RETIREMENT

I have had a lot of fun with my wife these past few months teasing her about my upcoming retirement. I officially began my pastoral ministry at the First Church of God in Franklin Furnace, Ohio on July 20, 1980. I have pastored continuously since that time to this present day. Since leaving Franklin Furnace in 1984 I have pastored First/Branchview First Church of God in Concord, N.C. (April 1984-December 1993), First Church of God in Alliance, Ohio (January 1994-June 2003) and now at the Meade Station Church of God in Ashland, KY (June 2003-Present). I keep telling her that people who work for Marathon Oil, AK Steel, KDMC, etc. get to retire when they celebrate 30 years of service. Therefore I should be "entitled" to retire on July 20 of this year!!! I further tell her that her "second job" (which she will need to find!!) had better pay her a lot more than her first job or we are going to be in real trouble real fast!!!!! I see great humor in this. She sees no humor whatsoever in my teasing.

In all seriousness I have labored with this question, "Can a called servant of God ever really retire?". One of my mentors and good friend, Gary Ausbun, retired from pastoral ministry nine years ago but the Lord has used Gary and his wife Frankie in a wonderful interim ministry across the country. Brother Gary and I stay in contact with one another and I know this "second" ministry God has called him to has been both rewarding and fulfilling to him. I can only hope and pray that I might be so blessed. What I mean by that is if the Lord would allow me to live long enough to "retire" from pastoral ministry that He will also give me some good years of health that I might be a continued blessing to to Him and His Church in some capacity of ministry. Having written that I feel we can never really retire from God's service. Our role of service may certainly change but we all should die while still serving the Lord.

I recall two people in my years of ministry who typify my thinking on this. The first is J.O. Fletcher from the Concord Church. When I arrived at Concord J.O. had just relinquished to job of song leader. He was entering his late 70's and his singing voice was beginning to fail him. He and I had a conversation one evening on the front porch of the old church on Corban Avenue about his future role in the congregation. He was feeling a little sorry for himself so I told him he may not be able to lead in singing but God still had something for him to do. And God did have something for him to do. From that day on he became my greatest prayer warrior and closest friend and advisor. J.O. would always tell me the truth about any problem I encountered and every pastor knows the value of someone who will speak the truth into your life. The second person that wrestled with this idea of not being able to serve the Lord as in times past was a lady from the Alliance Church. Her name was Kathleen Hayes. Kathleen had been active in that congregation for many years but she had come to a place to where her health had failed her so much that she eventually had to quit attending services. In lamenting her plight to me one day I asked her to make it her job each week to check on all the people from our congregation who appeared on our prayer list and let me know if there were any specific needs I needed to be aware of. She took that assignment seriously and proved to be a tremendous asset to me and the congregation over the next couple of years until her health failed her completely and she eventually passed away.

In closing let me say I do hope to retire some day. I love the preaching that goes along with pastoring. I love to visit people in the hospital and in their homes. I grow weary however of all the meetings and the relationship issues that you find yourself dealing with as a pastor. If the Lord will give me health and strength I plan to pastor into my mid sixties or about 8-10 more years. But I don't plan to ever "retire" from his service. How about you? What is your commitment to the Lord?

Just something to think about.

Pastor Jordan