Bo​az Baptist Chronicles

Please, read these comments from a brother who went to Bible School, but received his real education from the Lord, later on...

Brother Leib, I wanted to thank you for the phone call last night. It was a blessing and a pleasure to talk with you. I want you to know that I have a lot of regrets about what happened with the church… and how I handled some things. The fact of the matter is that I was young, brash, arrogant, stupid, and foolish. The truth is that I had no business whatsoever pastoring anyone. I thought three years of Bible School, a head full of doctrine, and a diploma on the wall qualified me for the position. It did not. That's one of the problems among the Bible-believers like us and churches in general. It's assumed that just because you went to a certain school you're qualified for the ministry, regardless of the requirements in 1 Timothy 3. The whole set up is worldly, carnal and wrong. In the world you go to college, get a degree, interview for a job and get to work. No one cares about your character or personal life as long as you have the right credentials and can do the job. In the church, you go to Bible school, get a degree, interview for a job (we call it candidating), and get to work. No one is too concerned about 1 Timothy 3, your personal or family life. As long as you went to the right school and are part of the right camp, you're in. I remember when it was time to vote me in as pastor, brother XXXX said, "What vote? The minute you walked in the door you were the pastor!" All they knew about me at that point was that I had a Bible School education! And that's all that mattered to them. They knew nothing of me, my personal life, my marriage, my family, or anything else. Just that I was from this certain school and that was good enough. This sort of thing is common among our churches, and it's dead wrong. Anyway, like I told you, I had a head full of knowledge and a heart full of pride. Although it was a small church with just a handful of people, it was still a position of authority for me. I had power and responsibility which I was not ready to handle. That power went to my head and caused some serious problems. I loved those people… and I had nothing but good and right intentions towards them. What I didn't have was the maturity, grace, and wisdom necessary to be the pastor they needed. That led to wrong decisions and wrong actions. People got hurt and the church shut down. I learned a lot from that experience, but the lessons came at a price for everyone involved. Having come through that and being on the other side, I have a lot of regrets and am very sorry for the hurt I caused. I'm also very fearful that my experience is probably repeated by other young hotheads coming out of school thinking they're going to turn the world upside down for Jesus. Bible School can teach you the book, but they can't give you the right heart necessary to take the Book as a humble minister and use it to feed the flock. That's something only God can do.