Keith_Landry's Blog

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

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

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.

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.

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,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.

Jfore - Brother, I understand your frustration.