Of Podcasts and Pastors
I remember when I first grasped the inherent power of the pastoral office.
In the mid-00s, I was a well-intentioned but ultimately naive church planter in my twenties.
One evening, I went over to a house to meet with some college students and found a group of them playing *Halo 3*. One of them was a Bible college student named David.
I asked him, “What are you studying, David?”
“I’m getting a BA in youth ministries,” he replied.
I didn’t know such a thing existed.
“That seems like a bad idea,” I said. “That’s a lot of time spent on a degree that no one actually requires. Why not get a more standard degree that opens up more vocational options?”
He paused. “I hadn’t thought about it that way.”
“Well, food for thought. What else is going on?”
“I’m dating Anna.”
“Really? That surprises me.”
“Why?”
“She’s a big advocate for female pastors and, frankly, a feminist. I like her, but I think she has some things to work through.”
“I’ll ask her about it.”
“Alright, can I get in on this game of Slayer?”
And that was it. The whole conversation lasted maybe five minutes.
Several weeks passed, and I realized I hadn’t seen David since that conversation. I asked a few students what happened to him. Someone mentioned he might have moved back home to Dayton or Columbus.
So, I gave him a call and asked, “David, I haven’t seen you in a while. Is everything okay?”
“Everything is great,” he said. “I thought about what you said. You were right. I broke up with Anna, quit college, and took a job at my dad’s car lot. It’s been fantastic.”
After I finished the conversation, I just sat there in the silence for a while. In less than five minutes, an unplanned conversation had completely shifted the direction of this young man’s life.
From that day on, I became increasingly careful about sharing my thoughts. Even if a pastor doesn’t handle authority well, the office itself empowers him. Incidentally, this is one reason why weak men are often drawn to it.
Authority and responsibility should be roughly at parity. While a pastor holds authority, he also bears the immediate and long-term consequences of his words—whether spoken in conversation or from the pulpit—in the lives of his congregation. This reality has a sobering effect; it tempers you.
This creates a problem with teaching ministries that reach beyond a specific local church, as they separate authority from responsibility. I’m not suggesting this is intentional; I know it hasn’t been my intent. It’s simply a functional reality.
My words carry weight with some people, and I’ve been credited with decisions that I think were foolish—a misapplication of what I wrote or said. Still, as a shepherd and teacher, I have to take responsibility (not blame) for the consequences of my words.
Weak men love authority without responsibility.
Even if we aren’t held accountable in this life, Jesus says, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matt. 12:36).
So, pastors, podcasters, and writers—tread wisely.
That is a very good post, Pastor Foster-- your best, perhaps, though it's just a story. I am a professor, and a Substacker, and I should worry about the same thing, particularly as I sometimes say unusual things boldly. Part of it is Office, but part of it is Ideas too. The two things you said to the boy were true, and can immediately be understood and believed when someone says them, but nobody had ever said them to him.
On the other hand, Office and Ideas have a synergistic effect. Precisely because you are a Pastor, you have an extra duty to tell people things, and combined with the duty everyone has (which we can usually evade because it is so diffuse), that made you tell him something I would be too chicken to tell him unless he asked for advice.
With Substack, you can always rewrite. That's what I've been doing with my absentee voter post, as I get comments and more data. You might add to this post that a Pastor/Professor/Idea's surprising influence means we should be careful not TO MISS the chance to slip a sentence in.
I am reminded of what a policeman once told me, "Be kind. You never know what inner turmoil someone may be going through". Similarly, you never know when someone is at crossroads in their life, where a butterfly's wing flap might determine the outcome.
Oh-- and the ballots post is at https://ericrasmusen.substack.com/p/329614-election-crimes-were-detected . I make a comment myself for collecting revision links and ideas.
God’s wisdom given to you early on. It takes humility and self-control to not use a gift or position beyond its intended purpose. I’m really thankful for this insight.