The Big Diehl

I attended a ministers meeting a few days ago. The special guest speaker was a retired United Methodist pastor who spoke on the topic, “How to be Effective in Ministry.” I was all set to hear some new innovative steps to be effective. I expected a new system to help a minister be twice as effective.

But this man spoke on the basics: protecting your personal time with God, being visible in the community, etc. BASIC THINGS.

Then I got to thinking of the late Bishop Paul E. Paino. He spent much of his life teaching church leaders about systems. If I recall correctly, he was known as “The Sunday School Pastor.” He traveled all over America and beyond teaching “The Missing Element in Church Growth.” He had systems and strategies. But towards the end of his life he ignored systems and strategies - nearly spoke against them several times. In the last years of Bishop’s life, he only spoke about the need for the Holy Spirit to work in our churches today; the basics.

I spoke with another great man who told me the most important thing in ministry was depending on God with everything I have; the basics.

When was the last time you’ve seen an 80 year old teaching about a new and innovative strategy in regards to a church or our spiritual lives? I never have, and I don’t think that’s because they feel like a lame duck - I think its because they have a lifetime of perspective. Anyone I’ve ever seen discussing a new and innovative church or spiritual life strategy was relatively young - under 40. I’m a big fan of learning from the older people - and I think maybe I can learn a lesson from older pastors here. Perhaps they spent their lives going after new strategies only to realize that it wasn’t nearly as important as they thought it was. I think I’ll save a lot of time and energies if I learn from these men’s lives and keep the first things first.