going to replace the roof, gutters, and downspouts.” My jaw dropped because I couldn’t find any damage on the gutters and downspouts but who was I to argue with him. In roofing, a square of roofing is 10 feet by 10 feet section of the roof and that’s how they measure it. This particular roof was 87 squares. If I ever write a business book it would be entitled “Why not me?”. There is plenty of business out there and this roof taught me that God was going to lead me to my share.
I am trusting God there will be a time when the finances will be there for me to be full time at Grace Fellowship. Until then, I am enjoying being salt and light in my secular job. It is amazing how many talks about theology and life have opened up once people know I am a pastor and how many people I have prayed with on the job…even customers.
I have even had the privilege of conducting a coworkers wedding and leading her and her husband through pre-marital counseling. In the first part of Zachariah 4:10 it says, “Do not despise the day of small beginnings”. If you are a bi-vocational pastor, put these words in your heart and be amazed at what God will do in your ministry.
There is an old saying regarding church planting versus church revitalization that says it is easier to give birth than to raise something from the dead. That is true in most cases. But don’t neglect the times when God is calling to resurrect the dead. Some churches need a steady-handed person of God to lead a turnaround. The right thing at the wrong time is failure. The wrong thing at the wrong time is disaster. But the right thing at the right time is success.
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Field Notes 