Advice to a Young Pastor

            My advice to a young pastor would be this “In the calling of leadership, people must take priority over paper and production.” [1] This emphasis is made in the first three chapters of The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make and rightly so. Paperwork can become a force-field that keeps pastors from fully engaging and caring for the people that they come across. Finzel states that an effective leader does not view people as an interruption but as an opportunity “…effective leaders make room for people. Leaving them out is a big, big mistake.” [2] An opportunity to do what? An opportunity to do what a pastor is supposed to do, take care of the flock that God has given him. The Pastor and his staff are not a separate entity from the body of Christ. Everyone needs the love and guidance of Christ and compassion and empathy of fellow Christians to help the church mature. This can be achieved partially and effectively through deliberate and personal acts of affirmation. “Encouraging words give people the fuel to go on even in the most intense environments. Show love to your workers and they will follow you anywhere!” [3] According to Finzel this can be done by listening, empathizing, comforting, carrying burdens and encouraging one another both in and outside of work. [4]

            The question remains, how does one balance building and maintaining relationships and the tasks that need to be finished in a timely and excellent manner? The answer is simple if you live by the advice given in the previous paragraph. The people around you will understand and be sympathetic and maybe even helpful if you build meaningful relationships with your church and coworkers and couple this with regular staff meetings, retreats and open and honest communication, [5] you will be able to sit down with your team and delegate the work at hand without sacrificing the people for the paperwork. Every step of this process involves relationship building. A focus on the people around you first and the work in front of you second should be paramount. It should be understood that “Developing good staff relationships should be of primary concern…” [6] This is not merely a bogus exercise but a biblical one.

^“So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ Now the one planting and the one watering are one in purpose, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. ⁹ For we are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” ^[7]

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[1] Finzel, Hans, The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make, (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2007), 55.

[2] Ibid, 54.

[3] Ibid, 70.

[4] Ibid, 68.

[5] Powers, Bruce, Church Administration Handbook, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2008), 284

[6] Ibid, 277.

^[7] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), 1 Co 3:7–9.

Short Study on Daniel

1) The Identification of the Four Kingdoms

      Stephen Miller explains that the four kingdoms in Daniel 7 relate back to image of the statue in Daniel 2. “They are the same empires represented by the statue’s four parts in chap. 2.^[1] ”The four parts of the statue and the four beasts represent Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Scholars agree ^[2] that the first kingdom in both instances is Babylon but disagreement arises when they try to decide what the remaining three kingdoms are. A strong argument for the traditional interpretation, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, is from the book of Daniel itself. In both Daniel 8:20 and 6:8, 15 the author refers to Media and Persia as a single kingdom. I agree with the traditional interpretation not only because it supports a plain reading of Daniel but also because the Maccabean interpretation, Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece, is rooted in the idea that Daniel was written well after the events took place ^[3] thus making him at best, ignorant, and at worst, a liar. The descriptions of the beasts align with the characteristics of the kingdoms ^[4] themselves and pair this with the previous reasons stated, the traditional interpretation stands up quite well against criticism.

2) The “One like the Son of Man”

            

“and I saw One like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven.” ^[5] 

The imagery of the "clouds of heaven" in Daniel is used of God alone throughout the Old Testament. Exodus 13.21 & 19.16, Leviticus 16.2, Psalm 68 and in Isaiah and Nahum as well. The imagery is always connected to God. ^[6] The New Testament allows us to connect the dots of Daniel’s prophecy concerning who this may "Son of Man" may be. When we look at the New Testament Jesus refers to Himself many times as the “Son of Man”, 25 times in Matthew alone, and it also coincides with the imagery used in Revelation 1 & 14 referring to Jesus. The only conclusion is that “Jesus himself is the One who rides the cloud chariot into the final battle. Jesus is the divine warrior, who will defeat the beast, the forces of evil at the end of time.” ^[7]

3) The Identification of the Ram and the Goat

            The Ram and the Goat are both identified by Gabriel. The Ram represented the “kings of Media and Persia” and the Goat “represents the king of Greece.” The imagery involved with the Ram and the Goat line up perfectly with the history of both of these kingdoms. The horn that grows larger than the other represents the Persian dominance in the Medo-Persian Empire and the large horn of the goat represents Alexander the Great and the four horns that replaced him represent the four generals that split Greece up after his sudden death. ^[8]

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^[1] Stephen R. Miller, vol. 18, Daniel, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 196.

^[2] Ibid, 94.

^[3] Ibid, 23.

^[4] J. Dwight Pentecost, "Daniel" , in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), Da 7:1–7a.

^[5] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2009), Da 7:13.

^[6] Tremper Longman, III, Daniel, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 186-87.

^[7] Tremper Longman, III, Daniel, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 198.

^[8] Tremper Longman, III, Daniel, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 206.