The Official Blog of Dr. Bobby Mullins

« MY BETHEL “The Three Trees” at Halle Stadium in Memphis, TN
(where I prayed after jogging about every day from June 1977-June 1981)

BACK TO THE BASICS MINISTRIES
DECEMBER 2011 UPDATE
“It’s Time To Get Back To The Basics of Life”
P.O. Box 32486 Knoxville, TN 37930 / 865-966-4150
brobmullins@aol.com / www.drbobbymullins.com

THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

One of the most beautiful and moving narratives I have ever heard for a Christmas musical is from the cantata, Noel, Jesus is Born. The musical score was written by Lanny Wolfe, and the narration was composed by the late Bob Benson. Here is a timely excerpt from it that is so relevant to where most of us find our personal circumstances at Christmas:

Well, He [Christ] still comes into a crowded world. It was crowded then, but it’s more crowded now. We lead such busy, jostling, cluttered lives—and they’re even more so at Christmas. We come loaded with bundles of gifts of love for others, but we get impatient and blow our horns at the cars ahead of us. Hardly time enough to buy a tree, we frantically wrap the last of the packages just moments before we’re to tear them open—so we can rush off to somewhere else and back again exhausted.
     Here we are at Christmas again—hoping to hear the angels singing, needing a star to follow, really wanting to kneel at a manger. We mean to adore Him with Mary, we do believe with Joseph. We want to worship with the shepherds, our hearts long to rejoice with the wise men—but somehow there isn’t any time.
     It is into just such a world the angels come again and again to sing these eloquent, lifegiving words—Jesus is born, Jesus is born.
     Just as those words came and changed a barn filled with cows and straw into a shrine, a hillside dotted with sheep and shepherds into a cathedral, a sky filled with stars into a message from the Father—so they come to you, as old as eternity—as fresh as the morning—as simple as a baby—as majestic as a psalm. Warm as a mother’s arms—mighty as God Himself—Jesus is born, Jesus is born.

A recent survey revealed that over 50% of the citizens of this country no longer view the birth of Christ as the most significant emphasis surrounding Christmas. Excuse me! But isn’t that where the reason for this season originated? I mention this statistic because most of us feel that we keep the emphasis upon Jesus at Christmas time. Do we? Evaluate your schedule and see what truly matters the most at Christmas. Every year, I am sensing the worldly side of Christmas crowding more and more into our spiritual worship and service, which is the year long, lifetime result of what this season is truly all about. Don’t let the rush and busyness surrounding Christmas cause you to focus most on the secular side of the Christmas season. Don’t let it cause you to neglect your spiritual duties and responsibilities.
     Keep Christ as the central focus of your Christmas. Take some time every day to go back to that hillside with the shepherds, to rejoice at the manger with Joseph and Mary, and to glory in the good news, the best news, the greatest news the world has ever known and will ever know—Jesus is born, Jesus is risen, Jesus lives, and Jesus will reign forever.

MERRY CHRISTMAS From The Mullins Family – Bro. Bobby, Wanda, Melody, Mallory, Brandon, Megan, and Brantley (His 1st Christmas)

Aunt Melody »         
Aunt Mallory
Brantley

                  Mia, Poppy, & Brantley

Mom, Dad, & Brantley

“YOU’RE HAVING A HEART ATTACK”

I heard those shocking words shortly after midnight on Monday, December 12. I will give the details in the January 2012 Update, but I want to let you know that I am doing well after having 3 stints put in arteries, going home a day, then back to the hospital and having 2 more stints added to arteries. I have mentioned in previous updates that my life verse for this year is Ps. 35:28: “My tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all day long.” It has helped to sustain me throughout 2011. I am pondering now what my life verse will be for 2012. I will share it with you in the January 2012 Update. What about you? Why don’t you select a life verse for 2012 that will describe how you want to live each day in a way that is pleasing to the Lord and reflects Christ to the world.

TV PROGRAM REPEATS
We are repeating previously aired programs of A Fresh Start on a regular basis as a means of stewardship. I would like to air all new programs, but with the cost being $1000.00 for three hours studio time and eight hours of editing to produce four new programs, I believe the best use of ministry funds is to repeat every new program at least once. One of my reasons for airing the TV program was to get the program and a Christian witness into the thousands of hotel/motel rooms and chalets/cabins in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Smoky Mountains corridor where hundreds of thousands of people vacation and attend conferences each year from all over the United States and the world. With most of the tourists being in the area once a year, they don’t know if a program of A Fresh Start is a new airing or a repeat. So, we usually air four new programs in a row, then repeat those broadcasts at least once before airing new programs.

HUNDRED FOLD BLESSING BENEFACTORS, GIDEON’S 300 GIVERS AND DIFFERENCE MAKER DONORS

We have three special levels of giving that financial contributors to Back To The Basics Ministries can attain. On the first program of A Fresh Start my message was about Gideon and how his army of 300 routed an army of thousands, so many thousands that the Bible said they “were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts, and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude” (Judges 7:12). Wow! Little is much when God is in it! The idea behind the Gideon’s 300 Givers is for 300 couples or singles to reach the $300 level in giving to the ministry, preferably in a year. Once any donor has reached the $300 level in total giving to the ministry, they will become a Gideon’s 300 Giver. As of the writing of this update, 30 couples/singles have become Gideon’s 300 Givers.
     Another level of giving is that of the Hundred Fold Blessing Benefactors. A couple sent me a check for $100 soon after I began A Fresh Start Ministries/Back To The Basics Ministries, who are about the same age of Wanda and me, with three children about the same age of our children. They said that as long as the Lord blessed them to be able to do so that they were going to give $100 a month to the ministry. I am praying for 99 other couples/singles who could do likewise —give an average per year of $100 a month to the ministry. So far, 15 couples/singles have reached this level of giving (that also makes them Gideon’s 300 Givers, too) in a year’s time, and 13 have maintained giving at that level each year since the ministry was founded in July, 2009. For those who reach the level of Gideon’s 300 Givers or Hundred Fold Blessing Benefactors, in time we will have some ways by which we will thank such supporters of Back To The Basics Ministries, such as a complimentary copy of any book published by the ministry and other special means of recognition and appreciation.
     Everyone who makes a donation to Back To The Basics Ministries is a Difference Maker Donor. Regardless of the amount of the financial gift, you are making a difference in helping us to keep the television program on air and the ministry operating. In giving me the opportunity to minister and touch lives for Christ through A Fresh Start TV program and Back To The Basics Ministries, you have helped to make a difference in their lives, too, by making it possible for me to do it! I am humbled that anyone would give financially to allow me the privilege to preach and minister in the name of Jesus.

Blessings, Bobby Mullins

“Keep in the Word, on your knees, loving God, loving each other, worshiping together,
building Godly homes, supporting the Lord’s work financially, sharing the faith.”

I AIN’T MOVED

“But none of these things move me,”
(Acts 20:24)

“I have set the Lord always before me:
because He is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved.”
(Ps. 16:8)

The 1987 Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis was labeled “the Watershed Convention.”  It was at this meeting of the SBC that the conservatives won the presidential election for the ninth year in a row, and by the presidential choices of conservative electees to the convention boards and committees, the balance of control tipped from the moderate to the conservative wing.  The direction of the Southern Baptist Convention had returned to her fundamental grassroots and has remained that way since the Conservative Resurgence began in 1979.
      Wanda and I were in attendance when Dr. Jerry Vines preached the Convention Sermon in 1987, which is one of the greatest sermons I have ever heard.  It was titled, “A Baptist and His Bible.”  His sermon upheld the inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility of the Bible, and that it was the view held by the overwhelming majority of Southern Baptists.  He shared an illustration that summarized the Bible-believing, uncompromising Southern Baptist he has always been:

Old Jeb and his wife were riding in their pick-up truck to town one Saturday morning. A car passed them going in the other direction in which a young woman was cuddled up right next to a man, who was driving the car.  Jeb’s wife looked over at him and said, “When we were first married, we didn’t sit this far apart.”  Briefly looking away from the road and over at his wife, Jeb replied, “I ain’t moved!”

