Pastors: Recent Episodes
Hope Renewed Podcast
66 - Hope is Fuel - Chris DavisPastor and Author Chris Davis joins the guys to talk about his new book Bright Hope for Tomorrow, an in-depth look at how the return of Christ gives us hope and strength for today. We also talk about how pastors can combat isolation and loneliness in ministry.Chris DavisChris Davis is an author and senior pastor of Groveton Baptist Church. Hailing originally from Atlanta, GA, he and his wife, Rachael, and their four children now call Alexandria, Virginia home. To keep up with him and his upcoming projects you can follow him on Twitter (@RevChrisDavis).
Bright Hope for Tomorrow: How Anticipating Jesus’ Return Gives Strength for TodayLearn more about Bright Hope for Tomorrow here.
Transcript of Chris Davis Interviewcoming soon
64 - Bivocational Ministry and Coaching - Cedrick Barrett
Bivocational pastor, Cedrick Barrett, joins Tom and Sean to talk about how clergy coaching has helped him navigate the challenges of life and ministry. About Cedrick Barrett Cedrick L. Barrett is founder and Senior Pastor of Purpose Church, a thriving intergenerational church located in Wilmington, NC. Cedrick holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a Master of Arts in Christian Practice from Duke Divinity School at Duke University. He has over 20 years of experience in accounting and finance and has held numerous executive roles in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Cedrick has a passion to assists clergy leaders in developing sound fiscal structures and practices that underscore growth and ministry expansion.
As a strong advocate for personal wellness, Cedrick recently founded the Healthy ME organization which teaches skills, practices, and host retreats aimed at improving one’s mental health and wellbeing. When Cedrick is not pastoring, coaching others to wellness, or working as a financial leader in the marketplace, he enjoys spending time with his wife of 23 years Latoya, and their 3 adult children Daniel, Essence, and Josiah. He also enjoys the beach, reading a good book, and watching sports.
Episode Notes Visit Purpose Church here.
Transcript of Cedrick Barrett Interview Coming Soon
62 - Healing Your Story - Kim and Rob Hock Kim and Rob Hock join Tom and Sean to talk about how they found hope in the darkest times in ministry. Kim shares about her counseling ministry and how she is using story work to help men and women heal.
About Rob Rob Hock is the senior pastor at Southport Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, IN. He has served in ministry since coming to Christ in the early 90's and has been at Southport Pres since 2012. He has an MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
https://southportpres.org/
About Kim Kim Hock has 20 years of experience working with adults, children and adolescents in diverse settings. She has also had the privilege of walking with many individuals through life's valleys and mountains, witnessing transformation in brokenness.
Kim is most passionate about encouraging others to live embodied and free. She specializes in helping women heal from sexual trauma and recover from spiritual abuse and purity culture. Her hope is to always provide space for people to be who they are without judgement. Through her unique vision, Kim sees the world in pictures and seeks to find ways to ask questions with the goal of seeing others well.
She began her work as a story facilitator while completing her Masters in Counseling. She trained and earned a certification in Narrative-focused Trauma Care through The Allender Center in Seattle. She also holds a certification in Soul Care from The Soul Care Institute.
Kim spends much or her time with her husband and four children. She enjoys traveling, reading, and dining. She feels the most invigorated and free in nature and enjoys driving her Jeep with the top down.
Virtual Story Groups
Contact Kim Hock (info below) to learn more about her Virtual Story Groups.
Virtual story group for pastors:
10 week session
Virtual Story group for ministry spouses:
10 week session
In-person Intensive Weekend of Story
For ministry wives only
Next offering:December 2-4Location: Shepherd's Gate Inn, Martinsville, INAll meals and lodging includedReduced cost: $500 per person
Kimberly Hock, LMHCA, NCCUnder the supervision ofPatricia Anderson, MA, LCSW
(509)237-8504
http://www.kimberlyehock.comhttps://www.facebook.com/kimberlyehockhttps://www.instagram.com/kimberly_e_hock/
Transcript of Interview with Rob and Kim Hock This transcript was produced automatically by Otter.ai. So, it will contain some errors.
00:00
I'd have really one of the darkest seasons I've ever been in a ministry and had a friend of mine say you had the smell of death on you. And my wife's responses you guys felt like that for a while.
Joe Chambers 00:14
Welcome to hope renewed helping you find new hope when ministry leaves you hopeless. The hope renewed podcast is brought to you by PIR ministries. Here are your hosts, Tom Jameson and Sean Nemecek.
Tom Jameson 00:35
Kim and Rob Hoch, welcome
to hope renewed.
00:38
Thanks. Happy to be here.
Sean Nemecek 00:39
Yeah. Welcome, guys. All right. So we want to jump into this conversation and just ask you first to start by introducing yourself a little bit to our listeners and tell us a little bit about your ministry journey.
00:50
So Rob Hoch, born and raised, Midwest spent my childhood split between St. Louis area and Dallas, Texas Land and milk and honey was the son of the son of a farmer. And spent years in Texas ended up coming to Christ during college and went to a&m, Texas a&m, and then started a ministry in Houston. Where and that's where Kimmy and I. And that wasn't the first time we met, we actually met at a&m, but our friend groups sort of overlapped. And so we just knew of one another, get married, ended up, stepping into Gordon Conwell, and then had been in pastoral ministry. Ever since. So married, we have four children, the oldest is 24, the youngest is 17, almost 18. middle two are 21 and 20. And so we've got one graduated marrieds. We have an in law, we've got a dog, you know, who own the backyard and a fence. So
Tom Jameson 02:04
it sounds like the Midwest.
02:06
Yeah, yeah. And my call him like my, in some ways, my stepping into ministry is very normal in other ways. That normal, normal and that, you know, coming out of college, just began to felt the sense that the Lord was calling me to ministry. And in Texas at that point, if you were a young man who loved Jesus, everybody wanted to go to seminary ministry. And so their counsel was don't go into some don't go to seminary, seminary and ministry and the Lord wants you there. That's the whole point you and I worked really hard not to go into ministry, and the Lord was really determined to put me in ministry. So and my journey was, you know, as a youth director for a couple of years and when seminarian came out of that, and served the church as an associate in the DC area, got to experience 911 in DC we had, if you remember the sniper, that was our neighborhood, and had a couple other fairly significant traumas in the community. ended up serving a small church as a solo pastor on Central Washington, halfway between Spokane and Seattle. It's a close community about seven to 10,000 and then ended up coming here
03:21
to people there.
03:23
Right. The mule died, Honey, we're home. And then we had been here, southside of Indy for about 10 years, and I say, so in some ways, it's very normal. Otherwise, it's abnormal. And then I came to Christ as an adult. And so I really show up primarily for the lens of an outsider. I didn't grow up in the church, some relationships, a Roman Catholic context. Most of that did not feel good as a child. I've come to appreciate a little more as I've grown older. And so in many ways, it's abnormal in that I don't have deep heritage. My family does not historically know Jesus. Some of them have come to know Jesus sense but so yeah, all right, honey. Yeah,
04:22
I'm kaun married to rob. Same Poor kid. Same dog.
Tom Jameson 04:30
Like can you put the ring on the dog right next to each other?
04:34
Hello, Hill. Appreciate that. Yeah, I came to faith in high school. I did not grow up at the church background at all either. And that, really, probably, I would say in a sense godless, like there is no connection in my home, but through the For young life actually in high school, I came to faith and my journey in ministry was started with young life. And all through college I worked at a young life camp every summer backpacking, guiding backpacking trips to the mountains in Colorado, which is super fun and of course my in my mind that that was ministry and that's what my life was going to look like. I think we've been backpacking one I thought for sure the husband I was gonna marry was going to own a camp and camp ministry was going to be the way for me and we ended up admitted in at Gordon Conwell on faith, both of us got accepted. And we're planning on attending Gordon Conwell, and on the drive there, in a big new hall, we decided that I would, I would continue my teaching career, and he would attend school. And so although I did attend along the way, I think, because I listened to a lot of papers, and that's where my theological training is rubs papers. Yeah, then really family became a ministry. And I had never quite felt called to pastoral ministry. In fact, I remember where we were sitting and, and the conversation in our little blue Subaru. When Rob told me that he was he felt he sent a calling into petrol ministry. And I thought, I don't think. And that's, I think that along the way, you know, three churches, lots of different ministries, lots of ways that I have been involved, and I and my family has been involved, involved, I think, all that time, I was honing in on my skill of people, reader. And so what's interesting is that my story lends a little bit to really falling right into some misconceptions of pastoral ministry. In fact, that was taught in my home, a lot of focus was on appearance, and not seeing what was going on behind closed doors. And so entering in as the wife of a pastor, even though I didn't know the ins and outs of a church, there was, there's the beast of appearance and the Beast of secrecy. And so that I just kind of was able to feed the beast a little bit. But that's, that's what I knew. So that's kind of how I ended up showing up in that role. But through the years to also, knowing that my skill of reading people and listening to people was really what my time was preparing for.
Tom Jameson 08:03
That's such a important point that you bring up that, you know, we often talk about pastors having misconception about ministry, you know, when they they're answering the call, but a pastor spouse, a pastor's family also has to deal with the same kind of conceptions or understandings. And there is that sense that it's not just the pastor that's being called to ministry, it's it's the whole family, if it's a family or a couple, the couple itself. So both of you are engaged in active ministry. So and we're going to dive into that and learn more about what the specific ministry roles that you're filling look like. But just in general, now that we've kind of cast this pall over ministry, what do you love about ministry? What is it that just really kind of makes your heart sing when when you you consider the opportunities and the giftedness and directions that God has called you to?
09:07
I would call myself a lover of people. And I've always been a lover of people. And I've always been an adventurer. So what I've loved about ministry is walking along by people in their stories, and in their adventures. And part of so when I say I love people, I just, I am always blown away by people and their creativity and their wit. And the way they look at things and the way they say things. I often find myself, my kids. Show me send me Tik Tok all the time, and I'm just in awe all the time. Like how do people think of these things? And so I think I'm constantly an audit of others. So to me, ministry is seeing people and experiencing life with them. And I love letting them know that they're not alone. So, with being a lover of people and an adventure, I feel like I'm always on a journey with them. And I thought of when I was thinking about this question I thought of, I don't know if you guys have read hind feet in high places. It's an old allegory of faith. And the character's name is Micah frayed. And as she goes on her journey, she has two companions with her all the time and their sorrow and suffering. And she doesn't necessarily like her, her companion of sorrow and suffering, she doesn't understand their presence until the end. And I don't see myself necessarily a sorrow or a suffering, per se, but I do some I see myself as a companion along the way, a companion that's present for the journey, and always enabled to be there to always remember the stories of path and remember the future of people propelling and moving forward. And so I love that part of ministry.
10:59
And for the record, Kimmy has never called me either sorrow or suffering. So we made the companion
Tom Jameson 11:06
answer what she would call you.
