August– PASTORAL APPRECIATION
and
INSTALLATION MONTH

Pastoral ministry is always a shared team effort. No one individual, regardless of how anointed, talented, gifted or experienced she or he may be, can provide effective leadership alone. Effective pastoral ministry and leadership requires the collaborative effort of those appointed and elected to serve as the pastoral team in ministry along with the other disciples working together to do God’s Work in the congregation. Some has said, “teamwork makes the dream work.” Every pastoral team must confront the three “D”s that are used to attack pastoral ministry: discouragement, disloyalty and dysfunction. However, God Has Given the antidote: “Be encouraged, Be faithful and Be holy.”

Pastoral ministry is teaching and doing God’s Work in congregations to impact all of the people that we, as disciples of The Christ, encounter in our daily lives. We do good to the least of those we meet or have an opportunity to reach as if it is to The Lord. The Christ said, the one way all people would know us as his disciples is by our love one to another. Never forget that God Calls us to worship and to service! Jesus is our perfect example and stressed that he “did not come to be served, but to serve.” While we respect our leaders, we must avoid all honor that becomes the forbidden worship of any leader! Genuine and godly respect flows in both directions at the same time to include everyone, those being served as well as those who do the serving. We thank God for Calling us together as the St. Paul “assembly of Pentecostal believers in The Christ.”

Pastoral appreciation also acknowledges the leaders of the past on whose shoulders Pastor Redic and the St. Paul disciples stand. Thank God for the former leaders: Elder Seldon DeLoatch, Pastor Walter J. Hollingworth, Pastor Lorenzo R. Vaughn, Sr., Pastor Robert E. Davis, Sr., Pastor James Davis and Elder Earl Davis. May God Reward them as they rest from their labor! Our appreciation also extends to those who have served on the pastoral leadership teams over the years.

We remain committed to putting the teachings of Jesus into practice. That is a major reason why we were Saved! It is one of our great privileges and pleasures to share our witness with others and to practice our Pentecostal quest for holiness in our daily lives. Consequently, we seek to share our faith and model The Love of God with everyone that we meet via our silent witness in the routines of daily living and in our acts of public worship. Our worship continues after we have gathered and departed from services for it informs and impacts every sphere of our existence. We are living testimonies of holiness. May we forever walk in the narrow pathway of godliness as disciplined and dedicated followers of the Risen Savior.

God Bless. Pastor Jay