Former 3ABN staffer accepts new church pastorship

[Key Guy]

From Journal-Gazette, Times-Courier, Illinois

http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2009/04/30/features/religion/doc49fa4b608df89044130383.txt

Quote:

Members of the Mattoon Seventh-day Adventist Church welcomed their new pastor, Steve Nelson, on April 18.

Nelson is a board-certified biblical counselor through the International Board of Christian Counselors. He is also a certified belief therapist credentialed through Therapon Institute.

Pastor Nelson is also the director of “The Hope of Survivors,” a ministry addressing the issue of pastoral sexual misconduct and helping restore victims to a trusting relationship with God and the church through biblical counseling and support. He comes to Mattoon from Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN), a Christian broadcasting ministry.

Pastor Nelson also has a background in Internet/technology-related fields.

All are welcome to visit the church, located at the corner of DeWitt Avenue and 22nd Street (on the road to Dodge Grove Cemetery) on Saturday mornings to meet the new pastor, who will visit one to two times each month. Church begins at 11 a.m., with Sabbath School at 9:30 a.m.

[Woody]

I am curious ... is this pastor single?

There doesn't appear to be any mention of his spouse. If he has a spouse ... this is a grave misjustice.

[Nan]

HEY REDWOOD

I THOUGHT all S.D.A. pastors were married???

dgrimm60

Not necessarily Doug though I think the 'brethren' probably prefer if they are. Our pastor came to the church single, and got married a couple of years later (coincidentally to the daughter of a previous minister of the same church).

[Key Guy]

There's a pastor in PA that will be ordained at the PA camp meeting this summer. He's single.

Our former pastor in Key West who's now in the Jacksonville, FL, area... single.

[phkrause]

His name sounds familiar but not from 3ABN though. You wouldn't have a picture would you?

pk

[phkrause]

My mom's church had a pastor that was married but than his wife left him. Than the church voted him out. I couldn't believe that when she told me. They said that it wasn't good to have a pastor that's not married, even though they thought that he was a good pastor. Can you believe that, I think that' s not right.

pk

[Woody]

I have been in a church where they kicked out a good Pastor because the spouse wasn't good enough. You might not believe me ... but this was absolutely true. I was there. Even though the spouse is not paid ... the Pastor is expected to keep his household in line. The spouse has a lot to uphold.

[phkrause]

I can kind of understand that. But I think there's nothing wrong with a pastor that's single. And why wouldn't I believe you redwood?

pk

[Woody]

Quote:

And why wouldn't I believe you redwood?

Because I have a hard time even believing what I typed out. It sounds so outrageous.

[phkrause]

After what my mom's church did I find nothing to be outrageous, I just find those things to be very sad.

pk

[nuff sed]

The local church cannot vote out a pastor because the local church does not employ the pastor. Only the Conference can hire/fire. Of course, the church can raise a big enough stink that the conference will "remove' the pastor.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

My brother was a Pastor for a number of years before getting married. He had no problems with the church about it. Some *other* pastors had problems about it, but that was a different story.

[Daryl]

I think many, if not most conferences prefer married pastors.

[phkrause]

Not sure one way or the other Gladussee, you are probably right and know a little more about the politics of the church, but all I know is that they didn't want him there anymore and within no time he was gone.

pk

[Woody]

Often times ... the Conference will ask the local church to vote on whether they want the pastor or not. At least I've seen this happen. But the conference does not have to abide by the wishes of the local church.

Often times ... they will attempt to try to get the local church to work with the pastor. If that has been tried sufficiently ...then the conference might bow to the local wishes.

[Key Guy]

I was in a church where the conf, simply said, "Here's your new pastor". That was a first. Every other church was given the opportunity to 'interview' and investigate before actually officially approving. I thought it was a major break from policy to just drop a new pastor in on a church. I still don't see how a drop would be a good idea. There's a terrific risk of rejection when the conf. ignores the wishes of the congregation. That translates to added expense, not to mention damage done to the trust relationship between the congregation and the conf.

The power games continue.

[nuff sed]

The conferences have over the years grown to understand that consultation and dialogue with the local congregations does much to dispel the "us vs. them" mentality that seems to exist in some quarters.

It was not always so.....Some conferences would move their pastors every two years and thought that it was healthier that way. The local church sometimes would not know who was coming to pastor until a conference official introduced him on Sabbath morning.

The larger churches usually would be granted the "privilege" of input into the selection process. Many churches today have "selection committees" looking for the best fit for their particular congregation.

We may be splitting hairs but salaries are not paid by local churches(except in special circumstances) so it is the conference that has the final say as to who is hired and who is not. This also places legal ramifications upon the conference rather than the local church should litigious circumstances rear their ugly heads.