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Keith_Landry's Blog

by Keith_Landry from Orlando

Last Post 1 day, 1 hour Ago


My church said farewell to our pastor today.  He had been with us for six years during a 23 year career.  Pastor Ben is a good priest and a dedicated clergyman.  He got our church very involved in helping the poor in Central Florida and in taking care of family members of people who worship with us.

Do you have a favorite pastor or clergy member you'd like to call attention to?  Blog it here.

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Member Comments Total Comments: 15
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toddt read my blog
Jun 30, 2008 | 1:58 PM

Yes I do but ours are not paid they do it out of service which is the way it should be.

jfore read my blog
Jun 30, 2008 | 10:16 PM

There are two pastors that come to mind but since they're both related to me I won't blow their horns. But Keith, I'm probably going to make you mad, but I have to say this. What your pastor did is very commendable and should be done. However, if that's all you can remember about his ministry then he has been a dismal failure as a pastor. If that's all he has done with his ministry then he is like many modern day pastors who are more interested in reconciling man to man than they are in reconciling man to God. That's the Social Gospel. Let me ask you, what good is being well fed if you end up in Hell? Read Matthew 28:19-20. Those two verses describe what every pastor, and every Christian for that matter, is to have as the priority of their ministry. Once that is the focus, then you do the other stuff like feeding the poor, etc, etc. along with that. You see, everything else is secondary to the Great Commission. So, while taking care of people is commendable and necessary, it can't be done to the exclusion of what the main focus of every ministry must be. Otherwisw you're doing no more than the United Way does. You're caring for the body and ignoring the soul

sipedo read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 1:40 AM

jfore, it is wrong to assume, although you might be right

toddt, if your pastors are not paid, that is fine, but many churches choose to have full time or part time clergy dedicated to the ministry of the local church and are more than willing to compensate them

pastoral ministry can very much be a full time vocation, and with that said, "the way it should be"

scripture even supports financial support for pastors

Cromagnonwoman read my blog view my photos
Jul 1, 2008 | 8:43 AM

Father Guido Sarducci. He is so profound and has a life altering effect on my life.

toddt read my blog
Jul 1, 2008 | 2:18 PM

Well ours works more than full time hours but does not make a dime....the way it should be. He does it out of love for the family/congregation.

jfore read my blog
Jul 1, 2008 | 7:12 PM

Sip, you need to pay attention to what I write. I'm not assuming anything. All I said was, IF feeding the poor is all that Keith can remember about the man's ministry then apparently he was really more of a social worker than a minister because he has his priorities wrong. A true minister is a minister of the Word first, a social worker second and he should be remembered for how he handles the Gospel. Feeding the poor is a great and wonderful thing. But that's not what ministers are called to do and that's not the main thing they should be remembered for doing. Who knows, maybe his ministry was all that it should be and Keith just didn't mention anything else about him. In any case, if his social activities are the only thing impressing people then maybe he should be working for the United Way instead of the church.

jfore read my blog
Jul 1, 2008 | 7:24 PM

toddt. Might I suggest that you read 1 Timothy 5:17-18 and 1 Corinthians 9:11-14. Both of those passages say that a minister has every right to expect to be paid for what he does, and he should be paid well. A man cannot fully dedicate his life to serving a congregation if he has to spend most of his time providing for himself and his family. It's great if someone is in a position where he doesn't need to take money from the church, and there are many ministers in small churches who are in that position. But, unless he is wealthy, there is no way that he can do that without compromising his ministry in some way. So it's perfectly acceptable for ministers to be paid. I know LDS ministers aren't paid. But that position is not supported in scripture.

sensiblejoe read my blog
Jul 1, 2008 | 10:46 PM

Before coming down so heavily on Keith Landry's clergyman, jfore ought to read Matthew 25:31-46, where Jesus says those who don't feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, house the homeless, tend the sick and visit the jailed -- the guise in which Christ is among us -- don't get into God's kingdom. "If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. Anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20). In that sense, your neighbor is your salvation: the gospel command to love God and neighbor are complimentary, not exclusive to each other. There are plenty of people out there who spend half their time thinking of how wonderful it'll be to be with Jesus in heaven and the other half worrying who else he'll let in (and condemning everyone but themselves plenty), and plenty who live typical suburban lives of affluence and consumerism while never doing the least bit of charity -- and think it's all right, just so long as they talk about Jesus and wave their hands for him. Good for Keith Landry's clergyman for getting his flock out of that comfort zone and introducing them to Jesus Christ where he himself told us, in his gospel, we'd find him and be able to put our love for him into practice -- in the least of our fellow human beings around us.

