<> Ask the Pastor Pastor Walter Snyder Q: What led you to become a pastor? Why do you remain one? What advice would you have for a new pastor or for your successor? A: I must assign the whole credit (or blame) to God, since becoming a pastor never entered my mind as a young man. According to my parents, as a little boy I'd preach the occasional sermon in our back yard, but my audience was whatever rabbits, chickens, or other critters we raised there. I don't really remember thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up until I was in junior high or high school out in Gallup, New Mexico. During my junior and senior years of high school, after taking the ACT and PSAT, I was overwhelmed with college applications and scholarship offers. Teachers and my counselors either urged me to consider their own fields or else told me I could be whatever I wanted to be. Such advice proved almost the same as being told I couldn't do anything at all. My options were so wide open that making a decision seemed almost impossible. Eventually, I earned an appointment to West Point, planning to major in civil engineering, but discovered that I was not really officer material. When I left, the military and I were equally relieved. I then began a business program, thinking that I'd go for an MBA and enter banking, since I'd worked in a bank since my junior year in high school. However, the Lutheran college I went to not only had good academics and plenty of social and sports options, it also offered a vibrant spiritual life. I not only thrived, I also wanted to give something back. After my first semester, I switched to the pre-seminary program, although I wasn't really sure why. This became evident a year later, when my attention to class work bottomed out. I switched colleges, but had no real interest in studying for the ministry--nor much of anything else. Eventually, I left school and returned to banking. After a few years, I started thinking about the various gifts God had given me and made plans to return to school, again to study theology. I realized that while God could use good, intelligent, hard working Christians in many occupations, I could probably be a good pastor if I stuck out the studies. After college, I worked for a couple more years, then met the woman who'd become my wife at about the same time as I lost my job. Her encouragement helped me to get going in my seminary studies, which I completed a little more than five years ago. Throughout four years of classes and one of internship in Billings, Montana, I was never absolutely certain that this is where God wanted me to be. I wasn't running away, but until I received the call documents from Faith and St. Paul Lutheran Churches here in Woodville and Jasper, I didn't know for sure. Now I do know. I was called by the Holy Spirit through these congregations, and have just celebrated my fifth anniversary of my ordination. I enjoy feeding the flocks entrusted to me, and can't imagine myself doing anything else. I remain because God allows and encourages me to do so. I don't recommend my circuitous route to other ministerial candidates, but do thank God for all that I learned as I traveled this way. I urge that whoever studies for the ministry also study the humanities. Speaking, writing, and understanding the human condition all aid the minister. This means that novels and westerns as well as newspapers and theology books can be used, for all tell us something about ourselves. Nor should science be neglected, both because it helps us to understand our world, and because people may twist and distort it in order to attack Christianity. And like it or not, a healthy dose of mathematics comes in handy. Above all, the would-be pastor should remain immersed in Gods' Word. He should not only study it in class, but should meditate on it during personal and family devotions. He should cultivate a life of prayer. He should study not only orthodox Christian Theology, but also learn about the cults, sects, and non-Christian religions. As he grows, he will find himself becoming ever more like the apostle Paul's descriptions of pastors in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. Final advice for new pastors? Stay in God's Word, trust his promises and believe wholeheartedly in him. He will constantly forgive, renew, and strengthen you for the labors ahead. It won't always be easy, but a faithful pastor will always know the joy of working as an under-shepherd to the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. Remember to "Ask the Pastor" at P.O. Box 1080, Jasper, Texas, 75951; E-mail xrysostom@aol.com; or catch me around town. Pastor Snyder serves St. Paul and Faith Lutheran Churches, Jasper and Woodville, Texas and is the coauthor of "What Do Lutherans Believe? A Study Guide in Christian Teachings for Adults." Copyright (c) 1997 by Walter P. Snyder Permission is granted by author to reproduce or retransmit this by any means, provided that its content is not altered, that this notice of copyright and permission is included, and that no financial gain is realized.