I like that!  Every day we are faced with decisions that can greatly alter our lives and the lives of others upon whom we have an influence, some of whom we are not even aware we are influencing. Many of those decisions ought not to be ones we have to give much thought to.  You see, for many of the issues and questions of life, you need to learn the answer before you are ever asked the question.  The Bible has already provided the exact answer to many of life’s questions.  For the ones where the answer is not exact, the Bible provides the principles that lead us to the right decision or answer.
     Having been a full-time pastor for twenty years and serving full-time in the ministry for thirty years, I want you to know that there are some basics of being a pastor, but, most of all, in being a Christian, where I ain’t moved, and I never will be moved.  Our staying firm as Christians on some of these issues and questions of our day will result in persecution in some form. But, as Paul stated when he was told of impending persecution, “None of these things move me.” Oh, that all the disciples of Jesus could testify as Paul.  If we will stay true to the Word and stand firm, the Lord has promised He will equip and empower us to endure.  Therefore, the Lord is with me because I always set him before me, so I shall not be moved.  May the words of an old song be one of our theme songs in the compromising day in which we live: I shall not be, I shall not be moved; I shall not be, I shall not be moved; Just like a tree that’s planted by the waters, Lord, I shall not be moved.

HALF JOKING/HALF SERIOUS

  Now that I am open to pastoring full-time again, I’m thinking about changing my hairstyle, spiking it (should I color it, too?), so that I look younger and more appealing to church pastor search committees, most of whom seem to want a pastor in his 30s or early 40s (but with 20 plus years experience). What do you think? You can’t see it but I am wearing a blazer with a mock turtleneck, too. Since the picture was taken, I have also gotten some new stylish plastic glasses like were worn in the 1960s.

Below is my seven month old grandson Brantley’s reaction to my new look! I would take his response to be a disapproval!

I’m having a little fun, half joking/half serious! The serious part is that I am seeing a trend today where churches are now becoming among the most age discriminatory institutions around. Churches are actually putting an age limit for a candidate for pastor of their church that is well below retirement age. One church looking for a pastor recently advertised that the prospective pastor must be 35-45 years of age. THAT WOULD HAVE ELIMINATED JESUS from being considered to be their pastor because His public ministry began at age 30 and ended when he was 33.  How ironical that the One for whom and because of whom that church exists could not even be their pastor!

In most professions, the last few years prior to retirement are not only when the CEOs/Executives make their highest salaries and have the wisdom and experience to do their best work, it is also when the average worker/employee is making the most income and knows how to do their work efficiently and effectively. But, too many churches are avoiding calling men to pastor their church who are 50-55 and older, who could be used in a marvelous way to help some of those churches rebound, in some cases, from the lack of being able to maintain stability and consistency from calling young men who stay at the church 2-3 years or less and use that church as a stepping stone to a bigger church.

To my young pastor friends, don’t let yourself get caught up in thinking a church made up of mostly 30-45 year olds is the ideal. The reason some of your churches have the prime locations, land, and facilities they have today is because of the now senior adults who were tithers, givers, and servers, whose time, efforts, and sacrifices led to people joining the church and those buildings being built. I would bet, if I were a betting man, that if you profiled the giving, compared to salaries/income, that you would see a high level of gifts to your church in what would be 10% of what Social Security pays. Those senior adults may not have as much to give as they had at one time, but they still continue to tithe and even give beyond their tithe. Yet, I have observed too many of the younger pastors today who don’t give much of their time to senior adults and some who try to avoid giving any time to them. The church ought to be a reflection, as far as age groups go, of what society is. With the fastest growing segment of society being 70 and over, a church that does not make that age group a significant part of a church is a church that is not ministering to the whole body of Christ and not wholly evangelistic because there are many senior adults who will die and spend eternity in hell if we ignore seeking to reach them because our focus is only on those below 55 years of age.

It’s been awhile since I last blogged but I’m going to get back to blogging on a regular basis. My last blog revealed the main personal goals of my life. After forming A Fresh Start Ministries in July 2009, with the help of ministry supporters we premiered A Fresh Start TV Program. On one of the first programs aired, the message I shared was on my personal goals. On a recent program of A Fresh Start my message centered upon Back To The Basics, which related the basic convictions upon which I have lived my life and conducted myself with my family, in the ministry and throughout society. I am not going to summarize what those convictions are in this blog. I am simply going to list them below, but I feel the simple statement that goes with each of those convictions will give you an idea of what motivates me to be “a man after God’s own heart who will do all His will” (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22).

B.A.C.K. TO THE B.A.S.I.C.S.
My Basic Convictions Upon Which I Have Lived My Life And
Conducted Myself With My Family, In The Ministry, And Throughout Society

WHAT WE NEED TO GET B.A.C.K. TO

Back To The Bible

The Bible is My Absolute Authority And
Supreme Source of Direction For Life
2 Tim. 3:14-17

Back To The Altar

The Home Is My Primary Source of
Spiritual Instruction
Prov. 22:1-6; Deut. 6:1-9

Back To Convictions

My Convictions are the Lord’s Convictions
Which I Purpose To Follow Without Compromise
Ps. 16:8; 30:6; 62:2; 112:6

Back To The Koinonia

The Church is My Primary Source of
Spiritual Involvement
1 Thess. 5:12-22; Acts 2:41-47
(God’s Plan for a Successful Church)

THE B.A.S.I.C.S.

Belief In Jesus Christ Alone For Salvation

Jesus Christ Plus Anything Else
or Anything Less is Not Salvation
John 3:1-22; Rom. 10:9-10,13; Acts 4:12

Acknowledgment of Him In All My Ways

How to Find, Follow, and Finish
God’s Will For My Life
Prov. 3:5-6

Submission To Authority

God’s Plan for an Orderly Society
Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Tim. 2:1-4; Heb. 13:17; Eph. 5:21-6:4

Investment of My Time And Money In
The Things That Matter The Most For Eternity

Inspiration through Prayer and Bible Study by
Spending Quality Time with the Lord Every Day
Luke 4:42-44; 6:12; 22:39-46

Increasing My Faith Through Tithing By Giving the First Fruits (10%)
of My Income to My Local Church and the Lord’s Work Throughout the World
Mal. 3:10; Phil. 4:19

Commitment To Be My Best

Success, God’s Way
Josh. 1:5-9

Sharing Christ In The
Daily Routine Of Life

Natural Evangelism
Acts 2:47; 4:20; Col. 4:2-6; John 4:39-42

© 1986 Bobby Mullins

“MY PERSONAL LIFE GOALS”

(Many Verses Of The Bible, In Addition To Those Referenced Below, Influenced Me to Establish These Personal Goals For My Life)

While I was serving as a minister of youth in 1985, I set some personal goals for my life for that year. As the year came to a close and I was making goals for 1986, I not only decided to keep my five main goals for 1985 as my goals for 1986, but I added five more goals. These became my personal life goals, which I have built my life around for the past 24 years.

