Written by Aaron M. Renn |
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Why can’t churches be working to identify people whom they believe would be highly effective pastors – using whatever criteria they think is most Biblical and appropriate – and encouraging those people to go into ministry? There’s a lot of opportunity in local churches to do a stealth vetting of these folks before tapping them on the shoulder, such as by asking them to volunteer in more purely service roles, giving them leadership opportunities, etc. and seeing how they perform. Rather than waiting for people to decide they want to go into ministry, instead encourage high potential people to strongly consider doing so.

I had always assumed that there was a surplus of people pursuing careers in ministry. There are many seminaries, each with an incentive to attract students. And people seemed to have to go through a sort of waiting room process in college ministry or as a youth pastor before getting an actual pastor or associate pastor position.
But what I’m hearing from widely divergent sources is that there’s actually a big talent shortage in this area.
This first came on my radar a decade ago when Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church started talking about the looming succession crisis in megachurches like his. There were hardly any megachurches in 1975, but there are a huge number today, often still run by their founding pastor. Replacing all these soon to be retiring folks with someone who could successfully operate at that level would be a challenge. Of course, Hybels’ own carefully crafted succession plan blew up.
Today even churches that can afford to pay a solid salary are finding it difficult to recruit pastors. Many seminaries have seen significant enrollment declines. For example, Gordon-Conwell saw its enrollment fall by half between 2012 and 2021, and it is selling off its gorgeous campus north of Boston. I increasingly hear people talking about this talent shortage issue. I just watched a video of one pastor noting that new church startups will be increasingly difficult to pull off in today’s climate because there’s no pipeline of talent to launch them.
There appears to be a similar problem in the Roman Catholic Church, which has an aging cadre of priests and far fewer young people electing to pursue a priestly vocation.
At the same time, vast numbers of churches in the US seem poised to close. There are simply too many small, non-viable congregations, and it’s unlikely that more than a few of them will be successfully revitalized. Christianity’s decline in America also augurs for a decreased demand for ministers. So while there appears to be a pastoral shortage, the demand level is also highly uncertain. It’s easy to see how this sort of uncertainty would discourage people from going into ministry.
But given that there does seem to be a talent shortage today, that presents an opportunity to rethink the pastoral recruitment and training process.
Entry into the pastoral career track seems to rely almost entirely on self-selection. That is, someone has a desire or senses a call to ministry, then goes to seminary, etc.
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Pastor Michael Foster has been showcasing the glories of fatherhood using #30DaysofFatherhood on X. He has posted a video of a father having a water balloon fight with his kids, demonstrating the importance of fathers being involved in the lives of their children. At a time when fathers, and masculinity overall, have been attacked from every high place in America, lifting up fatherhood as a good to which every man should aspire is a critical message. Alastair Roberts has rightly argued that in addition to God being our “Judge, Sovereign, Ruler, King, Avenger,” and “Lord,” Christians must see him also as our Father. He is not a cozy, “maternal figure” but “a fatherly authority that stands” over us whose commands we must obey. In fact, Foster writes, “Fatherhood is at the heart of the gospel.”

Is our institutions attempt to foist pride month on us again, the pushback from Christians against LGBTQ radicalism may already be having an effect. 
Though Raytheon still desires to drop rainbow-painted missiles on our regime’s many enemies, numerous Fortune 500 companies seem hesitant to feature pride symbols on their social media accounts this year. Due to last year’s backlash, Target will be featuring its pride collection online and only in select stores—and will not offer any LGBTQ-themed clothing for kids. Major League Baseball put up a rainbow on its X account only to quickly take it down, while other sports leagues that have previously platformed pride icons noticeably did not do so. 
From looking at recent trends, Americans seem to be having second thoughts about the latest stages in our ongoing sexual revolution. A recent Gallup poll shows that Americans’ acceptance of the morality of gay and lesbian relationships has actually decreased seven points between 2022 and 2023, from 71 to 64 percent approval. Even Americans’ overall support for same-sex marriage has slightly decreased, according to a recent Public Religion Research Institute survey. Among Gen Z-ers, a historic shift could be taking place. AEI’s Survey Center on American Life discovered that between 2021 and 2023, there’s been an astonishing 11-point drop in support of same-sex marriage among that cohort, especially among men.
But even with these setbacks, LGBTQ radicalism is still a powerful, dangerous wolf on the prowl. Sesame Street wished its viewers—which are mainly between the ages of 2 to 5—a “Happy #PrideMonth.” “Today and every day, we celebrate and uplift the LGBTQIA+ members of our community,” the kid’s show posted on X. “Together, let’s build a world where every person and family feels loved and welcomed for who they are.” 
In the popular Call of Duty video game franchise, players can now use guns and bullets decked out in a trans flag (which is notable in light of the recent spate of trans shooters). The series is created by a developer owned by Microsoft, a recipient of a perfect equality score from the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (595 companies received that designation in 2023-24). 
Almost unknown on the Right save for some scattered pieces, CEI is the extremely potent, DEI-esque arm that powers LGBTQ radicalism. 
According to the Human Rights Campaign’s website, CEI is “the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies.” It ranks the corporations that took “concrete steps to establish and implement comprehensive policies, benefits and practices that ensure greater equity for LGBTQ+ workers and their families.” In other words, CEI is a social credit system that ensures corporations’ fealty to the LGBTQ agenda. 
At The American Conservative, James McElroy wrote that CEI “is one of the primary tools used to inject extreme gender ideology into corporate America.” It functions as the tip of the spear, prodding even seemingly traditional companies like Cracker Barrel to fall in line with the gay consensus. 
Pride month is the time of year in which the strength of LGBTQ radicalism especially shows itself.
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Forgetfulness reflects fallenness; it is a manifestation of our human condition in Adam. Forgetfulness is another way of describing disobedience. Israel and her kings “forget” the Lord their God by disobeying and forsaking him (cf. Jer. 2:29 and Jer. 2:32; 3:21). We forsake because we forget. And we forget because we choose to forget—deliberately, willfully, consciously. We forget our Creator—his character and covenant and commands, his ways and works and words; we forget our Redeemer—his promises and precepts, his redemption and righteousness. 

