Pastor Or Reverend???

[heb13-13]

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(07-24-2009 02:49 AM)Liberated by Faith Wrote:  Being a former pastor, I can attest that pastor's do a lot more than preach three times a week.

Ahhhh Liberated,

There are so many incorrect statements in your post. With beliefs like this, no wonder the sheep are in such terrible condition, today. You hold to a false view of a pastor and elder. Maybe we need a thread on what a pastor/elder is or what church is. But, I guess this thread will do.

You said, "Being a former pastor"

I have never heard of such a thing as being a "former" pastor unless you have given back your gift to God. You may no longer have a paid job with the title of Pastor, but you should still have God's gifting of pastor. Unless you believe you never had this gifting to begin with.

I think you guys link your gifting too much with the paid position and title. You do know, the gifting of pastor does not come as a result of a seminary degree?

Part of our problem here is that Pastor as a paid profession and Pastor as a gifting and calling of God are being used interchangeably and causing a bit of confusion so to be clear can you explain what you mean by "former" Pastor??

Which brings me to my next point and that is the question of Authority.
I guess we will need to talk about several things:
Authority from God or Authority from Man
Called by God or Called by Man
Does a Title and a Paid Job equal Authority and Calling from God.

I will grant you however, that if people willingly put themselves under the Authority of an organization, they ought to abide by the rules. Doesn't mean they can't leave if they see that they made a mistake, but they should leave peacefully and quietly.

I will have to continue this later, because I have quite a lot to do today.