As I look back over my life since 1985, no year has been without its difficulties, no year as I have served full-time in the ministry has been without its critics, who are ever present wherever I have served in ministry, who, like the Pharisees and Saducees were to Jesus, are always looking to fault a minister, even when God is blessing countless numbers of lives in that minister’s service for the Lord. But, the best way I have found to answer those critics and to deal with the difficulties of life is to be consistent. We have a tendency to want to lash out at those who have verbally thrown stones at us and defend ourselves. But, I have found that trying to defend or justify yourself to those who are habitual fault finders (the ones who are usually don’t think they are) only fuels the fire for more verbal rock throwing. That’s why setting a standard for your life around personal life goals based on the Word of God, and keeping at it day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, will keep you on track spiritually and over time will silence your critics. Your spiritual consistency won’t necessarily silence the critics from continuing to do what they do best—pointing out the speck in others’ eyes while blinded by the board in their own eyes (Matt. 7:3-5)—but it will cause others to disregard the criticism others make about you, because your life is positively different from what your critics try to defame you for.

Here are those original five goals, listed first, with the additional goals that have become my personal life goals with a brief summary about each goal.

I. BE A GODLY EXAMPLE BEFORE MY FAMILY – Deut. 6:5-8

I want to be a godly example before my family, above all else for Christ’s sake. To love my wife and children to the fullest, Jesus must be preeminent (Col. 1:18) in my life above all else and all others. I want to be a godly example before my wife and children for my wife’s sake and my children’s (and someday, my grandchildren’s) sake. My greatest ministry is my own family. I have said it many times when preaching, if I fail as a father and husband, I have failed as a pastor and as a man. I want to be a godly example before my family for my character’s sake. Where your godly example matters the most, in really proving what kind of character you have, is how your own family sees you and knows you. You can fool a lot of others into thinking you are a godly person, because they don’t see you 24/7. But, your family does, and that’s where the true test of one’s character is graded. I want to be a godly example before my family, too, for my church’s sake. In being a pastor and a minister, it’s got to work with us at our home if we preach it as truth from the pulpit.

II. GET INTO GOD’S WORD DAILY AND GET GOD’S WORD INTO ME – Josh. 1:8

To get God’s Word proclaimed to the world around me, I first must get God’s Word into me by spending time daily in God’s Word. That’s how the mind of Christ is developed within me. It grows the Word inside me and results in deepening the message of Christ from me. That’s how the Word is given an outlet and a means of instruction through me, which distends (to become larger, expand, and stretch out in all directions) my ministry for Christ in the world.

III. BE PRAYERFUL FOR ALL LIFE’S CONCERNS – Phil. 4:6-7; 1 Thess. 5:17

The Bible says to be anxious about nothing, but to pray about everything (Phil. 4:6). We are to pray for everyone, for what’s best for them, even our enemies (Matt. 5:44). And, we are to pray in everything, about everything, and at all times, with thanksgiving (1 Thess. 5:16-18) for how God is going to respond appropriately in answering our prayers.

IV. BE FAITHFUL TO AND PRAYERFUL FOR MY CHURCH – Col. 1:3-5,9-12

As members of a church we need to follow our leaders faithfully and pray for them. As a leader in the church, I need to labor among, lead, and love those whom the Lord has placed under my spiritual leadership (1 Thess. 5:12-13). As we all are in positions at times to follow someone else’s leadership, I need to be respectful to my leaders by acknowledging them for who they are, accepting their position of authority, and appreciating them for their sincere efforts in providing spiritual leadership for me and others. All of us in our churches should be reconciling as ministers one to another (1 Thess. 5:14-15) as we all are called to be reliable as examples who witness for Christ in all we do (1 Thess. 5:16-22).

V. SHARE MY FAITH WEEKLY – Matt. 28:19-20; Col. 4:2-6

Among the last words that Jesus spoke to His followers, after His resurrection and before He ascended to heaven, was what we refer to as The Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20). Someone has said that the process of evangelism is not complete until the evangelized has become the evangelizer. After we become disciples of Christ we are to make more disciples. I have been through several soulwinning/witnessing programs but I led others to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ before I ever received any kind of certification for successfully completing a witnessing program. The key is to lead and win people to Christ as you go. We need to prepare to share our faith by having a knowledge of Scriptures that show one how to be saved from their sins, but the best witnessing tool I know of is one’s personal testimony of how they became a Christian. As with anything we do in life, wanting to do it for God’s glory, we need to pray daily for God’s help in accomplishing His will for our life. Then, simply obey. Proceed and proclaim. God has ordained us to be His tools to present Jesus Christ to the lost world around us. So, pray that God will lead you to at least someone each week who needs to be saved, be sensitive to those around you, and share your faith weekly, looking, and making opportunities to witness for Christ in the way God has gifted you and in the place where He has uniquely placed you.

VI. BE AN ENCOURAGER – Rom. 15:1-7; 2 Tim. 4:2; 1 Thess. 4:18; Heb. 3:13

I want to be an encourager, especially to fellow Christians. One way I can do that is by my faithful attendance at the church where I am a member (Heb. 10:;25). My presence, not my absence, is how I can be an encourager to my fellow church members as we forsake not our assembling together as a church family. I want to be an encourager by attitude. Apathy abounds today even among Christians, but I want to show by a joyful spirit and thankful heart (1 Thess. 5:16,18) the difference that Jesus makes in my life, which will encourage others to do the same. I want to encourage others by my affections, being morally pure in a too degenerate world, showing humility where arrogance and looking out for “Number One” is too prevalent. I want to be an encourager by my actions, in making Christ known in the world, not in an annoying manner, but in a courteous and considerate way where people will be more apt to listen and respond. As a preacher, I want to be an encourager by my exhortations which, sometimes, if one preaches the whole counsel of the Word of God, are words of rebuke for correction, direction, and protection.

VII. BE ON TIME – Rom. 12:3; Eph. 5:15-17

How much lost time for making the best use of our time occurred due to someone being late for a meeting. Just think of important information, whether it’s getting late to a class at school or missing the first few minutes of a sermon, that has been lost because of simply not being on time. Ephesians 5:17 says that we need to redeem the time, that is, make the best use of the amount of time that we all have available to us. No one has any more hours and any less hours in a day than everyone else. It boils down to how we make use of our time. When someone is not on time, especially those who are chronically latecomers, whether they will admit it or not they feel that their time is more important than anyone else’s because they make others adjust to their not being on time (Rom. 12:3). Be on time as expected as an act of courtesy as Christians should be the first ones to set the right example. Be on time as an act of consideration for others because that is an example the Bible says that we should set. Be on time to show how committed you are where the Lord has placed you and what He has called you to do, and do it with the highest effectiveness possible because you don’t waste potential time in losing time by not being on time in accomplishing the most you can.

VIII. NO COMPLAINING OR CRITICIZING – Ps. 19:14; 1 Cor. 10:31: Matt. 12:36-37

I saw a bumper sticker on a car one day that was a take off on the bumper sticker, “Stop Global Warming” except this one said, “Stop Global Whining.” I have made it more relevant by saying “Stop Local Whining.” With talk radio, TV reality shows, competitive TV programs where judges are blatantly cruel with some of their evaluations, Facebook, comment sections to Internet articles, etc. we have become a nation of complainers and criticizers. Now anyone in an authority or leadership positions has to make judgments and, for instance, part of review evaluations for employees makes it necessary to point out faults or weaknesses of others in their work. That’s not what is meant by no complaining or criticizing. But, some people, and unfortunately too many Christians, seem to believe that they are called to complain about anything that is wrong in a situation and criticize what’s not right about everyone else, when it is really not their business or their responsibility to make such observations. I have resolved to avoid complaining or criticizing about matters just because I feel like lashing out instead of taking it to the prayer closet or talking to someone about it, in private first, who is involved in what I want to complain about or criticize. For one thing, it is noticeable. It seems that the complainer or criticizer is the one who is heard the loudest and they are noticed because most people are annoyed by them. For a Christian, it is an obstacle in one’s witness for God, it is an obstruction to the work of God, and it is in opposition to the Word of God. We are to do all to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31), and complaining and criticizing in no way glorify God. It is negative because it distorts one’s ordinary perspective of peace and joy as a Christian, thus defeating you personally, draining you physically, and demoralizing other people.

