Tim Gray - The Bridge Community Church
He's like a superhero! By day he works as the Athletic Director for Mineral Area College and by night (and MANY, MANY other hours during the week) he serves as the lead pastor for The Bridge Community Church in Leadington, MO. He doesn't make a big deal of it, but it's a very different model than most traditional churches in America.
I had the chance to meet with Tim and some of his leadership team at The Bridge. Tisa Ayers, Jeromy McDowell, & Rhonda Barnes joined Tim in sharing more about how their church's story and how they are seeing a flattened leadership strutcture serve to mobilize more people towards owning the call of discipleship. It takes everyone jumping in with both feet to move forward in their vision to impact their community for Christ.
Here is a video highlighting part of my conversation with Tim...
Untitled from Catalyst on Vimeo.
Hope you are encouraged by Tim's story and what is happening in a small town off the radar! At least you know that there are people in Leadington, MO going after the call of God and fighting the same battle we are all trying to fight...stay tuned for more from the road!
LV
I struggle with this post, because in the opening sentence it managed to expose three of my biggest insecurities:
1. This pastor leads a large church. (Successful pastors have lots of people following them).
2. He works hard. Tons of hours. (Successful pastors work all the time)
3. He doesn’t need to rely on the gifts and tithes of others. He actually works for a living (Successful men don’t waste the charity of God’s people on themselves).
I know (assume?) that’s not how you meant it, but that’s how I heard it when I read it. What would God have us do when we hear a story like this?
Comment by Bob - Aug 06, 2009 @ 08:50 PM
thank you Bob for taking time to comment. I love your thoughts…and am thankful that you are asking these questions. let me try and bring some clarity as to some of what i wrote and why i used the language i did…
I think the biggest reason I highlighted those characteristics (size and bivocational status) is to let people that know that a bivocational model CAN work in a larger church. it IS a possibility. now as far as why a bivocational model might be a positive option for church today, that’s a whole other story…but it is a different model and adds a different piece to the conversation regarding how churches operate. as far as the issue of hours - I NEVER want to celebrate the overworking of pastors, and I think that a bivocational model can actually flatten the leadership structure and empower more people to take on more responsibility and thereby, ultimately, free the pastor to work less. if you look at a lot of larger churches today there are rock star “volunteers” that are critical pieces to the puzzle of the weekend service and they have full time jobs, with families, and often work between 20-30 hours with the church. it’s the whole 20% of the people do 80% of the work. how can the 20/80 epidemic switch to an 80/20 reality? now there’s a great question!!!
just some thoughts for ya…I love your heart and hope you know that at the core of this conversation is a HUGE celebration of every single pastor who is giving their life to chasing the call of God. I am just throwing out examples of what others are doing with the hopes adding to the larger conversation…
thanks again for your interest!
Comment by LV Hanson - Aug 06, 2009 @ 09:46 PM
i’ve been bi-vocational for a number of years now in volunteer ministry as well as paid ministry positions. a year ago God called me to plant a church. being a bi-vocational pastor gives me (and others) to pursue ministry as a calling, not a vocation or career.
juggling the work schedule with ministry is always difficult, but as your post points out, the need for a flatter org structure helps tremendously.
we’re a small plant, and i don’t have any problems remaining bi-vocational if that’s what God wants for the next several years (or maybe, forever???).
Comment by pastorgdubya - Aug 07, 2009 @ 01:05 PM