We human beings are forgetful by nature. I do not mean in a finite sense but in a fallen sense. We forget because we choose to forget—at least that is the case when it comes to our response to God’s character and covenant and commands, to his ways and works and words. We forsake our Maker because we choose to forget our Maker.
Biblical history testifies to this truth, especially the Old Testament. In Eden, Adam chooses to forget the goodness of God in giving him the freedom and pleasure to eat from every tree of the garden, bar one (Gen. 2:15–17). After the flood, Noah forgets the righteousness of God that he had preached about prior to the flood: he becomes drunk and is defiled by his son (Gen. 9:20–25). In Canaan, Abraham forgets the promise of God that he would provide him with a son from Sarah’s womb; instead, he takes matters into his own hands with Hagar (Gen. 16:1–6). Israel forgets God’s promise to be with them as he leads them out of Egypt; they complain of his absence in the wilderness (Exod. 17:7). Before entering the land, God warns Israel repeatedly to “take care” lest they “forget” the Lord once they are in the land (Deut. 4:9, 23; 6:12; 8:11, 14, 19; 9:7; 25:19; 26:13). When they enter the Promised Land, they fare no better. Not long after the conquest under Joshua, a generation grows up that does not know the Lord or the work that he has done for Israel (Judg. 2:10); they forget the Lord their God and serve the Baals (Judg. 3:7; cf. 1 Sam. 12:9). Israel’s kings are also forgetful of God and his covenant and commands. Saul forgets to devote the enemy to complete destruction; as a result, the kingdom is stripped from him (1 Sam. 15:10–23). David forgets the commandments of God and steals another man’s wife, committing adultery with her (2 Sam. 11); as a consequence, the son conceived by his affair dies and his family dissolves into bitter and deadly infighting (2 Sam. 13–18). Solomon forgets the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of his wisdom; he exchanges wisdom for folly and is led into idolatry (1 Kings 11:1–8); in so doing, the kingdom splits (1 Kings 11:11–13). During the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah, the prophets spotlight forgetfulness as a besetting sin of God’s people (Isa. 17:10; 51:13; Jer. 2:32; 3:21; 13:25; 18:15; 23:27; Ezek. 22:12; 23:25; Hos. 2:13; 4:6; 8:14; 13:6). In the end, Israel’s forgetfulness leads them into exile where they are made not to forget the judgment of God.
Forgetfulness. Since the day Adam transgressed the commandment concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we have been a race prone to forgetfulness. Forgetfulness reflects fallenness; it is a manifestation of our human condition in Adam. Forgetfulness is another way of describing disobedience. Israel and her kings “forget” the Lord their God by disobeying and forsaking him (cf. Jer. 2:29 and Jer. 2:32; 3:21). We forsake because we forget. And we forget because we choose to forget—deliberately, willfully, consciously. We forget our Creator—his character and covenant and commands, his ways and works and words; we forget our Redeemer—his promises and precepts, his redemption and righteousness. Moses captures well Israel’s problem and ours:
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, And you forgot the God who gave you birth. (Deut. 32:18)
Given this aspect of our fallen humanity, it is unsurprising to find commands in the Old and New Testaments to “remember” God and what he has done for us. In the Old Testament, we are exhorted to “remember” God as our Creator in the days of our youth (Eccl. 12:1); we are encouraged to “remember” him as our Redeemer and “the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered” (Ps. 105:5). The psalmist exhorts us, “Bless the Lord . . . and forget not all his benefits” (Ps. 103:2). This kind of remembrance has formal expression in Israel’s weekly observance of the Sabbath and their yearly observance of various festivals.
Most of these festivals point Israel back to events in their past, serving to remind them of what God has done on their behalf, so that they will not forget him. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder of the rest that God entered following his work of creation; it is a reminder to Israel that they too should rest at the end of their working week. In the Passover, Israel remembers their redemption by God from the angel of death and from their enemy, the Egyptians; the victory is further commemorated in the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread; in the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), Israel remembers the giving of the law at Sinai, as well as offering the firstfruits of their wheat harvest to the Lord; on the Day of Atonement, Israel recalls their sins of the past year, repents of them with fasting and prayer, and asks God to forgive them through sacrifices offered by the high priest; in the Feast of Tabernacles, Israel contemplates God’s faithfulness in their forty years of tent dwelling in the wilderness; and in the Feast of Purim, God’s people are reminded of his gracious protection of them through Esther and Mordecai unmasking the evil plot of Haman to annihilate the Jewish people.
For Israel, these festivals serve as weekly and yearly reminders of God’s gracious work in creation and redemption, and as such, they encourage God’s people to remember the Lord and forget not all his benefits.
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