How to Build a Better Pastor

What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith
but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
If a brother or sister is without clothing
and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them,
"Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,"
and yet you do not give them
what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

—James 2:14-16

Yesterday, my wife, Victoria, and I gathered with pastors and other church leaders for Habitat for Humanity of Camden County's Pastors' Build Day. Obviously, the day was one for pastors to work together on a Habitat house. Yet I turn the phrase around on purpose as in working to build a house for a neighbor in need, we were also working on building the pastors. For I find this common among all who go on a short-term mission trip, that the trip is as beneficial for those who go work as for those the work more directly benefits.

For me, yesterday's benefits were obvious. Not only was progress made on the Bennett family's new house, but my wife and I got to work together. She was working too, as a Camden County reporter for The Brunswick News she got the photos and the quotes she needed for a newspaper article. But we also got to work alongside pastors and church leaders from a number of local churches and then to share a meal with them on the grounds of the build site. It was a great way to connect with our fellow Christians.

As Christian leaders, we know that our mutual love of Jesus Christ and the desire to serve him draws us together more than denominational differences divide us. But it is good not just to know that, but to live into that reality by working together and eating together. We'll get a chance for more of this as King of Peace and most of the other churches represented are working together to raise the money and build a house next year in The Apostles' Build, with 12 churches working as one on a Habitat House. When that build gets under way, you'll want to come work on it as it will not only help another family, but in the process it will build you up as well.

In the archives is the sermon Doing the Truth which tells of the roots of Habitat for Humanity.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

“Let’s not talk about love. Let’s not sing about love.
Let’s put love into action and make it real.”
—from the Cotton Patch Bible's I John paraphrase