Being Multigenerational
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Benjamin Kreps:
Hey everyone. And welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where our aim is to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, a couple of podcasts ago, and then an email communication, we were informed about the Leadership Team expanding, adding John Payne and Eric Turbedsky, who was already on the team, and Jared Mellinger. One of the reasons why, that you communicated, was a need to bring the next generation of Sovereign Grace pastors, younger men into leadership roles to invest in and then think about our future because the older guys, while we love them, won't be around forever. So when you look across Sovereign Grace, when you think about our future, which I know is something that you do, what are your thoughts about the next generation of pastors? How we're doing in identifying and raising up men like that and any encouragements you would have in that regard?
Mark Prater:
Well, my prayer and my hope is that should God allow us, is that Sovereign Grace would be a multigenerational denomination. Kind of let's start with the big picture. And that's what lies behind the recent Leadership Team reconfiguration. It's a step towards the second generation really beginning to lead. And now just thinking about the generations beyond them, who can lead in Sovereign Grace first within their local church.
So, I don't think I really have a good feel on how our churches are doing. Here's my overall observation though. It seems we've got fewer men who feel called to pastoral ministry than what we used to several years ago. And I'm not sure I understand why. I've got some guesses. One of them is just the cultures influence, meaning just the cultures apathy towards the local church. This has always been an existing issue. It's not a new one, but it's still I think one that operates in guys' minds. They can make more money in the marketplace than you can in ministry. You don't get into ministry to make a lot of money. And I think regardless of what nation your church is in, regardless of where in the world you pastor, the cultures trend, especially on social issues, probably tells a young man that being a pastor in the future is going to be filled with a number of pastoral leadership challenges where Christianity is going to be in stark contrast to where the culture said it.
So those are some of my guesses of why we don't seemingly have the called men that we used to.
Benjamin Kreps:
Just an additional observation over this pandemic. I've lost track of the amount of people who've made the wise observation, “I would not want to be in your shoes having to lead through the season.” So the challenge is that people watch us facing could certainly have an effect on ones desire for the task. What encouragements might you have for us as pastors as we think about how we identify, encourage, raise up this next generation of pastors?
Mark Prater:
Yeah, that's a great question. Just a number of thoughts. Obviously just be looking and not just looking at men who are just graduating from college, look younger. Look into the high school years and maybe even, you know, even into grade school, if you can. And just observing guys. That'd be one thing I think. Secondly, and you were mentioning this before we began to record the podcast, just getting together with young men and being with them. And I think there's a number of things you can do when you're with them. But one of the things I would really encourage a pastor to do is talk about your own call into pastoral ministry. There's that verse in 1 Corinthians 9:16 where Paul says, “Necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” And you can feel the emotion coming from those words almost.
Benjamin Kreps:
Yeah.
Mark Prater:
I'm reading through David Garland's commentary on 1 Corinthians right now. I'm doing that devotionally. A great commentary, by the way. And he begins to unpack that verse and he talks about this God originated compulsion that comes upon a man that stirs his heart, where he's just compelled to give his life to the gospel and the gospel ministry, where he feels this woe to me if I don't preach the gospel. Not all guys have that experience in their pathway into pastoral ministry. But if you have, I would just begin to talk about that a bit. It'd be one thing that you could do.
Ben Kreps:
Yeah. Additionally, my thoughts, I think even just not needing to have some sort of complicated leadership development program track, even if guys aren't doing this already and feel busy, just inviting young men into your life to come along with you and to different environments and hang out. And even I would suggest, doing something that might feel a little risky at times, which is to find ways to even delegate some leadership to a young man, to an 18 or 19-year-old man and give him that responsibility if he's willing to take it up and see what see what's going on there.
Mark Prater:
That's a great idea. You know, the guys who are joining the Leadership Team, Eric, you mentioned Jon Payne, Jared Mellinger, and also Dave Taylor. They were a part of a Leadership Development group we started, I think three or four years ago. We met once a year on a retreat. And of course we had a plan. There are certain things that we were talking about, but there were just those times when we could just hang out together, have a long meal together. And the kind of conversation you have there really does equip, I think, young men for ministry. So, it's very similar to what you're doing then. And I don't think that it is real hard. If guys are like, “Where do I start with leadership development,” I think that's a great place to start—gathering some young men and just hang out with them.
Benjamin Kreps:
Yeah, not that hard to do. Although I know it is challenging and a busy schedule, but important. So it's a very important area. Much more could be said, Mark, but our time here is done. So maybe we'll talk more about this on another podcast, but thanks for your thoughts. Thanks for your heart and vision for our future. And thank you everyone for watching. We'll see you back here next time. God bless you.