11:11
Yeah, and I love that that can be one of things that's really fun about Kimmy she's just so curious about folks, and she just has this ability to see people really well, which is fun. And then she just asked questions, and lets folks just be discovered, and help folks discover themselves. So what I love about ministry is Melusine folks walk through the process of transformation. And I love folks coming to a greater understanding of their image bearing what it looks like to flourish and thrive and to lean into wholeness that God has spoken this great picture over us about who we're designed to be. And ministry for me is, it's an opportunity to invite folks into exploring that story. What does God have for them? How has he made them both with this speaking and creation, but even in the sum total of all their experiences? Right? So you know, I say said earlier, my, my journey and ministry, in some ways is normal. In other ways, it was abnormal, there's a part of me that I could argue I've been prepared for ministry since I was two years old. Because the home I grew up in the role that I filled, my job was to set aside my desires and to meet other people's needs and tell lots of stories to that would from a childhood that would reveal how my parents have raised me to pay attention to others set aside my desires, that others may be cared for and could flourish, right. So I've been prepared for this. And so for ministry, for me, the thing that's really fun, is to watch folks begin to discover who they are, and to find freedom to step into the fullness of them. So and you know, so preaching like it to do that, and preaching because didn't teaching get to that and pastoral counseling, and I get to do that even in leading the team. So it's a multi staff, church I'm at and so leading the team and even an organization. How do you, how do you calendar together and how to get right, it's, it's all of that, for me just sits under that category? Of what does it look like for us to invest in the community? Those in and those outside the community are awesome. And then of course, you know, how do I invest in the staff, right, the team?
Sean Nemecek 13:45
So I'm guessing ministry hasn't all been, you know, puppies and roses and wonderful rainbows. That maybe seminarians think it's gonna be like, when we first stepped into the call in some of the darkest times of ministry, how did you to maintain hope in Christ?
14:09
But yeah, I mean, we've had some really dark days. I some of that is the days get darker. Some of that's the context we're in some of that is just work we hadn't done, again, the son of the son of a farmer and so forth, you just work harder. And once that just actually further drove me into places of despair. You know, so I'd say, you know, there were lots of dark days where I don't know that I had much hope in Christ. And in God's grace, I'm son, the son of a farmer, and you just wake up the next day and you just go back at it, which is not a recommendation. But it was part of the reality and I think so like, I think The way I that I would their voice I do different. In some of that is, you know, I stepped into soccer as to to Shawn, where you and I met out of really one of the darkest seasons I've ever been in a ministry and had a friend of mine say you had the smell of death on you? And my wife's responses. Yeah, I smelled like that for a while. I was deeply offended, what do you mean? And in this service to come combination of not doing good work, not caring for myself not having good rhythms that are sacred and life giving. And some of it as well was, was being driven into isolation. And feeling like I'm alone. And I'm the first one to ever experience any of these things. And, and only to discover that I'm not the first one to experience these things. And that these things, when you're a community can be held well. And even when darkness and despair invite me to walk away from Sacred rhythms, learning how to hang on to the shreds and tatters of it. With the hope that the next time, there's more that you're hanging on to that would be healthy rhythms in the midst of hardness,
16:33
I would say many of our dark times were didn't have to be so dark.
Sean Nemecek 16:41
Yeah, say more about that camera. What do you mean, they didn't have to be so dark? Well, I
16:47
think, again, you know, I was in this perpetual cycle of closing the door and appearing. Okay. Right. And so, and that's all I knew. And so and when Rob's dead, you know, being pushed more and more into isolation, when I think the irony of that, though, one of the men I've tried to train under Dan allander, he does, we're meant for relationships. And we, we all know that right? Were meant created for relationships. And yet we are harmed in relationships. And the only way to heal is in relationship. But when we get harmed in relationships, we think that that we need to do is get away from relationships, and isolate more. And that's a that's a dangerous, dark place. And so when darkness or darkness of the soul, or the darkest times, as you said, they come and they do come and make sure we say they're plural, right? It's a bit like being in a really dark room and all the furnitures been moved in here, that our tendency is to sit in the corner and stay and isolate. And eventually, it'll get light or something or I don't know, or we get up and we start bumping around. But we need someone we need people to help us out. We're meant to navigate this life with others. And I think ministry tends to tell us differently, somewhere along the way, and that we're supposed to do it alone. And when the reality is that there's very few safe spaces when you're in ministry or safe people to get help us out of those dark times. But we need the connection, if we're going to continue. If we're going to stop that narrative, we are alone, and we're not going to make it so I would say hope in the dark time now very different than hope in the dark time years ago. And the places that we've been and so now I'm in a rhythm of, I have people and I know who those people are. And no matter how ridiculous or silly or burdensome or annoying I feel. I reach out and I let those people know where I'm at and what I need. Because I know I can get back in my own story and my own narrative and remain there.
Tom Jameson 19:21
So the trick is being able to kind of interrupt that cycle that we kind of naturally go to this cycle of isolating. And I we just we find it so much that those involved in ministry pastors, ministry leaders and counselors just struggle with the very thing that you're talking about remaining connected, having the good friends, the ones that you can pour your soil what's what have you found to be the key to that? How do you create those connections and maintain those connections so you have them when when you're in those two workplaces?
20:01
Well, I thought I did have them. I don't think I did. So like it. I thought, oh, yeah, I have friends, I have a friend, I have friends, I can call on distance, or I can, but I don't know that it necessarily. I think it goes against everything in me to make sure I am connected in a very deep way consistently with people. I, I have learned I have to have a therapist, I have learned I have to have a group that I attend. Because that is where I'm safe. And that's where I get to show up. However I show up. And so when the thing I have, I have people now there are people within my church that I'm good friends with, there are people that I can go to. So that's not unknown or unheard of. I, I realized I need I need an army. I don't need a few people, I need an army. I need an army. I need the people who are gonna hold up my arms when the battle is on. So that there's any hope for it to win. And I also need the people fighting on my behalf. So I need that army and haven't always had that. And so it's very deliberate, intentional. Building
21:22
that in you know, because ministry in some ways, but the bus nature is really complex. Right. And Kimmy, you're talking to Kim, he spent some time with him, by the way. Oh, Kim. Sorry. I know there's Kimmy. But in the professional world, her name is Kim. So Kim spent some time at a sort of Presbyterian at our at Prestbury, which is regional collection of churches, if you're not sure what that is that we connect together for mutual benefit. And in God building right? Doing some training on how churches can better care for pastoral families, spouses and their kids. Right? It really should be. It would be ministry families. And one things that you were pulling out was just how isolated this right because as a ministry spouse, I don't have a pastor or church and and just a complexity about the churches, our community and yet it's not our community. Right as in ministry. I don't, I don't I'm not cut from the cloth that you can't have good friends inside the church. I but I am aware that it just creates tremendous complexity. Relationships are just different.
Tom Jameson 22:47
So how have you navigated that? Right?
22:50
Um, well, mostly not well.
Tom Jameson 22:57
So honestly, that's one way.
23:01
Yeah. I tend to, to I probably could benefit from an army, I tend to not need an army, I think it's just my rhythm. I tend to have a couple of really close folks who know me and have access and freedom to speak into life, and almost all those are actually pastors. And
23:33
in our church now,
23:35
yeah, and they're and, and there's a couple of those who are in the church. And I just think one. There just creates a lot of some sensitivities when, when it's a place around any complexity and ministry, which so rarely has happened. And so there's there's certain things that I probably couldn't bring to them that would be relational in nature in the church, just because it's just not fair to ask them to carry that. But I've got other folks that can bring that that too. And what they may just simply know is there's some, there's some difficulty right now in relationships in the church or decision making or whatever, right. But I do think it I think he is right, and that we aren't designed to do that life alone, man, think about Genesis Gatsby's Christian in the beginning, right. And it's good, it's good, it's good, it's good creates Adam, and he says, not good. And so then Eve gets created and, and at least part of the implication from that is that there was something more that Adam needed than simply the presence of God. God was there Adam and God. Right. And yet God knew that Adam I needed a Help me, okay. Which now I feel compelled to geek out. And that word is most often used for God, it's not a, you know, I'll just move on, you know, create create a spiral right to be in relationship with one another. And so we're not designed to be alone. And at times in ministry, we we can give up relationships outside of the church, or even inside the church. And, and some of those, you know, Kimmy in her story of work that she's been that she's done, and that she leads, it actually invites really deep. LIFE GIVING relationships because it requires honesty, and then invites, invite folks to hold honesty.
Sean Nemecek 25:54
So you brought up attending soul care, that was one of my delights to get to meet both of you. We were in the same cohort together. And we all brought our own baggage to soul care. And we've had a gym and Kayleen Dirksen on the podcast. So out of your experience in soul care. How did that impact you? What? What did you notice? Change from learning to care for your soul?
26:24
Yeah, like I think so. I'm the one that came with the smell of death. And, you know, I should probably apologize. I write a letter to everyone. October. I'm so sorry, how it shows up?
Tom Jameson 26:38
Are you kidding? You made everybody feel so good about themselves?
Sean Nemecek 26:42
Don't think you're the only one
26:45
person I know. Yeah, like when I think about soul care, the thing that was really impactful for me, the content was good, right. And I resonated with a number of the folks that came in, and a number of the books like The Brennan Manning, stuff was just so good to me. Or good for me. And the time to check the group was fantastic. But you know, he's from my tribe, and so uses the language that I would use. And so it felt very familiar and translated really well. But I think the biggest thing for me was the expectation of the sacred rhythms. I think that was the thing that was the that brought life back. And it's the thing that brings life is the slow work of God across time, be impatient, and learning to be okay. With where the Lord has you even if you want to be someplace else, and that he's got your worries, gotcha. And so the question is, how do you show up? And how do you begin to notice and ask the question, Lord, what are you? What are you doing? What are you doing? Because I I'm not sure. And and so that was probably the thing that was most significant for me, relationships, great. But I came and so cash was hidden or made out. So in the end, so yeah, it was real life given to me,
28:24
I would say, I'd already begun a lot of soul work before soul care. And so we're starting that two year time. So SilkAir actually ended up being like, very confirming to me of what I was already in, and it kind of enhanced, there was no buy in, of why be there or what was happening, like I already had the buy in because I was already not in the same way. But I was already in these rhythms of soul adjustment and care. And I think the impact that had the biggest impact, I would say, is on our marriage. If there were videos of us coming on the first week, and then over two years to the last week, you would have seen, I mean, like, I don't know that Robin, I could even stand being in the same room.
29:21
I don't really. You have always been.
29:27
Yeah, so I was there was a lot of incongruence before we went because I was already doing a lot of work towards my health and goodness. And and that was causing disruption in our marriage that was causing an incongruence. And so the impact was that then we were both kind of speaking some of the same language and we're both kind of starting to look at how to attend to our soul differently. And then that became more congruent.
30:02
And that's one of the realities. And of course, we either know what sometimes one of the terms, but we also know the experience of family system, right. And when when Kimmy had begun doing work, she then was showing up differently in relationships and the rules were changing. But I knew I was still trying to live on the old rules. Here's how we resolve conflict. Here's how we make decisions. Here's how we speak to one another. And when I give you this look, it means it's time for you to be quiet, not keep talking. And when you give me this, look, I know what I'm supposed to do, I'm supposed to leave the room, right? Minute, like we have these rules. But as well as Kimmy began to pursue health and began to navigate through her story, that create disruption because you show up different and it's one of the things I think, to grab a hold of is, is that will happen in relationships is whether spouse or friends, that is, one begins to grow healthy. That naturally has an impact on relationships, that will be disruptive. And that disruptions good and life giving except that won't always feel good and life giving. And so yeah, those first days, I wasn't in good places, and, and there was wobble in our relationship.
Tom Jameson 31:32
It has your experience been that you've seen that in, in ministry? Marriages in those relationships that incongruence and kind of at the heart of that question is, gosh, is it ministry that causes that incongruence?
31:48
I see it all over the place.
31:50
Yeah. I agree. I mean, it. I don't think ministry attracts in congruence. I think it just exists, I think it's the world we live in invites us to, to join relationships like that, to be incongruent.
Sean Nemecek 32:07
I think in some ways it exposes, it exposes our incongruence in many ways that that other relationships won't experience.