IX. NO COMPROMISING – Ps. 16:8; 30:6; 62:5-8; 112:1,6; 119:11,105

A compromise is a departure from a basic scriptural principal. A conviction is a basic scriptural principle which we purpose to follow without compromise, which we will stand upon and never be moved or swayed from, regardless of what changes have happened in society. When we become in Christ, we make a commitment that our convictions are the Lord’s convictions. When we compromise it can destroy one’s Christian testimony. If it doesn’t destroy one’s testimony, it definitely disables one’s witness for Christ. It discourages weaker Christians and it defeats you personally. But, the worst of it is that we are disobedient to God, to whom we committed to love with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength (Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:37) when we were saved and became His child. An old song says, “I shall not be, I shall not be moved, I shall not be, I shall not be moved, just like a tree that’s planted by the waters, I shall not be moved.”  The Word of God stands forever (Ps. 119:89). Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). As the Word of God does not change and Jesus never changes, so we should never deviate in any way from the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God which from childhood (2 Tim. 3:15-17) has taught us what we know about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and how to live life in the way we were created to live it. 

X. ABOVE ALL THESE THINGS—LOVE – 1 Cor. 13; Eph. 4:15; Col. 3:12-14; 1 Pet. 4:8

The Bible says that whatever I say or do, if it is not out of love, it comes across like a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. As a popular saying goes, “I can’t hear what you are saying because of what I see you doing.” The Bible also says that “love covers over all wrongs” (Prov. 10:12). That’s powerful! Among the things manifested, through the expression of love permeating everything one does, is that love always finds favor because love always forgives, and because the spirit of love never finds fault but overlooks faults, love never fails (1 Cor. 13:4-8). Love binds the virtues, such as compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, together in perfect unity so that those are the characteristics of one’s personality that come through more than anything else.

Well, those are the ten major personal life goals I have had for my life since 1986. I encourage you to set some life goals and plan your life around those goals. Some of our goals in life, especially if you work in sales or in a work team environment, are dependent upon others for you to accomplish those goals. But, did you notice that none of my personal life goals is dependent upon anyone else in order for me to accomplish them. If I fail to follow them, I have no one to blame but me! That should apply to your personal life goals, too. Otherwise, you can get into a rut like far too many Christians, unfortunately even some ministers I know, who blame anybody and everybody else but themselves for their mistakes and failures and what’s not right in their life. Such individuals just can’t accept the fact they are so unhappy and so ungrateful, that they have to blame others for it, because such blame casters are their own worst enemy. Set goals for your life that you alone can accomplish so that you can get out of the rut of never accepting responsibility for your failures. No true leader is one who can’t accept responsibility for their actions or who has to have someone else fight their battles for them. And, true leaders are ones who set personal goals, based on God’s Word, which will keep them on track about the things that matter the most in life and will keep them focused on the positive side of life instead of giving time to the never ending fault finding of modern day Pharisees and Saducees, who are splitting churches and eroding the spiritual ground accomplished through years of effort by Bible-based, Christ-centered, God-ordained, Spirit-empowered senior pastors, ministers, and church members.

For this month’s blog, I am using an article my daughter, Melody, wrote, for a special Father’s Day challenge.  Her article originally appeared in the March, 2007, Mid-America Baptist Thelogical Seminary Messenger, a quarterly publication of the seminary which is read by thousands of pastors, ministers, alumni, supporters, and friends of the seminary. I was asked to write an article on Integrity in Ministry for that issue of The Messenger, which I used for my March 2009 blog.  Melody read my article before I sent it in for publication in The Messenger in March, 2007.  She then wrote the following article on “Dad, Set Your Boundaries” as a tribute to her father.  I sent it along with my article to Mid-America and they asked if they could  include it with my article.  Melody’s article was also used as a guest article for the June, 2007 Father’s Day Edition of The Baptist & Reflector, the Tennessee Baptist Convention weekly newspaper. 

It’s one thing to feel you have integrity in the eyes of your fellow man, but THE TRUE WORTH OF A MAN AND ONE WHO IS TRULY A MAN OF INTEGRITY IS NOT HOW OTHERS KNOW HIM AND WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM BUT HOW HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN KNOW HIM AND WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HIM.  And, even more, HOW DOES GOD KNOW HIM AND WHAT WOULD THE LORD SAY ABOUT HIM.

Men, Let’s commit to be dads who are men of integrity where it matters the most and truly reveals the kind of man you are and how successful you have been in your life.

Dad, Set Your Boundaries

(Because Your Family Needs You)

By: Melody Mullins

One of the greatest things I have admired about my father is how seriously he takes the role of husband and father.  My mother, brother, sister and I knew that our family is of utmost importance behind his relationship with the Lord.  There has never been any doubt that my mother comes second and his children come third.  The church falls somewhere after the aforementioned list.  I would hope you do not find that offensive but rather encouraging.  One of my father’s favorite things to say is, “If I fail as a father, then I have failed as a pastor.”  If you are not able to manage your home then how can you manage your church?  If you lose your children then what have you gained with the growth of your ministry?  So Dad, set your boundaries!

            If you have the opportunity then you should make the decision as to how much time you are willing to give your church.  If you are single then you need to decide now how many nights you will give your church.  If you go on and make this decision as a single man or a young couple then you might be able to stick with it.  Why does this matter?  It is really quite simple.  The church will take advantage of the time you give them if you let them. Therefore, when you come to a new place of ministry you and the church need to have an understanding of how many nights you will give for meetings and visitation.  You cannot do it all!  You need to allow the other ministers and lay leaders to step in at times because they are not responsible for raising your children and loving your wife.  You are!  I can guarantee that if you are not available to fulfill this role in your family’s life another man will.  So Dad, not only should you set the boundary of time but of who you meet with as well. 

I am sure you know that you should never meet with the opposite sex by yourself.  But do not just say it, live by it.  I have not only popped up at my dad’s office at various times throughout the years but I have also worked at our current church as a secretary.  My father has never met with a woman one on one where they would be put in a compromising situation.  The office door has a window so anyone can see into the office.  Most of the times he sits behind his desk and the lady will sit on the other side.  He does not move over to the sitting area in his office, where they can sit much closer.  That would be highly inappropriate.  Also, there is normally a secretary present in the room outside his office.  When I was in middle school my father met with a woman on a Saturday at the church office.  He left the door open and I did my homework in the workroom.  I was able to hear their voices but not their conversation.  The woman knew I was there and did not mind it.  She knew it was not only for my father’s reputation but for her reputation as well.  My mom has carried the same rule into her workplace as well.  Do you know what this does for your children?  It is like buying them the most luxurious security blanket.  They know that their parents are serious about their relationship with each other and are serious about their relationship with Christ.  The peace that comes from knowing my parents would not do anything to hurt their marriage is truly indescribable.  So Dad, not only can you protect your family by protecting your marriage but by realizing you cannot nor should you do it all!

            Your children will not be impressed by your SuperPastor status.  I do not mean to sound harsh but there is a real problem in today’s churches and it is with her ministers.  I love the saying that God does not call the equipped but equips the called.  But here’s the key: you are not the only one called.  I know that you know that but some do not act like that’s true.  There is nothing sadder to me than a minister who is impressed by himself.  To be perfectly honest, it is sickening to see a minister who believes he knows more than his senior pastor who has been in ministry a decade longer than the young minister has been alive.  What has happened to our churches and her ministers?  Is the problem that the minister is sacrificing his family on the altar of ministerial success?  Or is he sacrificing integrity on the altar of popularity?  In this day of relevancy, genuineness is still desired.  Your church members want someone who is real not only in the pulpit but in his personal life as well.  So Dad, if you are going to get up and preach on the importance of the family then you had better be a walking example of that sermon.

