Recently I became friends with a pastor who has a small flock but a huge heart. When I come across such men of noble character, I am eager to “esteem them very highly in love because of their work” (1 Thess. 5:13).
I’ve never met this pastor in person, but he has a true shepherd’s heart. He literally lives up to his name (spelled “Shepard”).
My interaction with him began almost a month ago while I was helping my brother and his family find a new church following their move to Mississippi. I live 1200 miles away (in upstate New York), so I was not familiar with any churches in their particular town. However, I know a pastor who lives about 90 minutes from them, so I called my friend, hoping that he could help us out.
He was happy to oblige and went well beyond what I had requested. He made some contacts of his own, which resulted him in calling this Pastor Shepard and talking to him for well over an hour. He asked him questions concerning his background, his teaching, his philosophy of ministry, and more. My pastor-friend was encouraged by their conversation, so he gave me this guy’s number and encouraged me to call him.
So I did. We too talked for over an hour. Since my pastor-friend had already vetted him, I spent most of my time talking about my brother and his family. Without going into unnecessary details, I told him about their situation:
My brother was newly married and had just been restored to the Lord after a two-year drift.
My brother’s wife, who had been irreligious, had just received Christ as her Lord and Savior.
She had been a single mom with three children. The oldest two were twins, and the first one had died one month after birth. The surviving twin, age 7, has cerebral palsy. Her younger sister is two years old.
I wanted this pastor to have this basic background information so that he could pray for them and be on the lookout for them the following Sunday.
I called my brother and told him about all that had transpired and encouraged him to attend this pastor’s church on Sunday. He promised that he would.
Prior to Sunday, Pastor Shepard called me again to let me know that they had been praying for my brother’s family. This touched me deeply.
When my brother and his family showed up on Sunday, they were warmly greeted by everyone. The sermon was solid. The congregation’s love for Christ was evident.
However, the church was smaller than my brother had anticipated. Just a few dozen people. Plus, they were quite advanced in their knowledge of the Bible, as evidenced by the pastor’s sermon. He covered a lot of ground, and my brother’s wife had a hard time tracking with him. Furthermore, there was no children’s program, which my brother and his wife were hoping for, given that their seven-year-old daughter has special needs.
So the next Sunday they checked out a bigger evangelical church in town. These folks were also welcoming, the sermon was easy to follow, and the church had a children’s program. So my brother’s family went there the following week as well. On that visit, one particular lady greeted their family enthusiastically and informed them that she was the aide assigned to their daughter at school! How amazing that God orchestrated events so that this aide attended the same church! In light of these developments, my brother and his wife sensed the Lord’s leading them to make this church their home.
Well, yesterday Pastor Shepard texted me, asking if I had a moment to talk. No doubt he wanted to follow up on the situation with my brother, most likely because they had not been to his church for the last two weeks. I felt bad, given all the time, prayer and effort that he had already poured into my brother’s family. I called him back, trusting that he would understand, even if he was disappointed.
Once again, Pastor Shepard exceeded my expectations. Not only did he understand, but he was also quite empathetic and continued to exhibit genuine love and concern for my brother and his family.
He said that he would reach out to them one more time just to reiterate their care for them.
Rather than seeing the other church as competitors, he regarded them as co-laborers and was happy to hear that my brother and his family felt at home there.
He told me (and this is almost verbatim because it made such an impression on me), “Matt, if in the future you ever need us to do anything for your brother and his family, simply say the word, and we will be there for them.”
Sometimes the pastors with the smallest churches have the biggest hearts. They exhibit the compassion of Christ himself, always looking out for the interests of others instead of just their own interests (Phil. 2:3-5; cf. Jer. 3:15). “And when the chief Shepherd appears, [they] will receive the unfading crown of glory” (1 Pet. 3:4).
Considering that Christ himself will honor such men, let us do the same. “Esteem them very highly in love because of their work” (1 Thess. 5:13).