32:16
Yeah, yeah, this is a pressure and intensity about relationships and ministry, when you're in vocational ministry that and there's a there's a public nature to relationships. So it's more difficult to hide
32:32
the uniqueness of ministry in relation and those marriage relationships or any relationships is, is what Rob just said, there's, there's almost a demand to hide. And, and there's got to be a fight against that.
Tom Jameson 32:47
Right, you've already mentioned the beast of appearance, the beast of secrecy, and, and how those in ministry and other professions just gets heightened. Through you know, false expectations or false perceptions of who we're supposed to be when we're in the ministry. We're supposed to be perfect, or we're supposed to know everything, or we're not supposed to have any flaws. And and the more that gets squelched and pushed down, the greater pressure, creates in, in, in relationships, as you say, since we're made for relationship.
33:23
And so what's it look like to to invite community of faith, A church, to be able to engage and healthier relationships with their ministry staff, and at which has been a lot of what Kimmy and I have been Kim, and I've been thinking across years and began to invite the church we're serving South WordPress and into healthier rhythms and it's been disruptive.
Tom Jameson 33:53
That whole ministry is messy. thing. And Kim, you you have a specific focus in your ministry and your counseling ministry. Tell us a little bit about that. And particularly, what are the words curious and be brave and be free mean to you?
34:11
Yeah, I love that because rather than so let me just say, I'm going to be a little expansive in the fact that I think counseling is just one of the tools I carry in my tool belt is definitely become more of my profession at this point. And so I do have a counseling business in which I see clients. I see clients individually, I see clients in groups. I also hold intensive weekend. But what I would say is, when I started therapy for myself years ago, I experienced care in a way that was unlike anything I've ever experienced. And there was a rhythm I was In a family in which my role in the family was to make sure everyone remains happy. And I was able to do that, with my gregarious personality with my, my adventurous spirit, my humor, my playfulness. And so in that, that was a place of meat constantly having to give myself away, a little care for me. So when I was experiencing in therapy, something of this chair, it was something I couldn't get enough of like, and then I felt like I couldn't keep it for myself. And so I decided to go ahead and get my Master's in mental health counseling, and pursue license. And alongside that, I began to discover my story and become really curious about my story. And I had to have a mental amount of courage. So I think that the words be curious, be brave and brief three. There is no freedom without curiosity and bravery. And, to me, the opposite of curiosity, is judgment. And I live decades, under judgment of others, and more importantly, under the judgment of myself, the stepping into my story with curiosity, that stepping out of my own bondage of judgment. So it was counseling. And what I do is it's unique, because alongside getting my degree, I was also at the same time being trained at a place called the Islander center. And so I became specifically trained to do a work, a trauma focused modality of therapy. And I feel like I like Rob said, He's been training in training of a being a pastor since he was two. And I've been in the training of being a therapist and doing story work with people that probably two or four before because I learned how to read people really well, I had to learn how to read in order to make them happy in order to respond and do the job I was supposed to be doing in the family, whether it was a good job or not, it was the role that I played in my family system. And so I became quite vigilant and aware of everyone around me and what was going on with them and how I could respond to them. And so that's how, that's what I say, when I'm counseling that it's a little piece of what I do. I feel like it's been what I've been doing for a long time, it just hasn't always looked like it does now where I can sit face to face with people or with groups of people and hear their stories.
Tom Jameson 37:58
Who do you tend to serve? A lot.
38:03
I tend to serve with curious if I am really opening open to serving most anyone and who was drawn to the work that I do is usually women, women who have been through something, some sort of crisis, or who have tried lots of things or feel really stuck in what they're in and can't get out. I I serve a lot of people with sexual trauma. And that's a, I think, a unique calling. I think I I stand in a really specific place that I straddle the church world in the non church world, and I think I'm safe for both. And so it's interesting to see I do see a lot of people who have church background, but I also see a lot of people who don't have any church background. Yeah,
38:57
yeah. And Kim sits in this place where she, she's an admin, she's, she's remarkable. She is really good. And just fantastic as a therapist.
39:11
I'm not his therapist, by the way.
39:16
There was a day and she's really good. And she's really good theology, which I don't like him. So 27 years of pastoral ministry, I have not found a lot of folks that are really good therapists that do have really good theology. It's really difficult to find someone that has both of those skill sets and any and and camis able to Kim's able to really sit in both those worlds and hold those well and, and really has a desire to see folks with at least one things you've said in the past is desire. See folks who are in churches and even have experienced harm in in churches. receive care Right and restoration out of that. Is that fair to say that?
40:06
Yeah, I think I'm definitely drawn to those who have been hurt within the church
Sean Nemecek 40:11
is speaking of that. It's, it's kind of been my observation and working with pastors and their families that a lot of pastors in ministry, families experience trauma. Some of that comes from the Ministry itself. Some of its being exposed to the trauma of others. Sometimes we bring that with us into ministry. And, and it can actually be the reason why we go into ministry. But why is it important for pastors and their spouses to to engage with our trauma counselor? If they've faced those things?
40:47
Yeah. So let me take crack at it. And,
40:50
and then I'll sleep it up now.
40:53
Yeah, that's right. We all step into, it doesn't matter if you're on vacation this year or not. We have these, these experiences. And I tend to use the word harm because I think folks hear trauma, and they go all like, technical and like, you know, what does that mean? Exactly. And so I just I attendees were harm. And we had these stories from our childhood where we were harmed. And what happens is we, we re experience those kinds of harm moments later on. And so and so I told the story, you know, I learned at a very young age, I have two experiences, I can tell you very specifically where I had a precious item, as child, you know, this is something I loved, right? And one out of just playing with it, and the other out of a moment of frustration, I broke the item. And my dad was actually there when I broke him, and my dad cursed me. And he didn't say I curse you, Rob, but he named me is dangerous. And so when I go, when I went into ministry, I went the ministry with the understanding that I was dangerous to people, and I was going to harm them. And so I couldn't be me, I had to hide me, and suppress my unique calling and my unique design, so that I can ensure I would never harm anyone. So then you preach a sermon and somebody would like the sermon because they don't like the sermon. And and then I'm thrown off in the great darkness because I brought them harm, or I counsel them and they don't like with the counseling goes. And so then in mind, the impact of that is just traumatic, right? Okay, little T traumatic, maybe big treat traumatic, right. And so we these harm stories is when we're children show up over and over and over again, and it keeps us from rising into being all that God had designed us to be. So, you know, as we address those, like, they don't go away. I mean, I and yet, I'm aware that it's not true. I, I'm not harmful, right? The gospel is offensive, let's be honest, right? Because what the Gospel says, I'm no better than and you can kind of fill in the blank for whoever it is, you think is the worst person in the world. Right? Why No, in the gutter, if that's the person, the guy on the street corner, asking for help, like, an addict, like I don't, whatever he knows better than. And the Gospel says it's true about me. And the gospel also says God's grace is big enough, right? To cover that, to deal with that brokenness. And I don't want to add a fence to the Gospels are already offensive. And so understanding my story and understanding my harm, helps me have a better ability to lean into the gospel. Right. Living does speak about it, to introduce others to it and not hesitate. Right, because I could hesitate I don't want to say this because it will thin them and then therefore that would be really bad. The problem is the gospel sometimes is offensive. Into a keep me from actually rising into full gifting. Alright, baby soup it up.
44:35
Yeah, well, look, just firstly, I think everybody should be in therapy and trauma therapy, not just patches and stuff. But I think for sure. Yeah. Rob said and I agree with you, Sean that we do. We experience harm all the time. We experience trauma all the time. Not all the time, but enough and One thing I've been taught is trauma begets trauma. Any current crises or trauma you're in, is going to expose and reveal any past trauma or crises that we've had so many people don't think they have had trauma, or have spent much of their time comparing how bad how bad others trauma is, in comparison to their so clearly, you know, I don't my recent trauma, and so we dismiss our own trauma, and that lock that away, lock this inside of us and our begin, our bodies begin to hold it. And then something happens in our life that we can't control which will, right and we have no capacity to hold it. There's no space to hold it. And it's just going to expose everything beneath it, that got locked inside and spilled all over everything. So. So I believe pastors and or ministry, families, for sure, are experiencing trauma, not only are they experiencing theirs, but many other people's and they're holding all of it. And that's a level of stress that is just naturally going to expose whether or not you've dealt with your story. And because anytime we're under stress, so are our trauma stories, our stories of childhood, shape, our fears, and our passion, and then those fears and passions that shape who we become and how we show up in relationships and in the world. And so if those fears and mean, there's no doubt about it, those things are there. And sometimes we think we've dealt with them. And oh, they're kind of again, but anytime we're on a level of stress, it's going to expose all of that. And so, for me for ministry, it was a perpetuation of one I, you know, I could read my violent father really well. And I could read everyone else really well, I was hyper aware, I've already said that needed to keep everyone happy. And so I was really good at painting those beasts, and I was also taught really well how to deceive and not be a truth teller, because of in a home that silence and or gaslighting are things that were true. Were told to me that they weren't true. And things that weren't true. Were told to me they were true. So it's constant disorientation, right. And ministry then put me in this place and perpetuating that narrative. So when we would hit rock bottom, or we had a crisis in our church, or even within our nuclear family, because we have four kids, so there's going to be crisis. I, my job was to attain the peace and keep it all secret. And I'd be so disoriented. And so any current job trauma, I would face began to expose patterns and rhythms that I had learned for most of my life. And I couldn't understand why I was still running in circles, just trying to make everyone happy and losing all of meaning in the process. And there was no way for me to navigate. And I'd get lost in those places. And so I think we need people to walk alongside us and help us see those things. And I think ministry, leaders and spouses being in trauma therapy is important because we all have it.
Tom Jameson 48:43
And you're both talking about stories. This is what you mean by story work, right? Yeah. It's a little bit more about that, because it's a true, yeah,
48:52
I could talk a long time about story work. I have what Robin I will call the boring clinical Anthro what story work and then I can kind of give you some more to it. So I would say story work is the processing the process is a modality of therapy, right? It's a process of identifying and speaking, our own stories of pain and harm in in safe places, for the purpose of repair and healing and restoration. So it's really telling stories of our childhood, where we've experienced harm, and bring care and repair to those very deep old wounds. When we experience harm. We are often they're harmful because we were often not surrounded by care or response or words, or soothing or anything in response to it. And so then we bring in, we buy into this false narrative and defense mechanisms to protect us from more harm. And story work is different. In the sense it's different than other therapy because I don't tell people how to think differently to change their patterns or how to behave differently, which will change your thinking. Like, that's a lot of what talk therapy can tend to do. And there are 1000s of modalities of therapy. And so many of them are brilliant. And I use many of them. I use a lot of different approaches in my work. But the driving force is definitely story work. And so Rob's told the story of how he had the narrative that he's dangerous, and he breaks things. And it was being it's what he was named. And it was a story of, and he didn't say it, but it was a story of a red bike that he had when he was sick. I love that it wasn't his crew. It wasn't until he was in a group, a Story Group and read it to the group. And let others bear witness that he he didn't understand the message and the name that was given to him decades ago. And then that main net main mean, then began to shape how he saw the world, and direct how all the other new narratives were happening. That that was that began to be what shaped all of that. And so he actually had to have other people bear witness and care for that moment, when he was harmed. And story work brings clarity and care where wounds need to be cared for, and they heal. But there was there's no freedom and no healing without actually entering the pain of the wound. And I told the story of my home, I brought a lot of delight, the situation. And having an unpredictable and violent father, and knowing his violence my whole life. I did not know it. I didn't not know that that was about that. That was my role the way my father was. I'd been to counseling and learned about the ways that I coped. It's not like I didn't know those. But then when I started telling the story, writing them and reading them about my home and how I brought to light, but I was able to understand this the full truth of what was going on. Because I think as a child, I didn't have all truths. But as adult look into the story, they see some truths that I'm unable to see. Yeah, I think Rob and I had went and had coffee this morning, and I had I had a pumpkin scone with the white chocolate. And I could tell you guys all about how that's gone was and it was pretty spectacular. And how it tasted and how crispy it was on the outside and, and I how I ate it with my coffee. But then unless you and you might be able to experience some of that. But unless you actually were there and eating the scone as well. You don't have a full sense of what it was like. And so that's how I feel like three work is I feel like I I tried to put words around it and give language to it and help people but it's so hard to, to understand unless you experience it. I'm happy to come back and do a story with you. Then you can experience it. And that would be pretty awesome. Yeah.