            My dad has asked that our ministers only give one weeknight other than Wednesday night to the church.  My parents made it to almost every single one of our concerts or games while my siblings and I were growing up.  We shared a meal every night together.  Sure some nights we ate a little earlier due to a funeral or a deacons meeting.  Nonetheless our parents made our family their priority and because of it we still try to have meals together.  My brother and sister-in-law will either come over during the week or we will share a meal together on Sunday.  Just because we are either in college or our junior year in high school we still share an active part in my father’s ministry.  We were told that once we entered college we could make our own choice as to where we would attend church.  We chose our father’s church, after all he and my mom have lived out what they taught us on a daily basis.  Why would we go anywhere else when the Word of God is boldly preached and integrity is the shield that protects our family?  Ministry is hard!  You need all the support you can get.  The greatest support system that you have is your family.  No church member could love you more than your family and a church member will respect your love for your family.  So Dad, it is my prayer that when you face the Father you not only hear “Well done my child” for your work with the ministry but for the leadership of your family.  I pray that you will know the joy of seeing your children involved in church as adults and raising their families in the Lord.  “The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him,” (Proverbs 23:24).  May your joy be great knowing that your family is complete in the Lord and joyfully serving Him as well! 

 A MOTHER’S DAY AND A BIRTHDAY LIKE NO OTHER

Your first thought after reading the title of this month’s article is “What made this Mother’s Day and my 58th birthday like no other?”  Well, it’s a personal thing for my family.  It’s a Mother’s Day and a birthday like no other for Wanda and me.  A first reason there’s never been another like it is because for the first time as a family, we are not all members of the same church.  Melody joined Sevier Heights Baptist Church in Knoxville on Mother’s Day and Mallory joined Wallace Memorial Baptist Church in Knoxville the same day.  Adding to the uniqueness of this Mother’s Day 2009 is that for the first time in 18 years I didn’t preach on Mother’s Day, with the exception of 2005 when we had a guest speaker at the church I was pastoring.  It’s also the first time in 18 years that all our immediate family did not attend the same church together on Mother’s Day.  As life continues on, it’s all a part of the changes that come, which we can either grieve over and complain about or build upon.

First, I want to say how thankful we are, with two children out of college and one married, that we have been able to be together in the churches I’ve pastored for eighteen years.  On Mother’s Days through the years, I have noticed that it seems like one year our attendance was down because that was the year when our members went to be with their mothers who lived out of town or attended another local church.  Then the next year, our attendance would be up on Mother’s Day because that was the year the children of the mothers in our church came to their mother’s church.  With the emphasis today in the contemporary style churches of keeping the median age of the church as young as possible, they miss out on the wisdom of the elderly members and mothers/grandmothers and the blessing of seeing grandparents with their children and grandchildren worshiping together on the Lord’s Day.  It was a blessing to me at the last church I pastored to have four generations some Sundays of church members worshiping together.  One great grandmother in that church was instrumental in leading three of her great grandchildren to profess their faith in Christ and follow in believers baptism.  What a blessing! 

I am thankful that as Brandon and Melody became college students, as Mallory has now become, and we gave them the option of attending church where they desired after they graduated from high school, they drove past several larger churches with scores more of members their age to attend the church their father pastored.  Melody will be my guest blogger next month, and I will let her explain why our children chose to attend the church their dad pastored, with fewer members their age, than the bigger churches which certainly had more to offer in some ways as far as what was appealing to younger adults.
           
Concerning my 58th birthday, I am glad to get my 57th year over!  It was not the best year of my life.  It has been the greatest time of spiritual testing for me since my late twenties, when the Lord was in the early stages of molding me into a man after His own heart.  That’s my ministry life verse, to be a “man after God’s own heart who will do all his will” (Acts 13:22).  I have preached more on our family life verse, Proverbs 3:6, than any others through the years since it became our family life verse in 1985: “In all your ways acknowledge him and He shall direct your paths.”  But, one of the keys to acknowledging Him in all my ways is in Proverbs 3:5, where it says to completely trust in the Lord, you must “lean not unto your own understanding.” 

My own understanding would not have led me to resign as senior pastor of a church where I had every intention of staying as senior pastor until I retired, which I did not plan to do before I was seventy years old at the earliest.  A few months before resigning, we had completed the best year yet of my five years, up to that point, regarding the number of additions to the church through baptisms and by letter.  When I resigned the third week of October, 2008, about thirty people were on the verge of joining the church, representing families with children, a few couples, and single adults.  I felt that this church year (November, 2008-October, 2009) would have been our best yet, and my goal of being in the top fifty in the Tennessee Baptist Convention in baptisms would be attained.  In the past year several singles/couples/families had joined the church who had seen the “In Times Like These” TV program and were looking for a church home.  Each Sunday we had visitors who had seen the television program and wanted to attend a live worship service.  The church was poised for numerical growth.  Central Baptist Church, Oak Ridge, had great years behind her but I had no doubt her best years were before her.

But, God had a new assignment for me.  I had sensed a couple of months prior to my resignation that God was going to enlarge my sphere of ministry.  I did not know exactly what He had in mind, but I felt it was possible this ministry enlargement could be accomplished through my being senior pastor of Central Baptist Church, Oak Ridge.  But, God works in, what to us, are mysterious ways because His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts (Isa. 55:9).  God has a specific plan for each of our lives, and the Bible says that God has prepared in advance the steps or path that we should follow in accomplishing His will for our lives (Eph. 2:10).  It is our choice to walk in those steps that He has prepared for us, and I have always strived to do what God wants me to do, when He wants me to do it, where He wants me to do it, the way He wants me to do it. 

Although I was not certain what God’s ministry enlargement was for me, I sensed that the steps He had laid out for me to follow were beyond being the senior pastor of Central Baptist Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  For only the second time in my 28 years of ministry, I resigned without being called to another church.  How did I sense that God was leading me away from a pastorate where I was blessed to be and desired to be more than any other place and from the security of a salary that was better than I ever thought I would receive.  That will be for another blog down the road, but the events that God allowed to happen that helped to orchestrate my departure from Central were not the way I would have preferred, but God knew what it would take to get me to make such a drastic decision at such an unusual time of my life.  At a time when life should have been getting less stressful and I should have been increasing my 401K at a faster pace as I was getting closer each year to the normal retirement age rather than depleting it, God said, “Do you still trust me enough after all these years to trust me to take care of your needs beyond the timetable of what you have in hand.”  Ouch!  But, I did answer,  “Yes, Lord.”

Well, I have learned when God says “Go” my response should be “Let’s Go.”  You only need to look at the story of Jonah to see what happens when God says “Go” and you say “No.”  The only way to go is down.  But, when you say “Let’s Go,” especially to an unusual request by God, you just might see the greatest wonder-working power of God manifested through your life that you have ever experienced.  God used Jonah to bring about one of the greatest revivals ever in a city where the people hated those who came from where Jonah came from!  So, as we are waiting to find exactly where God wants us to go, we to need to find a church home.  For the first time our family has had the option of more than one option for joining a church.  Mother’s Day was a first step in what I look at as an exciting time for our family as we have visited several different churches between us searching for the one that is right for each of us.  Of course, Wanda and I are going to join a church together as will Brandon and Megan.  Wanda and I are leaning toward joining a church that one of our daughters joined, but Brandon and Megan are visiting a church the most that is not where the girls joined or where Wanda and I probably will join.  All three churches, though, are wonderful churches with strong preaching pastors and dynamic music worship.  One blessing of our children being in three different churches is that they have not compromised concerning the preaching of the Bible as the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God and being a part of exciting worship services at a church that is Bible-based, Christ-centered, Spirit-filled, and Prayer-empowered.
           