AUGUSTALLEN28 read my blog view my photos
Jul 2, 2008 | 7:24 PM

Jfore,I think you missed the point.Keith,just brought out good aspects of the minister that everone could relate to,whether they are Christian or not.

jfore read my blog
Jul 3, 2008 | 2:22 PM

Sensiblejoe: I sometimes wonder why I bother with this because nobody ever takes the time to actually read what I write before they start jumping to conclusions. How many times did I say that feeding the poor is a good thing and needs to be done? How many times did I say Keith’s pastor should be commended for doing it? I never said that pastors shouldn't be helping the poor. You're jumping to conclusions. I simply pointed out that that isn't what pastors are really called to do. In other words, helping the poor isn't what makes them good pastors.
August, I also realized that Keith was just trying to say something nice about the guy. But, what he wrote does point to a major problem in the church today and keeping quiet about it because you don't want to offend someone simply makes the situation worse. Far too many pastors today place social work and counseling as the priority of their ministry. So when Keith said that he thought his pastor was great because he helped feed the poor I simply commented that maybe he wasn’t as great a minister as Keith thought he was. After all, pleasing God, not pleasing people, is the priority here. When a pastor helps feed the poor and does other things like that he is being a good Christian, not necessarily a good pastor. Acts 6:4 says that pastors are to "give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word." In 1 Timothy 4:1-2 Paul told Timothy what ministers are suppose to do. "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:

jfore read my blog
Jul 3, 2008 | 2:22 PM

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction." Everything else a pastor does, no matter how worthwhile it may be, must be secondary to those things. There's nothing wrong with a pastors helping poor people. But doing those things isn't what makes a him a good pastor, it's what makes him a good Christian. That doesn't mean that he shouldn't do those other things because all Christians are to do those things. But, again, doing those things is not what makes him a good minister. Even then I took into account that maybe Keith's pastor wasn't one of those men and that Keith had simply pointed to one aspect of his ministry. That's why I qualified what I said be saying "IF" that's all he can remember about the guy then maybe he has a pastor who was placing too much emphasis in the area of social services and too little on what the Bible says pastors are suppose to be doing. I wasn’t saying anything bad about Keith or his pastor. Geez! At least take the time to read what I actually write and stop reading between the lines trying to find some sinister motive here.

AUGUSTALLEN28 read my blog view my photos
Jul 3, 2008 | 7:56 PM

Jfore,I'm well aware of what you wrote.But your post focused tomuch on the "what if"he is a bad pastor?,which casted a negative overtone of the pastor.You even went so far as to go in-depth about pastor's not doing their jobs and not having the right priorities,which leads one to believe that you were referencing the pastor by indicating that the pastor wasn't doing his job.And by that,it left a bad taste after reading the post.
That,more or less is what I was responding to.

YBSRobin read my blog
Jul 4, 2008 | 11:40 AM

Yes Keith, I do have two, Pastor Green and Pastor Murray. Pastor Murray is an elderly but extremely wise teacher and has a way of bringing the Bible to life with new meaning as he teaches word for word, verse for verse, breaking each verse down back to it's original meaning. Also Pastor Green is a wonderful person as well. He takes the time to go a step farther than most. He has a way of looking at someone in the congregation and knowing when something is not right. Instead of a phone call, he comes to your house to check on things and helps whenever and where ever he can. Pastor Green also has been a true inspiration in reminding us that daily, at anytime, do not forget to share our troubles with God, don't forget to pick up the Bible to read everyday from it - even if it's a verse that fits in with the problems we are going through at that moment so we don't loose the encouragement we need to make it through that particular problem, and the most important - Both Pastors are the ones that are big into teaching that all of us need to take God with us where ever we go 24/7. Thank you Keith for pointing out the hard work that a Pastor goes through and allowing us to take the time, that we probably need to do more often and that's just to say a simple "Thank You" to them.

didaskalos read my blog
Jul 8, 2008 | 1:16 PM

Jfore - Brother, I understand your frustration.

didaskalos read my blog
Jul 8, 2008 | 1:17 PM

Jfore - Brother, I understand your frustration.

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Keith_Landry

I have been a News Anchor and Reporter in Orlando almost six years. I love Florida, and I love living here. I work to serve our community when I can. I'm here to stay, so we'll be blogging together for years. This blog is not the gospel according to Keith, although I might quote scripture. It's a place to connect with other people, have fun, pass some time and pick up useful information along the way. I hope you'll visit this blog often and share your ideas with others here. The Internet is a powerful tool to connect people and to improve their lives, and I hope you will use MyFoxOrlando.com each day to add something to your life.

Member Since: 7/13/2006