The Pulpit
Harvey is back in the pulpit. Temporarily.
When we meet people here and tell them what Harvey does and then where we came from and what he used to do, they often ask how the transition has been going from the pulpit to politics, between two realms that seem so far removed from one another--two jobs that are so different.
In a way the shift in positions has been a huge adjustment for Harvey. As a pastor, he was the leader of the church, directing a congregation toward the vision God had given him for them, standing before them every Sunday delivering the message God called him to share. As a member of a congressional staff, he is working behind the scenes to support the congressman, managing his office and schedule, doing research, and offering counsel and writing speeches on various legislative issues. As a pastor, he was basically on call 24-7, both in talking with church members with needs and in his concern about the church he'd been called to lead, the spiritual burden and accountability he felt. As a congressional staffer, he works a fairly regular schedule and gets to leave his work at the office. As a pastor, at least at our church, he rarely wore suits. As a congressional staffer, he wears suits almost every day. He says he's grown to enjoy dressing up. I don't mind it either--he cleans up nice.
But in some ways his job now is not all that different from pastoring. He still receives calls from people who have needs and concerns, and he has to be a good, patient listener and respond with sensitivity and compassion. He still deals with people with different opinions and agendas and has to discern which of those are worth investing time and interest in. And there's one other similarity that recently came to light.
In the office, there are several legislative assistants who have expertise in different areas, and they are responsible for researching and informing the congressman on legislation concerning those areas, for example, military, budget, and foreign affairs. Harvey is responsible for values, social issues, and religious liberty (as well as, curiously enough, postal issues). Whenever the congressman is called on to give a speech on the house floor in support of a bill, he seeks help from whichever staffer has expertise in the area of the bill. A few weeks ago, that was Harvey. The speech-writing task came fairly easy to him, and he enjoyed it, because he's used to it. As a pastor, Harvey crafted passionate, persuasive speeches every week; they just went by another name: sermons.
Speaking of sermons, writing and delivering them is one of the things Harvey really misses about being a pastor. Not long after we arrived in DC, he got in touch with the local Southern Baptist Convention to let them know he was available for pulpit supply if any local churches needed anyone. He thought it would be a nice way to serve and also keep his preaching skills sharp, and having five years' worth of sermons stashed away from his time at Calvary, he wouldn't have to do the time-consuming work of writing sermons from scratch in addition to his congressional job.
A few weeks after we began attending Temple Hills Baptist Church, we heard from our pastor about a nearby church that was without a pastor. Our pastor knew the interim pastor at that church, and Harvey got in touch with him to introduce himself and let him know he was available to fill in if they ever needed someone. The interim pastor told Harvey he was going on vacation for three weeks in July, and he asked if Harvey could preach for those three weeks. Harvey was excited--filling in for one week here or there is a bit of a challenge when he's used to preaching series of multiple sermons, but given three weeks, he could find a series he'd done that would fit. He found a series he'd written on Jude that was perfect.
So yesterday was our final week to preach at Reformation Alive. It's a small church plant that meets only about a block away from our church, Temple Hills. The people there have been kind and gracious, and we've enjoyed getting to know them. Harvey hasn't missed a beat in his preaching; he gets up there and preaches with conviction and passion, from his heart, and God is using him to bless those who are hearing, as he's used the congregation to bless us. The secretary from Harvey's office even joined us for church two Sundays ago, and she enjoyed it so much that she came back to worship with us yesterday.
God knows Harvey's heart. We believe he brought us here, brought Harvey to this congressional staff position, for a reason, but he has not removed his call to ministry from our family. He has gifted Harvey to preach, and he has graciously allowed Harvey the opportunity here to serve using that gift. Politics and the pulpit. In our life, they are inextricably intertwined, and the end of both is the same: the glory of God.
When we meet people here and tell them what Harvey does and then where we came from and what he used to do, they often ask how the transition has been going from the pulpit to politics, between two realms that seem so far removed from one another--two jobs that are so different.
In a way the shift in positions has been a huge adjustment for Harvey. As a pastor, he was the leader of the church, directing a congregation toward the vision God had given him for them, standing before them every Sunday delivering the message God called him to share. As a member of a congressional staff, he is working behind the scenes to support the congressman, managing his office and schedule, doing research, and offering counsel and writing speeches on various legislative issues. As a pastor, he was basically on call 24-7, both in talking with church members with needs and in his concern about the church he'd been called to lead, the spiritual burden and accountability he felt. As a congressional staffer, he works a fairly regular schedule and gets to leave his work at the office. As a pastor, at least at our church, he rarely wore suits. As a congressional staffer, he wears suits almost every day. He says he's grown to enjoy dressing up. I don't mind it either--he cleans up nice.
But in some ways his job now is not all that different from pastoring. He still receives calls from people who have needs and concerns, and he has to be a good, patient listener and respond with sensitivity and compassion. He still deals with people with different opinions and agendas and has to discern which of those are worth investing time and interest in. And there's one other similarity that recently came to light.
In the office, there are several legislative assistants who have expertise in different areas, and they are responsible for researching and informing the congressman on legislation concerning those areas, for example, military, budget, and foreign affairs. Harvey is responsible for values, social issues, and religious liberty (as well as, curiously enough, postal issues). Whenever the congressman is called on to give a speech on the house floor in support of a bill, he seeks help from whichever staffer has expertise in the area of the bill. A few weeks ago, that was Harvey. The speech-writing task came fairly easy to him, and he enjoyed it, because he's used to it. As a pastor, Harvey crafted passionate, persuasive speeches every week; they just went by another name: sermons.
Speaking of sermons, writing and delivering them is one of the things Harvey really misses about being a pastor. Not long after we arrived in DC, he got in touch with the local Southern Baptist Convention to let them know he was available for pulpit supply if any local churches needed anyone. He thought it would be a nice way to serve and also keep his preaching skills sharp, and having five years' worth of sermons stashed away from his time at Calvary, he wouldn't have to do the time-consuming work of writing sermons from scratch in addition to his congressional job.
A few weeks after we began attending Temple Hills Baptist Church, we heard from our pastor about a nearby church that was without a pastor. Our pastor knew the interim pastor at that church, and Harvey got in touch with him to introduce himself and let him know he was available to fill in if they ever needed someone. The interim pastor told Harvey he was going on vacation for three weeks in July, and he asked if Harvey could preach for those three weeks. Harvey was excited--filling in for one week here or there is a bit of a challenge when he's used to preaching series of multiple sermons, but given three weeks, he could find a series he'd done that would fit. He found a series he'd written on Jude that was perfect.
So yesterday was our final week to preach at Reformation Alive. It's a small church plant that meets only about a block away from our church, Temple Hills. The people there have been kind and gracious, and we've enjoyed getting to know them. Harvey hasn't missed a beat in his preaching; he gets up there and preaches with conviction and passion, from his heart, and God is using him to bless those who are hearing, as he's used the congregation to bless us. The secretary from Harvey's office even joined us for church two Sundays ago, and she enjoyed it so much that she came back to worship with us yesterday.
God knows Harvey's heart. We believe he brought us here, brought Harvey to this congressional staff position, for a reason, but he has not removed his call to ministry from our family. He has gifted Harvey to preach, and he has graciously allowed Harvey the opportunity here to serve using that gift. Politics and the pulpit. In our life, they are inextricably intertwined, and the end of both is the same: the glory of God.
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