Well, that’s what made Mother’s Day 2009 and my 58th birthday like no other.  And, it actually made Wanda’s __nd birthday, which is four days before mine, like no other for her over the 29 years that we have been married, because it was her first birthday, too, without us all being members of the same church.  So, life goes on.  And the longer we live the more we are going to experience changes from the way things have been.  The way to deal with changes in life, if you don’t have to compromise moral and spiritual principles in the process, is to make the best of the changes.  Of the major changes that Wanda and I experienced in 2008, and one in particular that occurred, I mentioned earlier that it made for my 57th year of my life as not being the best I have had.  As I think back over my life, I can think of some other years especially which were ones that would be among my difficult years of life.  I have mentioned several times over the years in the pulpit that we ministers tend to measure different years in the ministry by the problems encountered in a particular year.  It is because even in the best of years the nature of our work causes us to deal with problems others cause us or that others are facing that we help them to deal with.  But, some years are simply going to be better than others or stand out more to us than others.  Any married man with more than the IQ of a water buffalo knows that he should consider the year he got married as among the best if not the best year of his life!

I want to close using an unusual plant to help us put into perspective that even though some years were better than others they have all been necessary to get us to our present age in life.  The century aloe only blooms once every one hundred years.  Not one of those years, though, prior to its blooming is any more important or any less significant than the rest.  It takes every one of those ninety-nine years to get to the one-hundreth year in which the century aloe blossoms.  It has taken the previous 57 years to get me to year 58.  This is such a simple statement but had one of those previous years not been I would not be!  If you have read all this blog up to this point, I know you can identify with some years of your life being better or worse than others.  I can’t promise you what I have been able to experience, that I have been blessed many years of my life to see the fruit of what God has produced through my life as a minister.  But, I still will never know on this earth if I had any positive influence or effect on some who were part of the flocks I pastored.  The years you and I serve in a place and position of service to our Lord may not result in our seeing outstanding visible accomplishments.  The time of “bloomimg” may come during the tenure of one who replaces us in an area of service.  But in our having been faithful, year after year, it will have helped to make possible their harvest.  You may not live to see the evidence and effects of the new “plants” that will result from a spiritual harvest, but your life will have helped to produce them.  That’s all the Lord asks of us.  In the ever changing world around us our never changing responsibility is to serve the Lord faithfully in the way He has gifted each of us, live everyday in a manner that glorifies the Lord, and leave the results up to Him. 

I look forward to seeing what lies in store between now and next Mother’s Day and my next birthday.  I don’t know all that tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know that as I completely trust Him, He will do what is best for me and my family.

Over the past few months, as we have been visiting churches to find a new church home, I know now why it takes some people so long to join a church. I can empathize with those who would visit off and on for months at one of the churches I pastored before they eventually joined. There are some wonderful churches out there. But, I have also learned as I talk with members of other churches that it seems that today two out of every three churches are experiencing some kind of conflict among the members. Those are churches we have avoided visiting. Having pastored three churches over 18 years, and serving on the ministerial staff of five other churches over 10 years, for a minister and his family your church is your life. It’s your job as well as your church family, and it is pretty much the place where you and your family spend the most time other than your time together at home.

Other than my first pastorate, I have had a longer than normal tenure at the churches I have pastored. The main reason I left the first church I pastored after three years was to pursue a doctorate because a church located in the city where I desired to work on a doctorate called me to be their pastor. Had I not felt compelled to pursue a doctorate, I might very well still be at that first pastorate. At the most recent church where I was senior pastor, my six years there were twice the tenure of each of the previous three pastors and long enough to put me at the fourth longest pastoral tenure out of eleven men who have served the church as senior pastor. A local church is the body of Christ who join together to meet in a particular location. As I have stated often from the pulpit, the facility in which a local church meets is not really the church. Each member is part of the church wherever he goes. A facility becomes the place where a local church is known to meet, but the body of Christ congregating there is what makes that place become a church.

What causes the conflicts which are too prevalent in churches today? Well, I don’t want to devote much space in this particular blog to that subject, but the Blame Game sometimes puts the blame on the pastor and sometimes the Blame Game puts the blame on an individual, one or more families, or a group of members within the church. I went to one church knowing that the previous two pastors had been forced out under pressure by a group of church members, but I went in with the intent that problems were to be faced head on and worked through. After all, we are the body of Christ, and if we are who we claim to be as Christians, in Christ, we are not to sever part of our body. Any part of the human body that is not working properly, whether due to injury or improper use, affects the entire body and keeps it from working to its greatest effectiveness. What happens when you are hammering a nail and you accidentally hit your finger? You start hopping around holding your finger and trying not to say something you shouldn’t say! A knock on the finger affects your whole body. A pain or hurt within a church body affects the entire church.  Our first priority should always be to heal a pain or hurt within the body of Christ, not remove the body part.

When I was in junior high school one of the top songs one year was “The Name Game.” You would take someone’s name and say, “Bobby Bobby Bo Bobby, Banana Fana Fo Fobby, Fe Fi Mo Mobby.”  Well, “The Name Game” is an extension of “The Blame Game” in most churches experiencing conflict. In my previous blog on “Integrity in Ministry Principles I Live By” one of the integrity factors was to face up to it and don’t try to cover it up when you make a mistake that needs to be addressed or a decision which is being challenged. But, too often, where conflict could be resolved if one or more individuals would simply own up to their being the cause of the tension that is building up because they messed up, they try to deflect the criticism away from them toward someone else, often about a completely different matter, to take the critical focus off where it should be. That leads to sides being taken, and where someone may not have had previous conflict with others, they do now because the real source of the conflict has caused people to turn on someone else. There are three sides to any conflict, your side, the other side, and God’s side. God’s side is the side that all in the body of Christ must make sure they are on.

This past Easter Sunday, Wanda and I attended the late morning worship service at Sevier Heights Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was a powerful service from beginning to end. Bro. Hollie Miller preached from Acts 17 and the account of Paul in Athens. To explain to the Athenians, who were very religious and had statues throughout their city of many gods, Paul used their statue “To The Unknown God” (Acts 17:23) to proclaim to them the one and only true God. When Bro. Hollie read that verse, he then held up a copy of the most recent Newsweek Magazine with the cover story on the front titled, “The Decline And Fall of Christian America.” Bro. Hollie then said that the God we had come to worship on Easter Sunday was now the “unknown God” to most Americans. Hundreds of us groaned out loud in sad agreement with what he had just stated. I couldn’t help but think at that moment of all the churches going through conflict and how that is a major contributing factor to the fall and decline of Christian America. Who wants to join a church where the members are fighting each other rather than fighting the devil. What’s so sad about this is that their conflicts are usually over something that makes no difference for all eternity while many souls are on their way to an eternal hell because church members are giving each other hell.

In a recent visit to a doctor’s office, as I was leaving and about to get into my car, I saw a lady I know who motioned that she wanted to talk to me. She knew that I was a minister and she said, “Bro. Bobby, please pray for our church.” I asked what was going on, and she said that people were telling lies about one of their ministers. She said that he was incapable of doing and saying what was being said about him. I knew the minister and asked her what others were saying about him that she believed were lies. When she told me the specifics, I responded to her that I was sorry to have to say it but what she thought were lies about the man were true. I had personally observed the minister’s inappropriate actions and conversations. And, that’s another factor in the decline and fall of Christian America. None of us lives a life of sinless perfection, and to say a minister or anyone else, other than Jesus, is incapable of doing and saying something that is out of character for a Christian to do or say sends the wrong message to the lost and unchurched, when we fail to deal with a situation seriously and directly because we may naively believe that person is above such conduct. I did confront that minister privately, but he denied any wrongdoing. He went on the attack against those in his church who had brought up concerns about him, sides were taken, and that church is in a royal mess.

