Pastors Who Were Full of Bull

I had a treat today. I got together with several of the pastors in our association and we traveled over to Lawrenceville to meet and pray with Dr. Frank Cox, pastor of North Metro First Baptist Church, who will probably be the next president of the SBC (more on than in a minute). Can you imagine what it is like when 11 pastors invade a Longhorn’s Steak House? Yes, bedlam ensued and some cows fulfilled their destiny. Something about pastors and bull seem to go together, but I will leave that to your imagination.

Our association’s slogan is “Miracles are happening in Mulberry” – I love calling the associational office just to hear Valorie say that! But miracles are indeed happening in Mulberry . . . one of the pastors picked up the tab for the WHOLE GROUP. Had I known that, I would have had the prime rib!!! But seriously, thanks again, Brother Shuford, that really was nice of you and we appreciated it.

Back to Dr Cox. I was blessed to have the time to get to know him and hear his heartbeat for God, for his fellow pastors, for our own “Southern Baptist Zion” and for the Kingdom of God in general. But one particular story he share really touched me and gave me great respect for the man. A couple of years ago a group of pastors asked Dr. Cox to consider being nominated for SBC president. For those of my readers outside of SBC life, opportunities like that only come around once in a lifetime. Such an offer is attractive to pastors, because we all possess a God-given desire to make an impact in people’s lives. We want to impact our churches, communities, and if given the opportunity, we want to impact as many people as possible. This is not an unusual desire; consider the story of Jabez. A position such as that certainly would constitute an “enlarged territory.”

After much prayer and deliberation, he turned down the offer for the simple reason that his son was going to be a senior in High School, and he did not want to miss out on such an important part of the life of such an important person. He chose, in my estimation, the greater good. You see our influence is never more important than it is at home. I was reminded of the story in the book of Judges about Jephthah. He wanted victory so badly - and I might add, victory all in the name of God, for His cause – that he made a foolish promise to God. He promised that if God would grant the victory that he would offer as a burnt offering the first thing that came out of his house to meet him when he returned home. God kept His end of the deal and gave Jephthah the battle. As Jephthah approach his house, his only child – a daughter – came out to meet him. With a broken heart, two months later, he kept his end of the deal.

We pastors are vulnerable to a similar temptation. And not just pastors, every parent is faced with the temptation to advance our career, earn more money, provide more for our kids . . . all the while sacrificing our families on the altar of parenthood in absentia. But folks, the most important point of influence ANY of us have are the kids in our lives. Our families, spouses and kids both, deserve the best of our time, attention, energy, and love. There is no gain that ever is worth the sacrifice of our families.

A separate post on priorities is forthcoming, but for now, let me challenge you to put your family first in your life. And thank you Dr. Cox for being a living example of father first, pastor next. By God’s grace may I always be faithful to follow your example.