Follow my journey from a kid in the non-denominational Church of Christ to a Lutheran pastor in southwest Minnesota.

This presentation was given at the Higher Things Youth Conference at Valparaiso University in 2017.

The people outside the Church must speak well of him.

A pastor shouldn't only be respected inside the congregation and the Church at large. He should also be respected by those outside the Church.

He has to be known within the community as something other than the pastor of his congregation. This is why some pastors join community groups like Kiwanis International or the Lions Club. Why some pastors get involved with other community recreational activities. They need a reference point outside the congregation in order to relate to the community in which they serve.

If your pastor isn't involved in such community action, encourage them to do so. Many contacts made outside of the congregation may impact the congregation greatly in the future. Amen.

He should not be a recent convert, or he may feel proud and so be condemned with the devil.

One of the greatest revelations made to many of my classmates in seminary was that I had to wait before I began seminary. There is the requirement that everyone seeking to become a pastor must have been a Lutheran for at least two years. Granted, many of my classmates were lifelong Lutherans. They didn't understand why this restriction existed.

But think about it. Would you want someone who just started going to your church last month to become your pastor? Of course not. You'd want someone to know what he's talking about. You'd want someone who fulfills all the rest of the list of prerequisites for pastors. You'd want someone who has their feet firmly planted in what they're teaching.

Not a new convert. Someone who knows what he's doing. Otherwise everything might go to his head and he might end up condemning himself and the congregation through his own pride and arrogance. The last place anyone in church wants to be is Hell. How can someone who's just learning the faith lead others? He can't. He needs first to be led and then he will be able to lead. To lead his flock to Heaven and not Hell. Amen.

He should manage his own family well and have his children obey him as he treats them very seriously. If anyone doesn't know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?

Management is a great burden for the pastor. The administrative tasks that must be done to keep a congregation going from week to week. If the pastor is unable to do that, he doesn't need to be in the office.

Mismanagement is one of the greatest problems in the Church today. Churches leave the authority of God's Word because they have been mismanaged by their pastors. All the things that have been accepted by these churches that God condemns in the Bible comes from mismanagement. God calls all Christians to manage His Word well. That's why He gives us the Sabbath. To manage His Word properly. By properly managing His Word, we manage our lives and our eternities well. Amen.

In the final "Common Ground" episode, we look at the first two Sacraments in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Baptism and Confirmation. Is there anything inherently different between Lutherans and Catholics as we look at Baptism? What is the major difference in Confirmation that Lutherans do not agree with? 

[The pastor must be] not a lover of money.

Except for those you see on television asking for donations to keep their ministries on the air, no one becomes a pastor because they're going to make a lot of money. You don't see pastors signing contracts to preach for $20 million a year. For many, if they get $20,000, they consider themselves blessed.

While St. Paul does write, "Those who proclaim the Gospel should get their living by the Gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:14), pastors should have their ministry be the primary source of their income. But pastors aren't to become greedy with their congregations and say that they DESERVE to be paid more than they are. In this economy, some churches are lucky to barely survive by paying their pastor a nominal wage.

The pastor doesn't work for the money. He works for the ministry of God's Word. Ministry is a service by nature. It's not done by those who love money. It's done by those who love the Lord. Amen.

[The pastor must be] not quarrelsome.

Building on the idea of being gentle and not violent, the pastor is also called to not be quarrelsome. Not out looking for a fight.

But that's the way many people view pastors who faithfully preach God's Word. God's Word comes to us and often points to the very darkest portion of our souls, disturbing our sins and bringing them to the light. No one wants their sins brought to light. We strive to keep our sins in the darkness, but the pastor's job is to bring them to light.

So the pastor looks to be out for a fight, but is he? Certainly not. He comes to proclaim God's Word to a specific people in a specific place with a specific set of circumstances. These things bring about a very personal proclamation. The pastor isn't being quarrelsome. He's being faithful to what God has called him to do. God calls us to do His will. And His will isn't quarrelsome. Amen.

[A pastor must be] not violent but gentle.

How do the Scriptures talk about God? He is love. He is the faithful Father and Husband of His Bride, the Church. He is the Good Shepherd (John 10:10). "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart," Jesus says (Matthew 11:29).

Several times in the Gospels Jesus' disciples want to take violent action against those who opposed them. James and John wanted to call down fire from Heaven because a Samaritan village didn't accept the Gospel (Luke 9:54). Peter drew a sword and cut off the ear of one of the high priest's servants who came to arrest Jesus (John 18:10). In both instances, Jesus rebukes the disciples for their violent tendencies. They were forgetting that Jesus is "gentle and humble in heart" (Matthew 11:29).

As Jesus' representative to the congregation, the pastor is also to be gentle instead of violent. But gentleness is not pacifism. It is the firmness of being able to declare the truth in a very loving way (Ephesians 4:15). Being gentle, the pastor is able to diffuse tense situations without lashing out. Gentleness is love in action. Love shown to all people. Amen.

[A pastor must be] no drunkard.

Do you want a drunk pastor? Me neither. Drunkenness lowers inhibitions. Drunkenness loosens the tongue. The last thing anyone wants in a pastor is a loose tongue.

A loose tongue causes all kinds of problems. The pastor is supposed to be the one person you can trust with all your deepest secrets. The pastor must keep his tongue tight about what he is bound not to discuss. Drunkenness clouds a person's judgment. Cloudy judgment makes for bad choices.

A pastor is most vulnerable to the bad choices that he makes. Not because he made them. Because he has a congregation that's affected by everything that he does. He's the public embodiment of the congregation. The example for all as Jesus is his example. Amen.

An overseer must be ... able to teach.

One of the chief responsibilities for a pastor is to teach. This is the pastor's most noticeable work. He's seen as the guy in the pulpit. The one who speaks God's Word in the congregation. A pastor must be able to take what is in the Bible and apply it to the lives of all the people in the congregation.

This application is a moving target as the demographics of the congregation change over time, and even week to week. In many congregations, the typical Sunday service can have worshippers that range from newborns into Christians in their nineties. This moving target makes the pastor's teaching and preaching role the most difficult part of his job.

Can each pastor effectively teach the same as each other pastor? No. Each pastor has his own abilities and specialties. Some are more people-oriented and able to apply things personally. Others are more academic and have a bit harder time in application to "regular life". But each pastor is blessed with his own gifts. Praise God for your pastor's gifts, even if they don't quite work for you, and offer suggestions for him to improve his teaching styles. He will appreciate the constructive input. Amen.