53:15
Yeah. And to be clear, what she means is you would bring a story of harm, and she would read your story in front of everybody. And it would be Laureus and fantastic. And like like as a kid, he says and here's one things fun is now that Kim and I both have discovered some of these roles in our home. There's always more discovery right? As you refine it and grow and understanding and health right. And we know some of these places of our of our story, then then, like our marriage has gotten richer, because we can notice each other and how each other responding and reacting we can have a better understanding of how something lands on one another even like so I'll tell you the experience. I so came out with teaching essential class like it was early this year, maybe February, March and we had a gunner congregation passed out now he does about four or five times a year. I don't I don't think he eats like breakfast. Church. Worship. Yeah, that's not the school during worship, he passes out. And, and again, you know, it's four times a year this happens and so I've gotten used to it and I watch when I'm preaching, you know, okay, they okay. But and they would never want to have attention drawn like medically had been checked out like Okay, right. Well had a new staff person who was noticed this and didn't know the story. And so, you know, as you know, I'm preaching and she stopped says, Is there a pastor in the house?
55:03
Is there a doctor in the house? It? Sorry? Is there a doctor, a doctor in
55:07
the house and calls 911. And the fire department shows up and they come in, but like, I mean, it was worship that word like it was crazy. And it's the kind of thing like in, you know, ministry, like, you know, you can't not acknowledge what's going on. And so, but I stepped in Sunday school, and I'm just jacked up like I am just. And again, right. So my story is harm I harm people. And so, you know, this classroom teaching and some videos in it. And so we show this video and I leaned over to Kim and I say, Hey, man, I'm just jacked up and she goes, what happens? I tell her the story of this guy passes out in the fire department, you know? And she goes, Well, what did you do? Do? I didn't do anything? I didn't cause it. It's just like, No, I mean, how did you respond to it? So much story shows up like, what are you accusing me of? Like, I was just preaching, I did no harm to the guy in and so and Kimmy Oh, no, no, no, no, no, like, because that's a, that would be our natural reaction for me. But Kimmy knows that. And so when I respond, she knows where that comes from. And then is able to, to hear better to respond and kindness, to put words on? No, I'm not accusing you of harming anyone. I was actually curious, how did you respond to that? What did you
Tom Jameson 56:35
do? But your story influenced how you heard which Oh, my
56:39
God, oh, yeah, I thought she was saying, how did that harm the guy
56:43
years ago, that would have caused a lot of friction with us. And now we can, I can be really curious. I can know, you know, because he knows his story in a way that now he can communicate to me and I can know his story. And vice versa,
Tom Jameson 57:00
I guess I'm just so struck, you know, thinking about the gospel, and the power of the gospel, tied with this work of, I think of it as tilling the soil, the telling of our stories of the digging down, and the loosening of the clay and the solidness to really understand what's down there, and how important it is to do that work. So that the gospel can reach the very depths of who we are. You know, I lived so many years of my life with a wall with a secret room behind it, you know, and the gospel couldn't penetrate, I wouldn't let the gospel penetrate that now, of course, the Lord knew all that was there. And so in his kindness, he ripped the wall down and ripped my life apart. But that's the goodness of God, right? And how, how important it is to be open to that. And it's hard, and it's scary, and it takes work, and it takes safety, someone who can walk with you, someone who will be there with you, when it all comes out. So that the gospel can fully, deeply richly be applied to the very depths of who we are. There's no resurrection without
58:19
Yeah, first.
Sean Nemecek 58:21
So we like to end every podcast with the same question. What words of hope would you each like to offer pastors and their families,
58:30
I would just say you're not alone. And to find places of connection. There's some there's a we've already talked about the strange, unwritten, unspoken rule somewhere that seems to shape our inner soul that we can't, we can't be connected and and that's the very place that we need to be connected. So I would say, find those places of connection, and you're not alone.
58:59
So I guess what I did to that is, trust the slow work of God. A lot of times to grow discouraged, because we just don't, we're not seeing the change in ourselves or others that we want. Or God tends to move slow. But he moves. And so when you find yourself in the spots where things don't seem to be working and you seem frustrated, the Lord moves, he just moves slowly, sometimes and trust that he has you where he would have to be.
Sean Nemecek 59:26
Thank you so much for your generosity and coming and your vulnerability and sharing so much. Thanks for coming on. Hope renewed.
59:33
It's been fun. Appreciate it, guys.
59:35
Yeah, thank you guys.
Tom Jameson 59:36
We want to thank our listeners, we encourage you to reach out to us at our website hope Renu podcast.com We'd love to hear your comments and interact with you there. It is our prayer that the God of hope will fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.
Joe Chambers 59:52
Thank you for joining us on hope renew. Please help us reach more pastors by sharing this episode with your friends. If you enjoy this podcast rate and review us on Apple podcasts, Google or Spotify or your favorite platform for receiving podcasts, thank you. This means the world to us. The hope renewed podcast is brought to you by PIR ministries. at PIR, we partner with God and the church in the work of pastoral renewal and restoration. Pastors. Our goal is to help you cultivate new hope for healthy life and ministry. We do this by building relationships. We trained both pastors and churches to promote a culture of ministry health. If you've experienced a forced exit from ministry, we provide a process of restoration for you and your family. We also have proven resources and tools to assist you in the challenges of ministry life to contact us, or to learn more about the IR visit PIR ministries.org
In this episode, we continue our conversation focusing on the core process of PIR Ministries, the Pastor in Residence Process. This restorative and hope-giving tool was created by PIR founder Dr. Chuck Wickman as a means by which a pastor exited from ministry can experience biblical restoration and healing in the context of the local church, and move forward with confidence in the call which God has given. In this second episode, we highlight the experience of engaging in the PiR process from a pastor's perspective. Pastor Seth McCumber joined us and graciously shared his story of finding hope in the midst of brokenness, and how the PiR process helped him and his wife experience God's healing grace and discern their future path in life and ministry.
Learn more about the PiR Process here.
At the heart of PIR Ministries is the "Pastor in Residence Process". This restorative and hope-giving tool was created by PIR founder Dr. Chuck Wickman as a means by which a pastor exited from ministry can experience biblical restoration and healing in the context of the local church, and move forward with confidence in the call which God has given. This episode is the first of two focusing on our core ministry and highlights the work of the Refuge Church Support Team. We're pleased to have talked with Pastor Caleb Smith who co-led a Support Team through a successful and life-giving PIR process for a pastor and his wife.
Learn more about the PIR Process here.
Learn more about Refuge Church and Support Team ministry here.
We sit down with Pastor Jerry Troyer to talk about the challenges of finding resources and support for ministry in rural churches. Jerry a life-long rural pastor, created a means of encouraging, connecting, and equipping ministry leaders in rural contexts called Rural Shepherdology. Jerry's commitment is to provide help and hope to those who face the unique world of rural ministry.
Resource
Rural Shepherdology
Ministry in an urban context will always have its unique challenges. Add to that the heightened tensions and pressures of recent days and Urban Ministry can rob even the most stalwart of pastors of joy, strength and hope. But God's heart for the city cannot be abandoned or ignored, by any of us. Pastor and Church Planter Tyler St. Clair joins us for an extremely important conversation from the heart of that context and shares words of encouragement that flow from the hope of the Gospel.
RESOURCES
Cornerstone Church - Detroit
Whether you like it or not, social media is a reality of the world in which we live, and therefore a reality of ministry. How can a pastor appropriately navigate the presence and use of social media? What are the pitfalls and benefits? Join us as we talk with pastor, evangelist, and writer Doug Bursch who shares a unique and helpful perspective on how pastors can interact with social media and the possibility of introducing a redemptive light in what can be a dark and hurtful world.
Show Notes
Doug's Webpage Fairly Spiritual
Doug Bursch Interview Transcript
Tom Jameson
It has been called the innovation that has changed the world and the great wasteland of our generation. Connecting us closely and dividing us deeply, a builder up and a terror down a forum of hope and a weapon of hate. I'm talking course about social media and whether you're for it or against it, whether you embrace it or ignore it, the reality remains. It is now a fact of life and therefore a fact of ministry. So how should a pastor engage with social media, if even at all? What are the particular dangers and pitfalls? And most importantly, how might God be moving his redemptive work forward through such an unlikely means? That's our question today on Hope renewed.
Sean Nemecek
Yeah, Tom, Doug Busch is our special guest and I've interacted with Doug a few times on social media and I just found him to be one of the most pleasant people to talk with in the chat with and . . .
Tom Jameson
You don't hear that together, social media and pleasant..
Sean Nemecek
Exactly, and so I thought we need to get this guy on to talk about his new book. Doug is a co-pastor at Evergreen Foursquare Church in Auburn, WA and author of Posting Peace: Why social media divides us and what we can do about it. He earned a D.Mim. from George Fox Evangelical Seminary with his dissertation research focusing on social media. As a former newspaper columnist and talk show radio, host Doug has produced and hosted over 1200 Christian Radio broadcasts. He's the producer and host of The Fairly Spiritual Show — just a fun little podcast. So, Doug Busch, Welcome to help renewed.
Doug Bursch
Oh, thanks for having me. This is my pleasure to be on the show.
Tom Jameson
I want to say, Doug, we're not at all intimidated that you have a degree in journalism and experience on the radio.
Doug Bursch
Yeah, well yeah. You know anybody can get a degree. It doesn't necessarily mean that they know what they're talking about and we all know that. But yeah, do not be intimidated now there are limits to my wisdom and you will find them in this interview.
About Doug Bursch
Sean Nemecek
Why don't we start by just having you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself in your ministry journey?
Doug Bursch
Well, I was born on a farm . . . no, let me just give you like the simple answer. I am married to and she is my lovely wife. I'm trying to think of what anniversary we're coming up on. I should probably learn that, but. We have four kids; Three in college and one is still home with us for a freshman in high school. You know, like you said in the bio there I co-pastor a church with my good friend Dan Barons.
And then I do this other stuff this. I call it evangelistic stuff. It's stuff outside the church walls, from radio programs to podcasts or writing books to guest speaking, and just things that just I feel God has called me to do.
That's I guess the short take of who I am.
Posting Peace: Why Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It. Sean Nemecek
The book that we're going to be talking about today is Posting Peace. It's a fun little cover. Just looking at this, it's covered with all these angry emojis and you know it's a good picture of what social media can feel like sometimes. What led you to write this book?
Doug Bursch
Well, I think everybody listening realizes that social media is getting more divisive. At least, that's the way we feel, and then often we've found ourselves in these situations where we get pulled into arguments, conflicts, divisions where we're not even trying to fight with anyone. We're not even fighting, but somehow, we get thrown into that fight, so for me it was kind of this idea of I want to figure out why this is.