There are other factors contributing to the fall and decline of Christian America other than the couple I have mentioned, which we’ll eventually get to in another blog, but to quote the comic strip character, Pogo, and a phrase used by him in reference to pollution and conservation, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” I don’t believe the Church’s greatest downfall today, in not impacting the world for Christ as we should, is from what’s happening outside her walls, it’s from what’s happening within her walls. We are our own worst enemy.

Well, as Bro. Hollie Miller came to the time of decision at the end of his message on Easter Sunday, he mentioned how Christ was our mediator for salvation and how He was like a lawyer on our behalf in getting us freed from the penalty of our sins. During the invitation time I focused on one adult man walking down the aisle toward the front of the worship center, wiping the tears from his face while another man had his arm around the man who was crying. I’m sure that man who had his arm around his crying friend had witnessed to his friend, maybe even convinced him to attend that church worship service on Easter Sunday, and as a result, the man’s friend passed in that moment from darkness to light, from death to life, from hell to heaven in professing his faith and trust in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. As Bro. Hollie was about to close the worship service, he informed us that a lawyer from Middle Tennessee, who attended the early morning worship service, came forward at the invitation and said that she was a lawyer who needed a lawyer, Jesus, to save her from her sins. She, too, at that moment passed from darkness to light, from death to life, from hell to heaven. Bro. Hollie also shared that a man had just come forward at the end of that second morning worship service on Easter Sunday and said that he needed a lawyer, Jesus, to help to save him from the penalty of his sins. I felt that Bro. Hollie was talking about the man whom I had watched walk broken, tearfully, but joyfully down the aisle during the invitation.

Oh, Church, that’s what we need today to reverse the decline and fall of Christian America. In the churches where the Blame Game has taken over, it’s time for individuals who are the source of conflict in churches to own up to their mistakes, shortcomings, and sins, confess them, repent, become a better person because of it, and move on beyond it. Be a real man or woman of God and quit trying to blame someone else for what you have done and caused and don’t be a factor in driving people away from the Church, but be the kind of example in word and deed that draws people to the Church and to Christ. Quit playing the Blame Game and make known the Unknown God to many but True God for all to those who don’t know him by leading the lost to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and adoption into God’s family as His sons and daughters.

INTEGRITY IN MINISTRY: NO HIDDEN SKELETONS IN YOUR CLOSET
Principles Upon Which I Have Sought To Live My Life As A Husband, A Father,
A Minister, And A Man

By Dr. Bobby Mullins

National Alumni President of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary 2004-2006
(An Article for the Summer 2007 Edition of The Mid-America Seminary Quarterly Magazine The Messenger)

Several years ago, I met with a pastor search committee at a hotel in a city halfway between the four hundred miles that separated where I was pastoring at the time and where the church of the pastor search committee was located. My wife, Wanda, and I had met previously with the committee, but, for those who know the usual process, this was the meeting that would determine whether the pastor search committee asked me to come in view of a call to their church. Wanda, our three children, and I met for several hours in a hotel suite with the pastor search committee. We talked about a variety of subjects, relevant to families, churches, and society in general, in getting to know one another better. Then there a came time when one of the men on the committee said that he would like to ask some questions which they had prepared for me. For over an hour he systematically questioned me during what was the most intense and thorough interview I had ever been through. I was even asked a question, which some pastor search committees and secular hiring committees will be careful to no longer overlook in light of some recent public embarrassments. That question was, “Are the academic degrees you list on your resume ones you actually earned and received?” Three times near the end of the interview, the interviewer asked, “Are there any hidden skeletons in your closet that you can think of that we need to know about?” I did become the pastor of that church, and later would refer jokingly on occasion to the pastor search committee member who did the questioning about the “grilling” he gave me that day. I later learned that I went through an interview and questioning time similar to that of Secret Service agents because a Secret Service agent, who was a member of that church, had provided the pastor search committee with the questions asked of potential Secret Service agents.

Why was that pastor search committee so thorough and personal in their questioning and evaluation of me? They wanted a pastor who was a man of integrity, whose life backed up who he claimed to be and what he professed to believe. They wanted no surprises or embarrassments to taint the reputation of their church and to hinder their witness for the Lord. They did their best up front to make sure the man they called to be their pastor would not be one who would disappoint them later on by his pastoral leadership, decisions, and manner in which he would conduct himself as a minister and as a man. In the twenty-five plus years I have been in the ministry, serving three churches as a senior pastor and five churches as an associate minister, the search committees that brought me to the seven other churches may not have been as in depth and as intense as the one mentioned earlier, but every church wanted a pastor or associate staff ministers with impeccable integrity as one of their major characteristics and qualifications.

The moral failures of ministers over the past several years, especially those who are well-known, have received vast press and media coverage and have been the butt of joke after joke of the talk show hosts and comedians who have performed on television and radio shows. But, integrity issues are not just limited to sexual immorality and have moved into other aspects of ministry today at an alarming rate. For example, resume “padding” has not only cost some senior pastors and associate ministers their job and influence in recent months, but the coaching ranks and high ranking administrators at prestigious universities have seen firings because an individual claimed to have academic degrees they had not earned or claimed credentials that were bogus. Another example of the expanding integrity crisis involves some of the denominational “young bucks” (as I call them) of a few years ago moving in to become the senior pastors at some of the megachurches and rising churches in our Southern Baptist Convention. In some cases, they are moving too quickly to try to establish their mark on those churches, making poor decisions, and then having to make amends and rebuild trust among the church membership. Some, sadly, are even trying to cover up their mistakes or attempting to focus the blame on others. Another contemporary area for integrity concerns regards “blogging” on The Internet. Some pastor “bloggers” have many readers who faithfully read and respond to what, at times, is simply someone’s slanted opinion about another minister and his methods or a traditional theological belief or practice they no longer want to follow. I have seen the blogs of some individuals who sarcastically and mockingly criticize the soulwinning methods of one preacher in our denomination, a former Southern Baptist Convention president, whom the Lord has used to bring thousands of lost souls to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through the evangelistic efforts of the churches he pastored and the revival meetings and conferences where he has preached. Integrity has taken a back seat to such disrespectful, in your face ministers who are influencing a new generation of church members to use confrontation as the means by which to move out of positions of influence those whom they believe are “behind the times” church members.

What are some answers to overcoming the decline in ministerial integrity, which in turn causes a loss of integrity and influence of the local churches in the communities where those ministers serve? As I give some remedies, I am going to be generic in their brief descriptions because I might hit too close to home with some of the illustrations to back them up. Most anyone reading this article could immediately think of personal situations in your own life or how you have seen others affected, who violated the following steps to maintaining integrity as a minister. First, if in doubt, don’t! When you are doubtful about a decision or a planned action, you not only may feel “tossed to and fro” (James 1:6), but it causes a rippling effect of doubt about you upon those you lead spiritually. If you can give more time before changing the way your church has been ministering in some way, do not move too quickly, especially if you or others in leadership have doubts about it. Allow more time to pray it through and seek godly counsel from those you know who strive to have the mind of Christ. For those of us who are Mid-America Seminary alumni, it was emphasized to us over and over again while students: “Don’t make any major changes, unless absolutely necessary, your first year on a church field. Get to know and love the people and allow them time to get to know and love you.”

