This past weekend was a mixture of outright disappointment and outright thankfulness.  But overall, it made me aware of how pastors need to be modern-day ecclesiastical Minutemen in our churches.

The disappointment came from a stomach virus that hit me Friday night. That’s Friday night, December 23rd. With a fever that got up to almost 102. That meant missing out on my favorite night and favorite service of the year: Christmas Eve, and likely (and ultimately) Christmas morning. 

My thankfulness came from my associate pastor, Scott Morter II, who received a text from me the morning of 24 December to tell him that I was out and he was on: Christmas Eve, Christmas morning (complete with leading the Lord’s Supper).

This is what I mean by being pastoral Minutemen. We Americans learned about the Minutemen of colonial times who had to be ready to fight the British at a minute’s notice. Pastors must function the same way when it comes to occasions like funerals on sicknesses. Lead pastors must be ready to step in if a Sunday School teacher is out at the last minute. And associate pastors need to be ready if their lead pastor is confined to the bed. 

One of our members articulated my thankfulness so well.  She said (and, no, this is not verbatim), “It puts my mind at ease that, if either one of our pastors are out, the other will fill in well. We are blessed with both of our pastors here at ARBC.” 

I am thankful for an associate who, at a minute’s notice, took time away from his Christmas Eve to joyfully feed our people the Word of God.