Is the technology making us divisive, or are we just becoming more divisive people? And so I did a bit of research on this doctoral work and one of the biggest things that I didn't take seriously is how much social media Internet communication changes the way we communicate, and I think that's very important to realize because sometimes we can just think oh, people are just more jerky now and ruder now and it's a sign the world is ending and those sorts of things. But, actually, the technology itself is bringing about aspects of humanity that can be really terrible. It also brings out great aspects.
This isn't just a book about all the things that are wrong with social media and just become Amish and avoid all technology. But it is talking about we must be aware of how this technology influences us and actually turns us into different people. So that's the main focus of why decided to write it.
Sean Nemecek
There's all sorts of things that play in social media. The fact that we can post somewhat anonymously at times the fact that we don't actually have to see the other person's reaction. What are some of the factors that contribute to social media just being a volatile experience at times?
Doug Bursch
Well, I talk about a lot of different issues and some people would be familiar with and I give some research to that one. I'll use a theological term it’s a disembodied or a non-incarnational environment where you don't abide with people in the flesh and we all know the impact of that at some level that when we're not seeing people in the flesh we tend to dehumanize them.
We all know that from driving a car right, where suddenly someone cuts you off and depending on how Christian you are, you respond to them. In the appropriate manner, a polite honk, or, if you're less redeemed, other expressions as well. That reality we wouldn't do that to someone who could talk back to us who was in the room with us.
One of the jokes about this is, have you ever been on an online town hall and they call him town halls, but anything online is not a town hall by definition, because in a town hall meeting where you're all in the same room, if the guy next to you says something really terrible about you, just horrible, you could punch him if you wanted to, you could just look over at him and punch him in the face now, you shouldn't do that. But they don't talk that way when you're in the room because there's more of a consequence to this behavior, you know online we can be anonymous. We don't have to get the responses from people we don't have to abide with them and awkwardness after we've said our extreme thing. So there's that reality.
There's other, deeper realities of that in these disembodied environments. We can't get a lot of the cues that help us reconcile and deal with conflict. One of the perfect examples is even facial expressions. Can you guys think back to the first time as a kid You said something and you realize it hurt another person? Like think back to that memory the first time you said something. I bet you in that memory. It's not just about how they responded back to you, it's their face. You saw their demeanor change. You saw their shoulders slump. You saw that you had done something to hurt this person.
Well on social media, most of our arguing is not visual, it's written and so we don't see that tone. We don't see that the person we're arguing with might be crying or might be incredibly hurt. I mean, they might be a jerk who's angry and upset and it's not bothering them but we don't see those cues.
Empathy comes through facial cues, or at least it rises up through facial cues and we're finding with generation X to millennial to whatever we want to call the next generations less empathy because we're spending less time looking at each other in the eyes and more looking at screens as an intermediary between these relational connections. So that's just one area and then you exaggerate that out. We're having these important discussions we don't hear, like my voice, intonation. We don't hear that. I know I'm talking a little bit here, but I I'm excited. I'm I've been, you know quarantine I'm stuck here in my house so it's really nice to be able to. . .
But even here, have you ever sent an e-mail to someone and they can't read the tone? And if they think you're mad at them and pastors run into this all the time, right? You're just writing something like, “hey, I just wanted to remind you that our meeting starts 10:00 o'clock and make sure you show up five minutes early.” But if the person thinks you're mad at them, they read it like “you better show up at you know before 10:00 o'clock and what's wrong with you” and they'll read it in that tone.
Well, that's what we do with these disembodied environments. We write things to each other. We can't read the tone. We don't see facial visual body expressions. We fill in the gaps and we fill in the gaps. Also, here's one of the main reasons we fill in these gaps is we only use certain parts of our brain. When you read stuff you don't use your full brain. You use certain aspects of your brain that are different aspects than when you see something visually or you hear it.
So, I go into all sorts of areas like this and it helps me understand that a lot of the reason I'm getting into this conflict is not because who the person is, but because of all these obstacles that are standing in the way from us truly getting to see each other and know each other for how we are.
Social Media and Reconciliation
Tom Jameson
It really underscores that point that that communication really is about relationship. Yeah, and boy, look, here's a here's a gospel truth, right? If God sought to communicate fully, we'd love to as he sent his son to have that relationship. And social media can tend away from that authentic relationship.
Doug Bursch
Yes, well, and this is for pastors or ministers or Christians. We have to know why am I communicating? What's the goal of this and the theological piece in in my book is the concept of reconciliation. We've all been given the Ministry of Reconciliation. No Christian gets to opt out of that. And at some level reconciliation is to communicate in a way where people are closer to God; in that listening to God, sensing God’s love, reconciling forgiveness, and that we are trying to break down the dividing walls of hostility that exist between you know each other.
In social media, we've lost the concept of reconciliation, and it's much more just about being right and being right versus being reconciling is a very different thing. And if you look at a lot of social media, it's more adopted a partisan way of communication than a reconciling way of communication. And I I spend a bit of time on this because I see Christians and pastors miss this, that they communicate in the same way that their favorite politician or their favorite political pundit would communicate. And the concept is, truth is truth and you need to know the truth. That's not our goal for people just to know the truth. Our goal is to communicate in a reconciling way where the truth sets them free where the truth brings them into relationship with God and with each other.
That's a different motivation, and if you look at when conflicts occur, people begin to spend more time just trying to validate that they're right and the other person is wrong than trying to communicate in a way that lets the person know I love you. I care about you. I'm communicating this because I want you to know a truth that I value and I think you'll value. But I'm not communicating this because I want my side to win and your side to lose; for this to be my America and not your America. That's not reconciliation.
So we're also seeing those divides where people are just communicating for the purpose of showing their right and others are wrong and then rallying other like-minded people who agree with them that they're right. That's not reconciliation, just preaching to the choir and rallying people around you who already agreed with you.
Reconciliation is spending time with your enemies. With people who don't understand you or you don't understand them, and building a relationship as you brought up there a relationship so that if you speak a word that disagrees with their existence, they know you're doing it from a place of love, or at least a place of respect.
Tom Jameson
So does it beg the question then should pastors avoid using social media? Should they not do it?
Doug Bursch
(Laughing) Some should . . . I I was just like I was thinking of a few people. I wrote in the book I wrote this fictional character, just this extreme fictional character, Pastor. I think I called him, the Reverend Wrightworth or something. You know, even his name says he's always right and you know the concept of we all have that stereotypical pastor who he thinks he's advancing the gospel through social media. And he's making these strong statements about, you know what's right, what's wrong, and every position that comes in. And people go “Yes and Amen. We need to speak Truth.” But what he's actually doing is just alienating a large group of people that he's been called to minister to.
(By the way, I'm saying he because in general, I've found this to be men who do this.)
For us, I believe social media is a tremendous tool. The strength of it is we can connect with people we could never connect with before in my Twitter following I have people who are extreme progressives extreme conservatives all over the theological spectrum, better racial diversity, ethnic diversity, and gender diversity and age diversity than the church that I pastor of the little you know, 80 to 100 people that go to our church. So there's a strength I want to reach those people, and I want those people to reach me. I want to expand my worldview and understanding of how God exists in the world.
So social media is not going away. Internet communication is not going away and Christians should be there. Some of the most important discussions of our time are occurring online. And what I'm seeing Pastors do and Christians do — They don't know how to use the technology. They blow their lives up by having all these fights. And then they're like, forget it, I'm just not going to be online and they give up on it. Or they take a break or a fast. That's not going to work.
It's kind of like with food. You know if you struggle with food, you can't stop eating food. At some level, you gotta learn how to be healthy with food. Internet communication is going to exist and frankly, even if you're not online, that communication is going to influence how you have in person communication. So we have to learn the strengths of the technology and the weaknesses of the technology.
So that's what I would encourage pastors to do. Take a break from your crusading. Find a way to educate yourself so you can lead by example. The purpose of communicating online, just as one-on-one communication is, is reconciliation. And if we're not communicating for that purpose, then we're not using the medium for it's best purpose, or it's best to intent.
More Relationships: Good or Bad?
Sean Nemecek
Yeah, that's one of the powerful things that I've experienced in social media too, is hearing voices that I normally would not be exposed to and intentionally listening to people. Who, for lack of a better term, I tend to disagree with. But it gives me an opportunity to come to engage and to understand before reacting sometimes. And too often in social media, it's the other way round, isn't it?
Doug Bursch
Yeah, yeah it is. Here's one of the biggest things that I'm excited about in the book, and it's a little deeper concept, but this has radically changed how I look at the world. One of the reasons we don't reconcile online is because we don't have to. And I'm going to point this out, think about, let's say, way in the past even before automobiles; before the car. How many people did you have that you could interact with on a daily or weekly basis?
Social networks have been around long before the Internet. What was your social network before the car? Well, what, it’s places within walking distance. Maybe if you hook up the wagon or you know ride the horse somewhere, but even that that's going to be very limited of how far you travel. So people existed in environments where they only had a very few people that they could actually interact with.
And guess what, conflicts occurred in the past. People weren't more righteous back then or less righteous now. But if you got in an argument with your neighbor, you had to learn how to reconcile at some level. You had to learn how to abide together, because if you didn't, that's one less person. So now you interact with four people in your neighborhood instead of five people.
There are maybe two or three churches in your city depending upon where you are, right? If you struggle with that church and that pastor, someone in the church, If you leave that church, what are you going to do? You're just going to go to the other one in town. You have to learn how to reconcile in that church community to deal with difficult people.
Now, this isn't all good. We know in the past because you had less social networks. People could control things. Pastors could control you because there's nowhere to go. A neighbor could be a real jerk that everyone had to work around, because if you didn't get right with that neighbor, you were, you know, ostracized from your community.
So here's the strength of the Internet, and every technology is like this, the strength of the Internet is it allows us to have more relationships than ever before. It extends our capacity to want human connection and relationship. That's good. But as it extends our capacity, it also weakens the capacity it extends. It weakens our ability to connect with people. Because we have so many options that if I get in a conflict with someone, I can just unfollow them, mute them, delete them and find another 100,000 people that I can interact with.
If I don't like what's going on in our church. I can just Google what I want and find you know 100 or 1000 different expressions of the church. If I don't like what my neighbors saying, I don't ever have to interact with my neighbor because I conform myself in a community of like-minded people who have the same politics, have the same theological convictions, have the same sports convictions and I can just abide with them.
So what you're seeing is we are segmenting into ideological similar groups but we're not learning how to be diverse, learning how to have different opinions in the room. Learning how to go through a conflict, and I think that's one of the primary reasons we're struggling with social media, because we don't have to reconcile. As soon as we disagree, as soon as someone doesn't serve my needs, I move on to someone else. That's not how you treat important relationships, not that's how you treated marriage. That's not how you treat your kids or family, or close friendships, but that's how we're treating our connection with humans. And you can see how that's hurting us as humans that we're not learning how to abide with each other in love through a conflict.
Values for Online Interaction
Sean Nemecek
So Doug, your online interaction, as I've observed on Twitter, mostly it's playful, it's peaceful, it's fun, but you also you connect with a wide variety of people. What are some of the values that drive your interaction online?
Doug Bursch
Probably that I don't want conflict, I'm a middle child. You know I mentioned this in the book, and I think we'll talk about this later that there are definitely times when justice demands conflicts, so this isn't just everybody get along and God is good, then let's just smile. While terrible things are happening. For me, I would say there was a part of me just as a middle child, as someone who didn't enjoy conflict, that I learned all these ways to help everybody get along. But I had to learn, why am I doing that? If I'm doing that just because I don't want to feel the pain of conflicts, and that's not really a great motivator. I'm actually processing people from my own pain. I'm trying to get them to get along because I feel bad when they're in tension.