Another way to avoid an integrity failure is to avoid all appearance of evil (1 Thess. 5:22). Don’t allow yourself to get in a questionable situation with someone of the opposite sex or put yourself in a position regarding a decision you have made where your intentions could be questioned. Any minister who would allow a situation where he is alone with one of the opposite sex other than his wife, daughter, grand-daughter, mother, or sister is playing with fire. Be cautious especially of decisions you make in a church where money is involved so that it will not be a source of concern because proper accounting practices have not been followed. Be able to back up your decisions with an unquestionable assurance in your heart that you have God’s mind on the matter.

When you have made a mistake that needs to be addressed or a decision which is being challenged, face up to it and don’t try to cover it up. Don’t try to deflect criticism toward someone else, about a completely different matter, to take the critical focus off you. When Jonah was running away from God and the will of God, to his credit he took the blame for the turmoil caused by his disobedience which affected negatively everyone around him (Jonah 1:9-12).

An important factor to keep in mind to help you avoid making mistakes you must address and in answering questions about decisions which are challenged is to get all the facts before you go out on a limb on any decision. One eyed vision and one ear hearing is not getting the full picture on a matter. You must seek to get all the necessary details before making a decision and not just listen only to those who agree with you or surround yourself exclusively with people who are going to tell you just what you want to hear. There are often three sides to most decisions: your side, the other side, and God’s side. It is God’s side that the minister of God must always find and abide by and lead those whom he pastors to hear and to heed. You can then back up your decisions with an unquestionable assurance you have God’s mind on the matter, and that is what matters above all else.

From personal conversations and interviews I have heard or seen with ministers who made choices which resulted in their loss of integrity and usually their ministry, one area in their life that had taken a back seat was their daily devotional and prayer time. Some ministerial duties and responsibilities, which they could do well, had become rote and were being carried out in the strength of their flesh instead of the power of the Holy Spirit. Some of those ministers could still wax eloquently in the pulpit but had become hollow spiritually. Eventually the spiritual hollowness was filled with things which they would have avoided at all costs when they were Spirit-controlled and Spirit-led. Make it a priority to spend enough time with the Lord everyday in Bible reading, prayer, and meditation to get a clear sense of God’s direction to do graciously and appropriately what he desires for you to do and enables you to do. Another reason today that ministers have lost their integrity is because of the ambition to have to be the best. The Bible says that whatever we do, we should do it heartily (Col. 3:23) and our focus should be on pleasing the Lord, not receiving the accolades of what the world views as success. We should certainly give our best but that does not necessarily mean that we will be the best. “Having to be the best” ministers can get so focused on attaining success in the world’s eyes that they sometimes make poor decisions looking for loopholes or shortcuts to quick numerical and statistical achievements and violate ethical ministerial practices and proper protocol. Then, when they have reached the pinnacle of their idea of success, they feel spiritually invincible and let their guard down, and that is when and where moral failure often takes root. Success, God’s way is not based on who you are or where you are but on what you are, and it comes in regular daily times of meditating upon the Word of God and “observing to do all that is written therein” (Joshua 1:8). The minister who reads the Bible daily, meditates upon the Word and delights in it, and makes his decisions in light of God’s Word, will not listen to wrong counsel or personally make decisions he will regret (Ps. 1:1-2). To maintain a level of impeccable integrity, it is vital to get into the Word daily and get the Word into you in order to get the mind of Christ on the matters of life awaiting and facing you each day.

Next to spending quality time with the Lord every day in prayer, Bible reading, and meditation, simply being up front with the membership of the church you pastor is a key to being looked upon as a person of integrity. The people you lead spiritually need to be able to trust you. When Jesus told His followers to let your “Yes, be ‘Yes’” and your “No, ‘No,’” (Matt. 5:37) He was saying that a Christian’s word alone should be enough. Your word should be as trustworthy and binding as your signature or swearing under oath in a court of law to tell the truth. Pastors who would detest another pastor who falls morally are no better off when the members of their church feel their pastor is not leveling with them on decisions and issues relevant to a church, resulting in the pastor’s loss of integrity in the minds of the church members and crippling his ability to lead them spiritually. Prior to accepting my first pastorate, I had the joy of serving on the ministerial staff of my home church, a church where both of my grandfathers, my father, and my older brother had served as chairman of the deacons. Two of my father’s boyhood friends, who were groomsmen in his wedding, were members of the church and had served as chairman of the deacons. One of those two longtime friends of my dad gave me a memorable piece of advice my last Sunday on staff at that church before beginning my first pastorate. He put his arm around me as several other long-time deacons of that church were listening and said, “Son, always be honest and up front with your people. They’ll be like us when it comes to how they follow you. If you were our pastor, we may not agree with you on something you wanted the church to do, but if we were convinced in our minds that you were convinced in your mind that you were doing what God had led you to do, we would get on our knees and crawl with you, if that’s what it takes, to help you do what the Lord was leading you to do.” I have found his advice to be on target at the churches where I have pastored, and although there are certainly exceptions, most churches want a pastor to lead them in the way they should go and want to do their part to support their pastor in fulfilling the will of God. They desire a man who will maintain impeccable integrity.

Being a man of integrity and maintaining it is a lifelong process. Spend private time with the Lord everyday, be up front about everything with the church you pastor, live a life where you get all the facts and don’t have doubts about decisions you make, and don’t allow yourself to be put in compromising situations. You will be able to identify with the Apostle Paul and joyfully say, “I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). And, if you do make a mistake, don’t try to cover it up or blame someone else. Admit your mistake, make the necessary amends, learn the lesson from it, become better because of it, and move on beyond it, “reaching forth unto those things which are before, pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 13-14) and daily thanking God Who “always causes us to triumph in Christ” (2 Cor. 2:14).

INTEGRITY IN MINISTRY: NO HIDDEN SKELETONS IN YOUR CLOSET

Several years ago, I met with a pastor search committee at a hotel in a city halfway between the four hundred miles that separated where I was pastoring at the time and where the church of the pastor search committee was located. My wife, Wanda, and I had met previously with the committee, but, for those who know the usual process, this was the meeting that would determine whether the pastor search committee asked me to come in view of a call to their church. Wanda, our three children, and I met for several hours in a hotel suite with the pastor search committee. We talked about a variety of subjects, relevant to families, churches, and society in general, in getting to know one another better. Then there a came time when one of the men on the committee said that he would like to ask some questions which they had prepared for me. For over an hour he systematically questioned me during what was the most intense and thorough interview I had ever been through. I was even asked a question, which some pastor search committees and secular hiring committees will be careful to no longer overlook in light of some recent public embarrassments. That question was, “Are the academic degrees you list on your resume ones you actually earned and received?” Three times near the end of the interview, the interviewer asked, “Are there any hidden skeletons in your closet that you can think of that we need to know about?” I did become the pastor of that church, and later would refer jokingly on occasion to the pastor search committee member who did the questioning about the “grilling” he gave me that day. I later learned that I went through an interview and questioning time similar to that of Secret Service agents because a Secret Service agent, who was a member of that church, had provided the pastor search committee with the questions asked of potential Secret Service agents.

Why was that pastor search committee so thorough and personal in their questioning and evaluation of me? They wanted a pastor who was a man of integrity, whose life backed up who he claimed to be and what he professed to believe. They wanted no surprises or embarrassments to taint the reputation of their church and to hinder their witness for the Lord. They did their best up front to make sure the man they called to be their pastor would not be one who would disappoint them later on by his pastoral leadership, decisions, and manner in which he would conduct himself as a minister and as a man. In the twenty-five plus years I have been in the ministry, serving three churches as a senior pastor and five churches as an associate minister, the search committees that brought me to the seven other churches may not have been as in depth and as intense as the one mentioned earlier, but every church wanted a pastor or associate staff ministers with impeccable integrity as one of their major characteristics and qualifications.

The next few blogs will deal with integrity in ministry and what is necessary to be a minister with impeccable integrity.

Blessings,

Dr. Bobby Mullins