February 3, 1999
City-bred preachers get rural education
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___When Kevin Hall began talking with the pastor-search committee of Jonesboro Baptist Church west of Waco, he was surprised to learn an unusual part of the job description.
___"You know, our pastor we had before announced our six-man football games at the high school," the committee told him.
___Hall had been raised in a pastor's home and thoughthe knew what to expect in his first student pastorate. But being asked to announce high school football games--and six-man games at that--caught him off guard. Such a request certainly didn't fit his city-bred image of what pastors do.
___He accepted the rural church's call anyway and jumped right in.
___"The first six-man football game I ever saw, I announced," he explained. His only preparation came from the school superintendent, a member of his new flock, who gave him a book of rules for six-man football, along with some tips on what to watch for in referee signals.
___While most urban pastors would be thrilled just to be invited to deliver an invocation at a high school football game, Hall quickly learned that things are done differently in the country.
___That's a lesson an increasing number of city boys learn as they venture into ministry and land their first pastorates in rural areas.
___There is a vast difference between the expectations and operation of rural Baptist churches and urban Baptist churches, explained Gary Farley, a national consultant on rural church issues and director of missions for Pickens Baptist Association in Alabama.
___These differences increasingly are magnified as more urban-bred ministers are thrown into rural ministries, he said.
___Part of the reason is simple demographics: The majority of members of Southern Baptist churches live in urban areas, but the majority of Southern Baptist churches are in rural areas. That means the pool from which new ministers are being called is skewed toward urban influences, while the pool in which those ministers have most opportunity to serve is heavily rural.
___In Texas, 71 percent of Baptist churches average 100 or fewer people in Sunday school attendance, according to Jan Daehnert, director of bivocational and smaller church development with with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. But 80 percent of the members of BGCT churches attend larger churches, mainly in the towns and cities.
___Seminaries are taking note of this demographic awakening. For example, Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University and the Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University will sponsor joint classes this May taught by Farley. His goal will be to help ministerial students understand the complexities of rural ministry--and how to survive by using instincts they may not have learned in the city.
___But the divide new pastors must cross isn't just a rural-vs.-urban dichotomy, added a Texas director of associational missions who asked that his association not be identified by name so he could speak more freely.
___"We have guys who come in who have been members of larger churches, not just urban churches," he said. "They come in and project the leadership style and the followship style of the church they have been in onto the rural church. And it doesn't work.
___"Normally, they don't stay long enough in the rural church to earn the trust they need to earn in order to become the pastor. They are the preacher, but they are not necessarily the pastor."
___Yet small rural churches have a long tradition of giving young Baptist pastors excellent ministry training, Daehnert said. "This has been Ö one great way for young folks to have a chance to serve. It's a great way to begin.
___"The unfortunate thing is, in those churches there's often no mentoring," he continued. "If I had it to do over again, I would encourage these students to have some great mentoring with someone first. I would like to reverse the way we start out with these churches."
___A better result might come from ministerial students working under the leadership of another pastor or church leader to "get some wisdom and insight" before launching into a rural church pastorate, Daehnert said. Contrary to conventional wisdom, leading a small rural congregation may be a "more critical situation" than ministering in an urban setting, he suggested.
___Yet all is not lost, both he and other denominational leaders said. Though the green city boys may not help their small rural congregations much, those congregations sometimes teach their "preacher boys" more than they learn in seminary.
___Hall said that's definitely been the case with him. After three-and-one-half years with the Jonesboro congregation, he's learned things he couldn't have gleaned from his seminary classes at Truett or from his upbringing in Midland and Longview.
___For example, announcing the six-man football games proved to be an excellent outreach opportunity, he said. And he's learned how to be hospitable, acknowledging passing cars and trucks either with a wave or with a subtle lift of the finger off the steering wheel.
___He's also learned a thing or two about Christian love and fellowship.
___"We've become a family out here faster than you could in another setting," he explained. "I've allowed them to love me, and they've allowed me to love them, and that's made all the difference."
___Not least importantly, ministering in a community that doesn't have so much as a blinking yellow light on the highway has taught him to be flexible.
___He recalls with laughter the outdoor wedding he performed at which the groom's dog suddenly appeared during the dedicatory prayer. While Hall was praying over the newly married couple, the dog began sniffing around Hall's feet.
___He stretched the prayer long enough for a groomsman to pull the dog away, so at least his worst fears weren't realized: "I was scared he was going to lift his leg."Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!