Featured Calling an Associate Pastor

You should have made a motion to vote secret ballot.

 

Its a business meeting. Interrupt and make a motion.worst that can happen is you get called out of order.

 

If you want to go by Roberts then technically voting on the pastor was not a motion. It was a committee recommendation. As I said, the worst that can happen is moderator call you out of order. Moderators try to avoid doing that due to the fact that it has the perception of dictatorship.

 

I have another idea. Put on the big boy pants and vote no in an open vote.

 

Actually, the rules indicate that amendment to the motion can be agreed upon by a second and a vote.

In this case, one could rise and offer the amendment that the motion be voted on by secret ballot. If that offer of amendment has a second, then prior to the motion, the amendment must be voted on.

The other alternative is to move the motion be tabled. Such a tabling cannot be discussed, and must be voted upon immediately.

Should one have know the church constitution, perhaps a point of order could have been raised pointing out that the proceedings were in violation of the constitution of the assembly and therefore any action was not valid.

Such can actually still happen, if the proceedings did not follow the agreed statements of that document.

 

Leave the church or accept the vote as submitted. Those seem to be your options after the fact.

BTW, I have never been in a church business meeting where a vote for a pastor was an open vote. Usually, they are a secret ballot.

 

I

Have been in 1. It was designed to hire someone that leadership knew would be a hard confirmation. Vote took forever because it was so close hands had to be counted multiple times. Recommendation to hire passed by 2 votes. Not long after, the church split pretty much along the lines of that vote.
The senior pastor had made up his mind he was going to hire who he wanted regardless. It was underhanded and I later found the proof of the deception in the deacons minutes. I think that was only the second time I caught a pastor in a bald faced lie.

 

I think it should have been secret ballot. I think the church will regret adding this staff member the way they did. Sorry to say the one that will get hurt the most is the young man that didn’t really get enough votes.

 

I've got two questions that, in a sense, pertain to calling a pastor and/or the ordination procedure(s) involved to doing so. I'm not sure if both of these questions should actually be in two new separate forums or not. If our Baptist Board Administrators think that they should be in two brand new Forums, I'll let them decide exactly how one does this since I've never personally tried to create a new forum(s). Anyway, here goes: (1) Should young members (Age 12 or under) be permitted to vote on the selection of a new pastor? I've heard at least two different opinions on this, but, IMHO, neither one has come to a definite conclusion on this issue. What do you BB folks believe about this matter, and, if you can, please supply me with very SPECIFIC NT passage(s) that you would use to back up your position. And (2) What exactly should a person expect from an Ordination Council with regard to a very specific situation that may arise in their questioning of a prospective pastoral candidate? I've never served on an Ordination Council, but in my over 55 years as a (Baptist) born-again person, I've heard some questions that, IMHO, are merely phrased to trip up a new candidate. EXAMPLE: A new pastoral candidate who's never had any personal experience at pastoring was once asked this: The wife of a married couple (& her mate) both came from a very strict Islamic background. The wife hears the Gospel and is wonderfully saved, but her husband never receives Christ as his Savior. Given this situation, what is your opinion about claiming that this marriage was "Made in Heaven..Praise God!," etc. How would a prospective pastoral candidate answer that question, and, if he publicly preaches this position to that church, should the Ordination Council vote for or against him being that church's new pastor? To me, a question and its resulting action isn't something a new pastor ought to contend with, especially if that church's congregation is split on their answer(s). What do You think about either or both of these situations, and I'd appreciate your supplying me with very specific NT scriptures to support your position(s) on either or both of these situations. Like I said at the beginning, if our BB Administrators rule that these two questions need to be in one or two separate forums, that's fine with me.

 

A question about this. (1) Is this is an ordination council to determine if the church believes the man should be ordained or a Council to call someone as the pastor? In my experience they have always been different.

I don't think the guy should answer a trick question. I would have said that a marriage made by 2 Islamic people was never made in heaven. I have seen too many marriages between confessing Christian that weren't made in heaven either.

To answer the original question, any kind of personnel issues should be done by secret ballot whether to call a candidate or to raise their salary.

That church is headed for some real problems without any kind of working by laws.

Besides that, I'd never go to a church where 5 - 10 out of 30 people present voted yes.

 

Remember that bit of advice, "NEVER, never, join a "Perfect" church!!! It wouldn't be perfect anymore!!" That's been something that's always sort of bugged me over these past 55 years in God's Family...They never seen a church split they didn't like!! I remember as a less than 2 years old in Christ, that so-called "Business meeting we had over in Germany in 1967. We were at that time a mission off of another "GI Church" some 70 or so miles away & were struggling (In more ways than 1!!), At the most I don't think our total attendance was more than 20 (new-born's included). Ninety-nine % of that mission marched out the doors over some "SUPPOSED" 'Docterinal' issue. I know that the Gospels tell us that, "Where 2 or 3 are gathered together ..." Never thought that would literally come to pass, but it did: (1) The Mission Pastor; (2) His wife; & (3) ME!! And, mind you, at that time I was only a 2-3 YO baby in Christ. I guess that's why I have the deepest respect for any man who holds the office of Pastor. I learned how to TREAT a Pastor.....AND how to MIStreat one too. When the NT tells us to pray for those in authority over us, IT MEANS IT!! I've never been called to preach, but I still want to uphold that man (& I've had at least 8 different pastors from at least 6 different churches from 1966 to 2021, but I do pray for them...some, of course, are now with Jesus, but each one, fallible as men are, have a spot in my heart in my being (& their wives too!). I've heard different speakers comment that it's gonna take 1,000 years to "wipe away ALL our tears," & I believe it!!

 

Here's an example of, shall we say, "Lacking in Biblical Perspective," (But actually happened in the last century.): The wife of the recently deceased pastor SAID that she knew who the new pastor should be: Her BIL. This person was divorced before he was saved, but since then has not married. The deceased pastor's wife said that this man would be "Just the thing" to minister to our church's youth. What would your advice be in this particular matter?

 

I've heard of a primarily-military-based church who's constitution stated that if a member was absent @ 3 regular services (i.e., Sun AM, Sun PM, & mid-week [The med-week service varied from week to week because their meeting place was rented from a company that often hosted conferences, etc., & used this church's meeting room for them.), NO EXCUSES ACCEPTED, that member was automatically listed as an "INACTIVE MEMBER," & as its constitution stipulated could not partake of the Lord's Supper at that church until a majority of members voted that person into its "ACTIVE" role. Seems to me that this policy over-stepped its bounds since it made no provision for a member being deployed or any other reason (e.g., a protracted illness, etc.) for a member's absence. I don't know what this church did if one of its GI's went on leave, etc., but again, is it up to the local church to say who can & who cannot partake of the Lord's Supper? Even Judas Iscariot partook of the elements when Jesus instituted the L's S, didn't he? And, what if that church's pastor was called on a 90-day deployment? To me this kind of "INACTIVE" status would leave more questions unsolved than it would solve them, wouldn't it? I left that TN area years ago so I don't know for certain if that church still has this in its constitution; moreover, I don't even know if that church is in existence. Comments??