However, I did learn some tools on how to reconcile how to connect with people and so in in my best days. I'm hoping that what I'm doing is that my goal is for people to know that I value them and love them. And people say, well, that's ridiculous with a stranger online. But I want to treat every person as if they were someone who came into the church that I pastor. When someone comes into the church that I pastor, the first thing I don't do at the door, is say what are your views on the Trinity and what's your view on salvation? And who did you vote for? Regardless of where they're at, and Jesus is pretty clear on this, even if they're an enemy of the gospel, I'm called to love them to bless them, to do good to them, to lend to them, and not expect to be repaid. That's how we're supposed to treat our enemies.
So online I want that same spirit. So here's just a sample, I don't put a lot of rules in the book, but there's practical things at the end of each chapter or how to process their own life. I know with pastors you can't tell them how to live their lives, so they're going to do their own thing anyway. But, I would ask anybody listening to this, your first interaction and your last interaction are incredibly important with a person. My goal is that my first interaction, they would know that I care about them and love them, and that God cares about them and loves them. Now, I might not say those words, but in the spirit in which I approach them, I'm approaching them in that manner.
What I'm seeing, what we're normalizing, and Christians are doing this— their only interaction with someone online, a stranger, is just fighting, ridiculing, shaming, winning an argument. For the sake of that relationship that's not my first goal. So that's their first interaction with that person and often it's their last interaction because they fought and they went their own ways.
My goal is my first interaction is to build some sort of relational equity where they know that they can trust me not to harm them or hurt them. My first interaction and my last interaction so that influences me. Online, I try to be who I am. I'm irreverent, I think about silly things. In order to exist in this world, I have to tweet everything, I think. So I send all kinds of weird stuff out there. But if someone starts interacting with me in a conflict, my first goal is not to be right. It's to be reconciling. So to be reconciling, they need to know that I value them as a person.
So, I will back away from trying to argue a point and more asking questions because, here's a perfect example, as a pastor sometimes people see pastors as just terrible people. They've had bad experiences with pastors and I'm a symbol of that. They don't see me, they see me as a representation of everything that's wrong in the world. So their first interaction with me might be an attack and it's it feels like an attack on me. But what they're really attacking is all the relationships they've had with pastors.
Instead of getting defensive, I need to validate that attack in this sense, say “I notice you're mad at me. You know what's going on? You know what are you upset about and thanks for sharing that with me. Is there something else that bothers you about that?” Or, “I'm sorry that happened. I really care about that. I really do want to know more about your experience.” Not trying to process them, not trying to change their mind. And what you'll find is when you respond positively to someone, two things will happen. Either, they'll just kind of go, “Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just upset” and you'll see them deescalate because you've humanized the situation. And once it's deescalated and it's humanized then you can have a connection.
For other people, they don't want it to be deescalated. They don't want to see you as a human. And then they start doing things that we would call like trolling. And now I know this is a person that's not safe that they're sinning against me and I don't want to keep them sinning against me. So my goal isn't to ridicule and shame them so they can send more publicly and retweet them so other people can hate on this person. My goal is to keep them from sinning, so I'm going to hand them over to Satan. I'm going to hand them over to their own devices. I'm going to part ways. Like this doesn't seem to be helpful, I'm gonna pray a blessing on them. I always bless people because you're supposed to bless your enemies, so I'm praying that God will bless you and I I usually say you can have the last word because people want the last word. And then they just say that and then we move our own ways. But the goal was not to not talk to them because I hate them, but I don't want to keep them sinning against me and others.
So I'm going to deescalate that environment and move on to something else. Maybe have to block or mute them depending upon how hostile they are. Those are some of the motivations I have, but all of those are motivated by what the goal is not to be right but to be reconciling. Do I always follow that? No, I do not. Sometimes I want to be right and I gotta . . .
Tom Jameson
But I know I'm right.
Doug Bursch
Yeah, I know I'm right. Well, here's like another example. As a man I've been accused of mansplaining. And you know why, I've been accused of that because . . .
Tom Jameson
Explain that to us. (laughter)
Doug Bursch
We got three men here, we'll be able to figure this out ,right? My first response was to say I'm not a mansplainer. Which by the way, once you try to prove that you're not, uh, mansplaining, you're mansplaining. So you're just trapped. Now I had an interaction with someone I thought you don't understand who I am and how judgy and whatever, but I learned if my goal is to build relationship. And maybe even I was right, I probably still think I'm right inside. But just the goal is I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Clearly to this person I'm a mansplainer. Thank you for sharing that. I'm gonna try to communicate better.
And those are true things. I've had people like that where our first interaction was something like that, and now we have a friendship. Or at least we have a polite way to exist. I have atheists who the first, e-mail or text was just terrible. And now they consider me a friend online. You know, I don't really trust God, but I trust you, Doug. You know that's what we're trying to. But that takes intentionality because it hurts the first time someone says something terrible about you or they say it two times or three times.
But isn't that what Christ did? The apostle Paul? Anyone in the Bible that they communicated with their enemies for the purpose of bringing them from darkness into light from death into life?
Communicating with Hurting Pastors
Sean Nemecek
One of the things I see you doing also online is just identifying with the pain that other people are experiencing from time to time, especially pastors, you have a soft spot in your heart for pastors, don’t you?
Doug Bursch
I do. One of the things to me is I try to communicate my pain not as the tip of the iceberg because some people will communicate pain, but there's it's because there's all kinds of other things going on, and it's a cry for help, and I don't know if social media is the best place to do that. I communicate pain just as here's the iceberg. Because I want other pastors to know they're not alone. I do also want people to be able to Minister to me. I Minister to them. I want them to be able to minister to me. But there's all these fictions or expectations about what the church should be or what pastors should be that aren't the reality of who pastors are and pastors are afraid to share what they're actually going through. You know?
For instance, the majority of churches are small churches and that even the term that they're small churches — they're not small, they're normal sized churches. If the majority of churches are certain size, that's not small, that's just what a church is. But you have the majority of churches. You know 90% the statistics under 200 and everywhere they go, every conference they go to. Every book though read says you need to break out of this reality. You need to become something. You need to get past the 100 barrier or the 200 barrier or whatever it is.
And what those books are doing and those church growth experts are doing, even if they have great intentions, I'm not saying these are bad intentions; but they're creating self-hate among pastors. The majority of pastors feel like they're not doing it right. If they just did it right, they wouldn't be this small expression. If they just did it right, they wouldn't be stuck here. So, the majority of our pastors are taught to hate the expression that they will spend the majority of all their life ministering in that context.
It's the concept of like growing pumpkins. I go to the State Fair and there's these giant pumpkins. If you have a State Fair where there's always this huge pumpkin that someone grows, it's amazing. It's giant, it sets the record, but it would be foolish to say this is what your pumpkin should look like if you grow a pumpkin patch, right? A pumpkin patch. The normal sized pumpkins look a certain way.
But we've lived in a culture where we're platforming giant sized pumpkin pastors. We're telling everybody to be that we're hiding it, suppressing our pain, and then, as a result, pastors have nowhere to go with it. And you also know, for pastors, there's less safe places, because if you share your hurts with the church part of your hurt is the church. And it takes so much effort to pastor the hurt that you just shared well past week. So your heart tell us what's wrong and it takes so much work that you don't have a safe place. There often you don't have a safe place denominationally when you see who's platformed, who's promoted, who's respected within your denomination.
So, for me, there's an incredible isolation for pastors, so for me I want every pastor to know I believe that God has called you and equipped you and that he has a vision and a purpose that you have that you want others to value and respect, and to partner with. Instead of giving them a new vision, a new path, something I want them to do. I want to be a safe place where they can share the vision God has placed in their heart. I can validate it and say it has value in the do. That what you're doing right now has value versus what you're doing now may have value if you have the right outcomes.
How many pastors are living in that context where they're doing things, they're making them miserable, hurting themselves, hurting their family, and yet they're doing it for a future outcome that might never happen. And even if it does happen, it's not going to satisfy them. So that's the area for my heart. Besides all this other stuff I'm talking about is I want to encourage pastors that what they're doing has value in the doing and that they need places to be honest about who they are and the cost of ministries.
So yeah, that is a passion for me.
The Community of God
Sean Nemecek
We'll get back to Posting Peace in a second, but I just want you to share a little bit about your other book where you describe yourself as somewhat of a reluctant pastor. Tell us about that little bit.
Doug Bursch
I'm by the way I'm not writing books to make money. There's no money in it. It's not a bestseller. I wanted to make a few bucks, that's not happening. I think it's a good book. People who read it enjoy it. But you know, getting people to read something, particularly people don't read books that are about how to look at our own lives. We love to read books and about what's wrong with them. So I know that's one of the reasons people avoid it. I want to encourage people that Posting Peace is a gentle book in the sense it'll encourage you and what you do well and it'll help you with the things that bother you already that you want to feal with.
The first book I wrote is called The Community of God: a theology of the church from a reluctant pastor. And I put that in on purpose. It's a book about why we gather into community, and I think this is another one of the big issues of our time, right? Why do you go to church? Why do you exist in a body? And I'd seen some posts by people like Donald Miller where they said you don't really need church. I don't like singing. I really find God more in nature and the people I work with, and I realize this person doesn't understand why we exist in community.
But I wanted people also to know I'm not just one of those guys who loves going to church, love small groups, love being in community. So I'm telling you to do what I love. I don't enjoy community. I've been called to be a pastor but I am very much a reluctant pastor. I will stand before the congregation and say this, I didn't go into ministry because I want more friends. I don't want more friends. If I could spend my time I would spend it safely with my wife and my kids and we'd go on hikes and I'd write books where people paid me lots of money. That part has not happened, but I would just be in isolation and then I'd come down from the mountain. I'd give my message and I'd go back to my isolated community but that's not healthy.
To be human is to be in community and being forced to be in community has made me more human. It's helped me understand my God who is community one God, but father, son and Holy Spirit. The only way to understand the fullness of God is to be in community. The only way for me to understand who I am, because it's not good for man to be alone, is to be in community. But I will tell you, even as I'm saying these words, I still don't want to be in community. My first inclination is to not want to walk through those doors and to interact with people that can hurt me reject me, harm me, and ridicule me.
And by the way, this last year, has been for any pastor, it has been terrible. I've had so many people leave our church that I thought would be there forever. Because, you know we took COVID very seriously and so we did lots of precautions and we weren't a kind of church that was political. But still people were like nope, if you're not going to meet together in person every week, then we're not going to have anything to do with you. That kind of stuff broke my heart. And I don't want to go back into that environment and have my heart broken again, but that's how we understand the love of God through abiding in community.
So that book is all about one of theology helps pastors. Why do we gather into church? Why are we in small groups? For me, You need to exist in a community that's large enough to be annoyed with somebody but small enough to have intimacy. If it's just all your friends who left a mega church, now hang out together, that's not a church. At some level, it can be in your house, it can be a hiking group, but at some level it better be a group where there's people there that annoy you, people there who don't know the Lord, and then also people that you can connect with. And then whatever that is, I'm OK with the diversity of that.
But to be a Christian is to be in community because Christ is in community. We are the body of Christ. We are, you know, we are the church and so Christ in me is going to want to gather with other people. So if I'm not gathering with others in a consistent way, I'm not allowing Christ to be fully expressed through me so.
But do I want to do that? No, so here's that part of me that has that issue so it. Very much is the theology from above.
Tom Jameson
We've been in Romans 7 there, the very thing.
