Pastoring With the Personal Touch

I learned a lesson back in the 1990’s about pastoring with the personal touch. I recorded it in my journal. We were trying to line up 15 freezers of homemade ice cream for a church fellowship the following Sunday evening. My assistant always had trouble getting enough freezers because he tried to do it by making a promotion from the pulpit. A general appeal like that makes it far too easy for people to ignore.

The most effective way is to ask people individually and personally. In order to make that point with my assistant, I took on the task myself.  I made the phone calls.  In the process, I ended up making a huge discovery.  Or possibly a re-discovery.

Here is the Journal notation from a couple of days later, awkward syntax and all.

This week, as I’ve called church members to line up 15 ice cream freezers for the fellowship August 15, was struck by how many pastoring conversations resulted.  People told me of coming surgeries, coming marriages, even a divorce.  I prayed with lots of people.  And came away from the phone with this odd exhilaration from having rendered pastoral ministry.  And so, today, Thursday, I’m making a few more calls and having the same experience, and have decided to take the church directory printout and just start calling church members, particularly those I’ve not talked to lately.

I’d say, “Hi Bob…this is Brother Joe…. As you know I’ve been gone so much this summer (the church had given me a six weeks sabbatical) and I’ve been so out of touch, I was just wondering how things are with you?”  And I let them talk.  I gave this maybe 90 minutes tonight and have struck the mother lode.  Such response. And such a strong inner feeling that this is it!

I recall my friend and mentor James Richardson saying once, “Isn’t the telephone wonderful?”  meaning it’s not necessary to always be running by to see someone.  Just call them.

And then, Monday, after my return from the six weeks sabbatical, Don Henderson (age 80+) took me to task for not even phoning him to inquire about his health following his surgery in January.  And this was August!!  Yikes.

Back in those days, Bill Baker was pastoring the First Baptist Church of Clinton, Mississippi.  At one point, he and I were talking on the phone and I learned he’d made the same discovery.  “I’m without a minister of education right now,” he said, “so in order to line up people to attend the Sunday School week at Gulfshore Assembly, I got on the phone. I now have 25 people signed up to go.”

He paused and said, “The guy who just left would have called no one, but would have pushed it from the pulpit and might have had 3 or 4 to go.”

Ask them personally. Call them individually. Use the personal touch.