Over the years, I’ve shared my ministry – helping churches form teams of men who adopt their widows and single moms – with thousands of pastors from around the world.
As might be expected, the response has been almost universally positive. What pastor wouldn’t want to better serve his widows and single moms and utilize his men in the process?
But I say “almost” because on rare occasions I hear from a pastor who finds something negative about this ministry.
A message I received from a pastor in my Messenger account a couple of days ago is a great example.
I was taken aback. Somehow this pastor thought that the Bible translation I used was more important than the message I conveyed. He thought my “mistake” in not using the King James Version of the Bible gave him the right to not even discuss with me his responsibility to the widows and single moms in his church.
Instead of responding in anger, I decided to just ignore him. But the next day, I received another message from this pastor, who correctly took my silence as a “no” to his question.
“That’s it!” I thought. “I have to respond to this guy.” So I took another day to think about what to say. I decided I wanted to both affirm him and also challenge him to consider what I was saying about widows and single moms on his own grounds. Here’s what I wrote:
The lesson here is that we all have our deep convictions, defining beliefs and pet peeves. I personally describe myself as a conservative evangelical with baptistic theological convictions. But I work with pastors and laymen from very divergent backgrounds.
To all of you, I say, thanks for giving me a voice; for taking a moment in your busy schedules to consider the needs of your widows, single moms and others with long term needs. I hope my ministry has been helpful to you.
I also hope that whatever differences we may have have not been so distracting that they have kept you from executing an effective plan for serving those same people with long term needs in your congregation and community.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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5 thoughts on “My Response to a Snarky Pastor”
Here is the best article on this topic of the “KJV alone,” from a New Testament scholar: https://bible.org/article/why-i-do-not-think-king-james-bible-best-translation-available-today
If only “KJV alone” pastors were the only ones helping widows and single-moms, what a dearth we would have. Thank goodness, there are so many pastors and other ministry workers, who hold to various other good translations, that step in to fill the gap. Keep up your tremendous ministry, Herb. And don’t let the “one issue” folks get you down. – Paul
PS: I sometimes wonder how anyone studied God’s word BEFORE the KJV came along!
Great point, Paul. And it’s not as if King James himself was a saint.
You rock my friend. Keep up your great work. I have received way more criticism and hurtful comments from “Christians” then I ever have from the secular world. Stay true to God’s calling upon you!
How true, Rick. Christians can be so cruel sometimes.
It’s good to hear from you. I enjoy seeing your books in airport bookstores as I travel. What a fantastic ministry you have. Blessings on you, my friend.