Doug Bursch
That's right, yeah. It doesn't get easier too. Like, we lie to pastors in that we just tell them it doesn't get easier. And in fact I think I think emotionally sensitive pastors burnout and they get used up and they get thrown away, And also, if there's certain church structures that burn up pastors where they have no authority and they voted in and move out. So what happens is some of the pastors who remain are kind of not very emotionally connected? They're kind of bitter and harsh and they tell you how to be and you should just develop thick skin. And I wanted people to know this, You don't develop thick skin. You have the skin that you have. I cannot make my skin thicker, so I had to structure the church around my strengths and my weaknesses. And to let the church know this is as best as I can do. And if you love me, you'd understand that. And if you don't love me, this is a terrible relationship. I'm not going to just do things from expectation, you know, here's your pastor. I co-pastor because I can't pastor alone. I want to do that in community. We have limited interactions with people I don't meet with people all the time because it would burn me out. The people who love me understand that and know that.
So I think we need to broaden the definition of ministry to include the identity of the pastor and allow pastors who are maybe more emotionally sensitive. Who or have some struggles in different areas to be able to have a place for them, along with a guy where nothing bothers them and they've been doing it for 40 years and you know. Great, you exist, but let's expand the definition of what it means to be a pastor.
Dangers of Social Media
Tom Jameson
I want to bring this back to our conversation on social media, then taking all of this a pastor who feels that way too struggling with the isolation, or the pain, hurt, and combining that with social media. What are the dangers? What are the pitfalls you see particularly for pastors in social media?
Doug Bursch
Well, here's one, I think this works for everyone, and this goes along even with why pastors burnout. I'd ask everyone really practically to go back and look at your last two weeks of post online. If you really want to get into this, look at your last month. Just see what you post. Now I've said this to people, and this is not a gotcha moment, I'm not trying to make someone feel bad. But people will go, oh that's tough. Why are you saying this? But here's what I'd like you to do, go back to that last two weeks, the last month, and then say if you died today, (which pastors love to do that, “if you died today . . .”, here's the Pastor one right?)
(laughter) If you died today would you want those posts to be read at your funeral? It's a very simple question. That's some of mine are like a thought about a sandwich or something. I don't know. Do you want those posts? Read and then the other question is, do those posts reflect the core of who you are, or do they just reflect even the whole picture? Or is it just one part of you?
Because this is what I find, social media segments us into different communities and it also segments our own personhood where we begin to only communicate certain aspects of us. We all know pastors that when we meet them one-on-one in a pastors’ group they have diverse opinions, they talk about more than politics. They can actually be kind of nice and welcoming and they can say something strong. But then they also recognize that you might not agree with them and they'll communicate in a way that is welcoming. But online they're not like that at all. And you know if you met them online, you would not connect with this person at all, because they just communicate about one thing. Every post is, you know, whatever vaccines, whatever it is. What every post is just one area, and it's not even about whether they're right or wrong in that area. But you're not seeing the full picture of who that person is.
So, for pastors, that's a great way to just have your social media presence match your in-person presence. Look at what you're posting. Does that show the core of who you are? What you love the most and does it show? A more complete picture of yourself. Even the idea for pastors who just use social media to preach at people, do you want to be known as that? The preachy guy that just tells everybody what to do? Or do you want to be known as someone who listens? How many of your posts are just “hey, could you answer this question? I have a question, what are you guys thoughts on that?” How often do you facilitate discussion and how often do you control discussion?
That's important if you want to go the next step, and I'm telling you something right now that none of your listeners will do. And if someone does it, please contact me, but no one is going to do this. But if each of us did this, it would change the world. Don't just do this yourself, ask the people that you love, that you consider to be friends, ask them about your social media presence. Ask them, “Are there things that you're concerned about in the way I communicate online? Are there areas where you think I could do a better job of communicating online?” And by the way, if they give no answers, they're either afraid of you or I don't know if it's really a friendship. Because if they're your friends, they'll probably say stuff. “You know, sometimes you just come across a little harsh. I know who you are, but it looks like you’re arguing with people all the time.”
If we do that, we're going to see are we truly communicating in a way that shows the heart of who we are? Because if our friends are afraid to talk to us, if our family members are afraid to interact with us, you can only imagine what's happening with strangers. So, this, to me, is a practical way, a place for pastors to start.
And then I also think you know, as pastors we're supposed to model reconciliation and what are we modeling? If everybody did like we were doing, what would the world look like? And those are the kinds of questions that I ask myself online. Whether you're a pastor or not, I think they're valid to ask.
Tom Jameson
It almost sounds like a learning to have a social media self-awareness. You know, using the tools that we use for self-awareness.
Doug Bursch
Well, this is one of the problems of social media. What Marshall McLuhan, I use him a bit In my book, he's a technological theorist, popular in the late 70s, and you know one of the things that he talked about is social media it extends a part of our human capacity, but as it extends that part of our human capacity, it also weakens it. That’s why it's so dangerous, 'cause at one level parts of you that you really love and you're very excited about and you get to express them. But if you don't see yourself clearly the same things you're extending you’re also weakening. Some of your . . . you're just weakening some of the core of who you are. You need somebody else to come in and to shine a mirror and to help you see yourself the way you are because it becomes a distorted image of who you are and it only becomes more exaggerated over time because it's non-relational —It's just me on myself doing my own stuff.
Social Media and Social Justice?
Sean Nemecek
So we've talked a lot about the importance of reconciliation, and I'm completely on board, I think that's so needed right now. Are there times where it's necessary to stir things up a little bit?
Doug Bursch
Yes, and I put in the book and I people the one area where people got offended with me. They'll say, “I like all the book, but I don't like that section where you talk about your own privilege. And I, by the way, I think I know who I'm talking to, who gets offended with this. I'm writing this book about reconciliation and peacemaking, but I also realized I am a white, middle-class male. And I might at some level be writing in a way based on my own privilege, because the biggest issues of our time really aren't impacting me the way they're impacting other people. So that's why I'm very careful not to say you need to only talk this way, or you only need to do this interaction, because we each have different callings, purposes and assignments.
The reality is injustices demand conflict, and the big illustration that everyone uses is what Jesus turned over tables, right? And so I do a whole chapter on that of Jesus turning over tables. I would say If you're only known for turning over tables, you're not really modeling Jesus. Jesus turning over tables is powerful because it seems different to his nature on Earth.Iit's surprising. The idea of like, when Jesus turned over tables, I'm gonna turn over tables. Are you also known as loving? If you're not known as loving, then turning over tables is really not going to point people to Christ, and some people are like that. This every day they come up to you and they're waiting to turn over your table at the same level, though.
Why did Jesus turn over tables? For the purpose of reconciliation. In the temple, what's happening there that foreigners are traveling from long distances? The poor as well are trying to give offerings, and in this context for the foreigner. They have to exchange their money into the temple currency in order to give their offering, and so the exchange rates are really terrible for those foreigners. What is that doing that's keeping people from communicating with God? It's creating division and separation.
So, Jesus turns over the table to try to bring intimacy in the sense of the foreigners, to bring them closer to him, and also to remove the dividing walls of hostility between the moneychangers between the foreigners between the temple and it's the same thing with the dove. And if you even look at, you know the dove is for what the poorest person could give as an offering. The Bible even goes further than that and the Old Testament says, if you don't have money for a dove, you can give sort of a grain offering. Well, I think what was happening in the temple at that time is that they were requiring people to give Dove offerings where they shouldn't have had to give a dove offering. The those who are running the temple are saying, well, you've got to give something. The Bible even gives an exclusion that if you are poor and you can't afford a dove then you can give some sort of a grain flour offering. So, he cast out the dove merchants and I think it's more than just you need to sell these doves at a legitimate price. He's getting at a bigger picture that you are forcing the poor to do something they should not have to do. And you're keeping them from intimacy with God, so the same issue with social media.
There are issues of our time where the poor are being given expectations that the rich don't have burdens to carry, that the rich don't have, and we need to turn over tables because it's separating their ability to connect with God and our ability to love one another. There are racial issues that are causing divisions and divides and hurting the ability for people to come close to God and close to one another.
We need to turn over those tables. So, that idea of justice demanding conflict. It does demand conflict and I'll give you one illustration for this. So, in a pastors’ group I was in there was a meeting about racial . . . it was just a meeting about racial understanding. It was after one of these terrible events where there was a police mistreatment of a black man and then the issue of that there's some injustice within our systems. That was the purpose of the meeting.
And one of the members was calling people to that event, and a white pastor in the group wrote to me a very, in my experience, a very kind of clueless understanding of racial complexities in America. He's a nice guy, he loves God, but it was one of those that was really discounting what's going on.
Well, my desire to not cause conflict is just to kind of like OK, I don't agree with that, but I'm not really going to say anything and we'll just let it pass. Well, a few weeks later, one of the pastors in our group, who is a minority, wrote a very angry e-mail about how he felt isolated and alone in this group that no one understood his issues that no one was supporting him. And this is what I realized, my silence was complicity by being silent. He assumed that I agreed with what this other pastor was sharing and I had to apologize to this pastor because at some level people need to know who you are and what you believe. And that will cause conflict. And if I'm just silent because I don't want conflict, then I am actually looking like I'm perpetuating that issue. If I if I'm silent when someone says something incredibly racially insensitive, then that's saying at some level I don't have a problem with that.
Now someone who's in that group that marginalized group, they don't have the privilege of being silent because the impact of that language affects their relationships affects their health, their very existence, their economic abilities to thrive in this country. I can opt in and opt out because there's really no consequence for me. That's what we need to understand. If you're someone who can opt into a discussion or opt out of a discussion and it doesn't really impact your future, you're in a privileged position. At least with that issue.
So, I need to see people who can't opt in and opt out and say, am I truly highlighting their voices? Am I truly listening to their voices even if I'm not going to speak? Am I letting them speak by retweeting their messages by posting what they're sending people in their direction? If I'm not, then I'm existing in my comfort in my privilege, so I definitely and I know even I'm sharing this. This is probably one that people get upset even in this podcast.
I'm not talking about even agreeing with the other person, but if you don't have relationship with the people that you're talking about, you don't have authority to speak. I've met pastors who say, you know this is what the issue of Black Lives Matter and this is what the issue of racial and they have all these opinions and I'll ask him this question, “What do your black friends think about this? What do your black pastor friends think about this?” And what you'll find 9 out of 10 times is they don't have black pastor friends, or they have one friend that they use to leverage all their issues.
If we don't have relationship with these groups, we don't have a right to speak about that. So, in conflict, I'm not just asking people to post something negative or post something that argues I'm asking you to get into relationship in these communities that you're talking about online. If you care about poverty, then figure out what's going on about poverty in your hometown. Get involved. Get connected.
If you care about immigration, don't just post your views on immigration, get involved in what's happening with immigration in your local community. Trend local if you care about race relations, then just wait. Don't give your opinions. Spend some time with people who care about it, get educated and then maybe, after you've spent a lot of time building up relationships, you have the authority to speak.
I'll tell you you'll speak differently when you have relationship with people when they're not just ideologies, but they're humans made in the image of God.
Sean Nemecek
And this is one of the really powerful things about social media is it gives you the opportunity to listen. Right now one of the really hot discussions is around abuse in the church, and it's a heartbreaking. When you listen to how the church's response is impacting those who have been abused and you really just listen to them, you don't try and correct them. You don't try and censor them or even sanitize the conversation. Just listen and it opens up a whole new world of understanding.
Doug Bursch
That's so good, and it's hard though.
Sean Nemecek
It is.
