"Second, the pastor's job is to serve Christ."

"Hold it," he said. "I thought his job was to serve the church. Didn't Jesus tell Peter to 'feed my flock'?"

"He did. But in doing that, Peter would be serving the Lord, obeying Him. There is definitely a sense in which the shepherd is serving the sheep. But notice, the shepherd does not take orders from the sheep. He takes orders from the owner of the sheep as to the care and tending of the flock."

"I need to give that some thought," he said. "But go on."

"You might recall that Paul said, 'We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.' That's 2 Corinthians 4:5. Notice that he's your servant, but 'for Jesus' sake.' Which means he takes orders from Jesus as to how to serve you. That's important."

"Okay. What else?"

"Third, just that point--the pastor is a servant. Not the lord of the church, not the boss, or ruler, not the CEO or anything else people come up with. He's a servant. That's the meaning of the word 'minister.'"

He was quiet. I continued.

"Fourth, God chooses and sends the pastor. The choice of the minister for a particular church is His. We can complicate it anyway we please--with recommendations and resumes and search committees and bishops making assignments--but biblically, the Lord calls the shots."

"I'm not sure about that one," he said. "It seems to me He gives us a lot of leeway to find the guy who fits our congregation best, the one with the qualifications we feel we need, that sort of thing."

"And that's how we get in trouble," I said. "The sheep do not have a clue what they need in a shepherd. They do not see the storm approaching or the danger lurking over the next hillside. Left to themselves, sheep would always choose the shepherd who caters to their every want."

"I can tell you don't think a lot of pastor search committees surveying the congregation to see what they want in a preacher."

"Oh, I think a lot of it. I think it is a complete waste of time and leads the people to faulty conclusions, that the pastor is their choice and is there to satisfy them."

"What's the fifth 'truth'?"

"You're going to love this one. Fifth, the Lord does not care one iota whether the sheep approve of His choice of a shepherd. The shepherd is there at His pleasure, not the congregation's."

"So," he said, "if the congregation feels there is a mismatch between us and this preacher, tough cookies. Is that what you're saying?"

"Probably. If there are moral or ethical or biblical reasons for getting rid of a pastor, the leadership of the congregation should step up and do the job. It's a difficult task and it's probably going to make a lot of people unhappy with them, but they are the leaders. If the preacher absolutely should be removed, they ought to do it."

He was quiet, taking all this in, and a little restless.

He said, "It has to be something big? It can't be that we don't like his style? Or that he sometimes mangles the King's English? And that his wife is unfriendly?"