In The Pastor’s Study Inaugural Posting

Dear Colleague in Ministry,

Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!  I hope this letter finds you in good health, spiritually and physically.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17 – NIV) The King James Version reads “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”  Today, I launch a new clergy collegial blog. I hope we will encourage and empower each other toward success and excellence in pastoral ministry. 

As I sit in the Pastor’s Study at Cambria Heights Community Church, I often ponder the possible feedback of clergy colleagues as it relates to preparing sermons, counseling in particularly difficult situations, designing fresh worship, balancing competing priorities of ministry, marriage and family, maintaining self-care, pursuing personal and private dreams and interests outside of ministry and family, and finding resources to meet the ever evolving and changing needs of the people whom I serve.  After a sustained period of prayer, reflection and meditation, I realize I can invite you to come “In The Pastor’s Study” whenever and from wherever you wish.

I envision this blog as a constant clergy collegial colloquium in which we converse with each other, sharing ideas, links and resources to enable all of us to serve our Lord and the body of Christ.  In time, I hope you will consistently visit this blog as it will be a vocational tool box.  Additionally, I hope our continual exchange of ideas will yield experiential learning and practical methods for success in ministry equal to any seminary course. 

During four year spanning, 2003 to 2007, I was privileged to participate in the Nashville Institute for Clergy Excellence, a continuing education colloquium which emphasized experiential learning.  We traveled throughout the major cities (Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago) of the United States to meet with clergypersons who are “succeeding” in their ministerial contexts.  Our group of nine pastors held twenty-five degrees, had more than a century of combined ministerial experience and shared a commitment to maintaining an authentic and intellectually respectable Christian identity within the twenty-first century context of religious, cultural and ideological pluralism of the global village.  I pray this blog will offer you similar benefits.

Practically speaking, I will post sermons, sermon outlines, illustrations and other preparation resources, Christian education and Bible study resources, book reviews, and other pastoral materials.  I earnestly desire your frank yet respectful feedback as all followers of this blog may reap residual and helpful insights from your perspective.  Feel free to send any contributions you wish to share.  Parenthetically, I rightfully retain full editorial prerogative relating to any content, comments and other materials, on this blog. 

More specifically as it relates to exchange of ideas and contributions, I hope we will “think outside of the box.”  Do you have any insights from Broadway and stage theatre, music performers and stand-up comedy that may help our colleagues with sermon preparation and delivery?  Do you have any technology and web resources that will aid pastors in working smart and not hard?  Have you recently had a public speaking tune-up; do you have any helpful hints?  Do you often consult a pastor’s manual; what resources would assist any pastor? 

What are you reading outside of religion and pastoral ministry; would you share your bibliographies?  Have you recently had a conversation with the teenagers, collegians and young adults in your congregation?  Please share the conversations so others may glean techniques that my suit their ministerial setting.  If your youth ministry Friday night gatherings consist of playing Xbox 360 and Connect along with sharing about the latest electronic toys and gizmos, please share what the rest of us may be missing.  What is your success with church, pastoral and personal Facebook pages and other forms of social media?  Do you recommend any online match-making sites?  Have you been able to garner the cooperation of lay leaders in using Skype for late fall and winter meetings?  Essentially, how do you succeed and excel in ministry within our technological global village with rapidly and constantly shifting population settings?

Pastoral counseling absorbs a considerable amount time and presents the most complex challenges in daily ministry.  In addition to utilizing continuing education, mentoring and spiritual direction, we have access to effective and supplementary methods to serve our congregants when collaborating collegially.  Accordingly, I hope you will share failures and successes within this online clergy colloquium.  Earnestly, I solicit your ideas concerning a panorama of pastoral counseling issues:  marriage, family, parenting, finances, time management, vocational discernment, unemployment and underemployment, depression, lack of self-acceptance and dysfunctional childhood.  Any useful books you have read would be a good starting point for many clergy colleagues.

When I retreat to my pastor’s study, I do so primarily to grow personally and develop spiritually.  As you daily visit with our colleagues throughout the world “In The Pastor’s Study,” you will find encouragement in practicing spiritual disciplines such as prayer, meditation, personal Bible study and self-evaluation.  If community activism and social justice ministry are major components of your ministry, you have a kindred spirit in me and I pray you will find other similarly minded colleagues here.  More significantly, in clicking on this blog, you will interact with an international community of pastors who understand the crucible of serving faithfully in ministry. 

As ministry begins at home and spreads abroad, I periodically refer to my wife and family as “First Congregation.”  Oftentimes, a pastor’s marital and familial obligations compete numerically and intensely with his ministerial duties.  Each day presents new and unique challenges.  As you enter “In The Pastor’s Study,” you will find a safe, serene and sacred space to assist you in attaining the summits of success even as you occasionally traverse challenging cliffs.

Finally and wholeheartedly, I offer genuine prayers for your success, excellence and fulfillment in pastoral ministry.  As I am in my twenty-fourth year of ordained ministry, I know the purpose and pain as well as joy and sorrow of a divine and gracious call to serve our Lord through meeting the needs of humankind.  It is a privilege to enter the inner chambers of congregant’s hearts where their most private and personal pain resides.  God mysteriously utilizes pastors, in many cases “Wounded Healers,” as His instruments of grace, healing and love.  Ironically, the persons whom we serve the most sometimes become agents of deep and lasting wounds.  To that end, we follow our Lord’s inimitable example.  Yet, I pray God will recompense any gift of time and consideration you offer when visiting with me and your colleagues “In The Pastor’s Study.” 

Until we meet here again, I pray laughter, joy, peace, love and wholeness will be your constant companions.  In Christ’s ministry to the whole person and with warmest personal regards, I am always

  
Your Brother in Christ,

Victor M. Singletary

The Reverend Victor Michael Singletary