Recently, in the gently rising sun of morning prayers, sparked by one of the lectionary readings for the day, I felt the Spirit prompt me: Write a list of pastors you know, love, and trust.
Within three minutes I had a list of over 50. Fifty. I could have kept writing. I stopped after just a few minutes, and I limited my list to only Lead Pastors. If I was to keep going, or to broaden my scope to include Associate Pastors, Worship Pastors, Kids Pastors, or any other pastoral staff or church leaders I know, the list would have exploded exponentially. By nature of where I’ve invested most of my life, I know a lot of church folk. This exercise was surprisingly easy, and it was healing to my heart.
While not the scripture that sparked this exercise, I was reminded of Philippians 4:8, which I paraphrased to myself after writing my list:
Finally, Rodger, whoever is true, whoever is noble, whoever is right, whoever is pure, whoever is lovely, whoever is admirable—if any pastor you know is excellent or praiseworthy—think about those people.
Yes, there is a lot of darkness in the Church. A lot needs to be brought into the light. A lot of justice, transparency, and reckoning is needed if the world is to trust that the Gospel we preach is actually good news and not just propaganda. There are narcissistic pastors and toxic systems, and it’s far too easy to let them dominate our thoughts, emotions, and conversations. Lord knows I’ve been there.
But that is not the whole story. Don’t lose the forest for the trees. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Don’t burn down the whole bridge because a few bad apples spoiled the molehill.
Yet we must face reality. If we’re gonna tell the truth, then it must be the whole truth.
If you’d allow me further liberties with the verse above, I’d say this to you:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whoever is false, whoever is dishonorable, whoever is unjust, whoever is impure, whoever is ugly, whoever is shameful—if any pastor you know is corrupt or blameworthy—don’t even waste time thinking about them.
Don’t let your mind linger there. Don’t let your heart linger there. Don’t let your body, time, money, and family linger there. Get the hell out of Dodge. Go find a pastor and a church worth thinking about. Worth celebrating. Worth trusting. Worth investing in. Worth inviting your non-believing friends to.
If you find it hard to write your own list of pastors you know, love, and trust, I get it. It can sometimes feel a lot easier to write a naughty list. Write that one, too, if you need to. The only reason I can list of 50+ who I know, love, and trust is because my career has positioned me to build so many relationships.
You may not have that advantage, so you could just give up. Many do, and I don’t judge them. Yet I’d like to humbly suggest an alternative: Go out and get to know more pastors and churches.
It’s risky, I know. No one wants to be burned or disappointed one more time. Our hearts just can’t take it. But trust me, they are out there—noble pastors and praiseworthy churches. They may be like finding pearls buried in a field, but—hot damn, when you find them!—they’re worth all the digging.