Doug Bursch
I have relationship with people where they will regularly tweet just blanket statements about the church and pastors that are really negative and it's hard not to take that personal when you know all of them are in it for the money, you know, whatever the issue is, you know. And then sometimes I will because I have relationship. I'll just kind of throw in, You know, I'm a pastor too and they're like, well, you're not like that you're everybody else is but you're not right but that's hard it's hard not to be defensive but you know, I write about this in my first book of ministering to the sinned against —that some people may never trust the church again. God knows God knows what they're responsible for.
I don't know if you've been sinned against by a leader by any authority figure. If your parents abused you, if a pastor has abused you, it doesn't matter what I say. It doesn't matter if for eight years I'm trustworthy in your life, you're still at some level, maybe even beyond rour intellect, but your body is assuming there's going to come a day when you will be trained. There's going to come a day when you will harm me, so can I ever expect from that person a mutual submission or expect that they'll let me lead them as their pastor or they'll just do it because, you know, trust me, I can't expect that.
My goal is to love them. And to open up the doors to the community of God that they can enter, but understand they may not never enter, or when they enter they may run right back out, and not judge them but thank them. “Hey, thank you for being here.” I think the church needs to be a safe place for abused people, and the only way we're going to be safe is to allow people just to be broken in our presence to allow them. To weep with no answers. To allow them to be angry without trying to explain away that anger.
As you know, there's many areas where the church must repent. And I don't think the church has taken this seriously, the level of abuse. And here's the one for pastors. I know some of you pastors have been abused as well, and that's what's hard because you've been abused by people, but you don't really have any voice. I have had a friend of mine from many years ago whose son was sexually molested by someone in the congregation. Destroyed him, but he can't talk about that, even. Bbecause when he talks about that, pastors can be abused or their families can be abused, he just gets into this huge area of people who are angry with pastors.
So humans can abuse each other. Church councils can abuse pastors, other pastors, abuse pastors and definitely pastors have abused and harmed people in the church. We have to, as you said so well there, it's ask questions that allow people to speak, love them, and accept them, and also just admit that you don't know. Christ knows. Christ knows what it's like to be abused. At the cross he shared in the fellowship of our sin. He knows what it's like to be sinned against, to be, spit upon to be defiled, to be abused. So the cross is not just about forgiving us of our sins, but it's identifying with the sinned against, and so we can point to Christ and say Christ does understand how you feel.
But as you said there I just don't think I have authority to demand anything from someone. Instead to thank them that they would allow me to be a part of their pain and that they would even trust me with their stories. So, listening and asking questions is huge.
Tom Jameson
And how instructive that is for not just posting on social media, but every aspect of our lives. Every interaction that we have. It's choosing that posture of humility.
Doug Bursch
Hey man, well you know how hurtful it is if you when you share something with someone and they don't understand how painful that is. Like even well-intentioned pastors, right where you share something,g they say “oh I understand” and they give you an illustration of their own life and I might have just even done. That I don't even know but they give an illustration of their life. But then, as they're talking to you, you’re like, “You don't understand me. You don't know me.” And then the nature is, you just kind of have to just find a way to end the conversation, but it's almost more alienating than never sharing at all. Because you finally share your hurt and this not just with the abuse could be anything you can you share how the struggle in your marriage and the other pastor. Oh yeah, I know it's a struggle in my marriage, but they don't. And I think we need to admit that as humans. That we are re far more different than we realize. Biologically, our histories or nature or nurture, and if grace would be to used for anything, grace could be used for this.
That Grace says, fundamentally, I don't really understand how other humans walk through this life but God is the one who can connect us where we can't connect. God is the one who can find a way for me to minister to someone, even if I'll never understand how they exist right now, or they'll never understand me. That's the miracle of the Kingdom of God that we've all had times when the Holy Spirit has brought us together to truly connect. Even though we don't really understand each other at all, so we must facilitate environments that lift up the name of Jesus, not my ideologies or my education.
Well, I have a doctorate in this. Let me tell you it has to be much more where we make room for the presence of God to Minister to people.
Blessings of Social Media
Tom Jameson
Well, what are some of the blessings you've experienced through social media?
Doug Bursch
Well, this would be one of them, wouldn't it? Yeah, I don't think we would know each other outside of social media. I've gotten to just see, meet so many tremendous people. I've also gotten to see the hurts that people are going through that I didn't take seriously. Church abuse will be one. How women are treated within the church. Things that I though,t you know, growing up in the northwest, some of these things I thought ended in the 50s. I know how naive that is. But then I'd be in some environments where I'd see this. Is the reality someone has faced? They have only faced environments where, as a woman, their voice was never valued. Or they've only faced environments where they were considered, racially, a second class citizen. S,o that's been an incredible privilege to be able to see the church that God always sees. This is the thing that kind of gets us, right?
Even with COVID we've seen Christians act in a certain way. We're like, “Oh my goodness, is this how Christians act”and we get shaken, but God has always seen that. God has always seen the worst of humanity when he said things you know, love your enemies, do good to them, bless them, lend to them. Don't expect to be repaid. So we're getting a perspective of what God already sees. So, social media shows a lot of garbage bthen it allows you to see the world that God sees and the world that God loves.
Also we get all these wonderful blessings that people have spoken into my life and blessed me and encouraged me, and I've actually sometimes been more encouraged some stranger in the sense of online, from two states over, has been more supportive of me as an author than people in my own church. I'm not trying to judge the people in my church, they're just doing other things. That's amazing that I can have people who've invested in God vision in my life and valued that. So yeah, this book is not about, you know, social media is evil and we have to, you know, avoid it at all costs. It extends parts of our human capacity, but as it extends it, it weakens them.
Mapping technologies. Do you like that you have mapping technology that allows you to get anywhere you want to go? Yeah, we do, but what does it also do? It kind of keeps us from knowing where we are once our map disappears, we don't really know where we are. Because we've been following this technology, so that's what every technology does, so it allows us to connect with people. But maybe we've lost our tools of how to learn to build meaningful connections, to go through conflicts. It allows me to exist with segmented groups, but in that sometimes I just want to be with people like me.
That's a strength, I get to be around a bunch of people at the same story. Pastors that identify people who have been abused by the church can gather together and be supported. But the strength of that becomes a weakness, so that community of people that all united around being hurt by the church a conflict occurs in that community. And instead of knowing how to go through the conflict, they fracture again. So you still have to learn. Okay, the strength is we are able to unite on what we agree on, but there's going to come a day where we don't agree and how can we make room for the reconciling power of Jesus Christ. So all these strengths of the Internet will become weaknesses if we don't allow God to also strengthen those muscles and allow us to continue to learn how to abide with each other in healthy ways.
Sean Nemecek
I think sometimes social media is just the place where we can experience, worship again or learn to laugh together or just watch cat videos. You know, sometimes this social media is just a gift to experience common interests with others and develop relationships around those things.
Doug Bursch
Than’s so good. Well, one of the things we're so segmented that people still desire commune. And we used to be more when we were in our own local communities, we could do shared experiences. We all experienced something together and we talked about it. Media was like that for a while, let's say like when Seinfeld was on TV, people didn't watch that many programs, so they could all unite around the last episode of Seinfeld, decide whether they liked it or not. Now we have how many streaming platforms? How many different? So everybody is listening to different content. Even in our own homes: dads watching TV, one of the kids is on their switch and doing YouTube, another person is doing Instagram, so we're all sharing different content. We're not able to unite around that content, and a lot of discussions occur when we're doing something together.
When you're all working together in the field, you talk about other things. Well, we're all working in different contexts, but we still want community. So social media can be that I don't know if you've seen this, there's a wordle. Is this thing going on? It's this where you have to guess the word right word right and some people driving them crazy. Why is everybody so excited about Wordle? And if you don't know what this says, you'll know eventually if you're online 'cause people post it. Well, I think that's the desire that I want to share an experience with others, but there's nowhere to share it. So now everyone sharing around. We all looked at the same word on wordle and how many times did it help you get through it?
This is what's going to happen in the future, we still want shared experiences, so some of the worst shared experiences are going to rise up, and some of the best shared experiences. Politics is still shared so we're still going to unite around that in some of the worst ways, and some of the best ways. We also are looking for these shared things to do together, so I agree that God loves art. God loves music, God and if you think I'm putting words in God's mouth, 1/3 of the scripture is written in poetry. Poetry is not what you communicate truth through if you want to make sure, everyone knows exactly what you're saying. Right? You know if you want to like you don't take a science class and say I want you to study this poem and then we're going to test you on it on how to do the scientific method.
That's not what you do, but God communicated truth through culture, through poetry. It had to be developed for Holy Scripture even to be written, and poetry is something that happens when there's luxury when there's time to sit and ponder and wonder. That's the nature of God. God spoke through vineyards. Vineyards are what you create when everything is OK and there's peace in the land and you can plant some grapes and take some time there for celebration, there for culture. And he communicates how Israel is this vineyard and how he wants us to become this vineyard.
So that's another strength of social media. Right where you can facilitate those things, the joy of humor, the joy of a video that we share someone took some time to do something that we didn't. What's the meaning of it? The purpose of it I don't know, but we need it as humans. And God values that the scripture is full of those expressions. We certainly should have those expressions in our social media presence.
Words of Hope
Sean Nemecek
Doug, this conversation has just been great and we're running out of time, so I just want to share with people where they can find you online. Your website is fairlyspiritual.org and your Twitter handle is at Fairly spiritual. I like the theme there.
So we just want to close with the question we ask all of our guests, what words of hope would you like to offer to pastors and their families?
Doug Bursch
Uhm, I know for me personally, I felt incredibly alienated. I felt really hurt and I just want for other pastors who you're feeling that way. Like I don't know who to trust. There's pastors’ groups I don't want to go to. There's denominational meetings I don't want to go to. I feel like some relationships have just abandoned me. So I want you to know that you're not alone. If you feel like that, I don't think it makes you a bad person, it's how you feel.
But I do want to remind you of this, that you've not been left alone. We're not left as orphans, that God abides with us, and that he has next steps for our lives. And if you listen to the Lord, his first words are words of comfort, encouragement. Words of building up. He's a good father. He's a good dad. And I know my father is a good father and he encourages me and he builds me up and if he has something to say to me, that might be a corrective it only comes after I clearly know that my dad is for me.
Your father is for you. He has given you the Holy Spirit to be able to walk daily in his promises. I'd encourage you to take that next step, it's OK if you're just surviving. It's OK if you're just taking the next step. That's the strength you have. The harvest is ripe. The workers are few. Do your best. Other people can come into the harvest, but you just do what you can do and trust that the Lord will bless this offering, even if it's far more simple than you ever thought it would be.
So be encouraged fellow brothers and sisters in the ministry.
Sean Nemecek
Doug, thank you so much for taking the time to be on hope renewed with us today. We really appreciate your generosity in your time.
Doug Bursch
Oh my pleasure. I love to talk and you gave me plenty of opportunity for that, so thank you so much.
Tom Jameson
It's great, and as always, we invite you, our listeners to rate and review hope renewed in iTunes or your favorite podcast app. And to share this podcast with your friends on social media, it's a great way to help us continue to bring hope to others. Thanks for joining us today.
It is our prayer that the message of Christ hope grows in and through you.
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Resources mentioned:
Glenn's website
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Resources Referenced Brené Brown's “Men, Women and Worthiness” Curt Thompson's “The Soul of Shame” Gershen Kaufman’s “Shame: The Power of Caring” Robert McGee's “The Search for Significance” John Trent’s “People Fuel”
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You can find Nate at spartabaptist.org.
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Resources mentioned in this episode:
Abiding Way Ministries Sharon's Author Website Hope Renewed Episode with Sharon Garlough Brown