The original intention of this thread wasn't to bash pastors. There's only one real right way to 'do pastor', and many pastors have forsaken that way because it's inconvenient. Most of us don't do what's not convenient for us; is it a stretch you say that people whose overall job is I inconvenience aren't doing it right. In Jn. 10, Jesus shows that there are only two types of shepherds (pastors, ministers in general): those who lay down their lives (reputation, finances, and well-being) for their flock and those who don't. Most of us would be hard pressed to find a pastor who is laying down those things for their flock. Americans complain about Mexicans taking our jobs; but they do the hard work that most Americans don't want to do. Being single pastor according to Jesus is hard work, therefore, people naturally won't want to do it or won't do it well. Things are hard to understand when we spiritualize everything. Let's make it simple: modern pastor = glory + sense of importance = many volunteers; biblical pastor = hard work + inconvenience = few volunteers. Moreover, the biblical pastoral model is a leader who is networked and works with other types of ministers who aren't just pastors. These are the other four ministries: teachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles. Without a foundation, no building actually makes it. Rejecting or neglecting the other ministries, especially the foundational ones, can never make an actual church or fellowship. Where we tend to get deceived is that God:
1. is full of mercy, blesses our imperfections or when we do things wrong (He blesses the righteous and the unrighteous), gives us free will, and speaks very little when we're doing things wrong or in sin, and...
2. doesn't force us to believe or do anything, therefore, it's easy for us to miss even things that are plainly written right there on the surface of the Bible where even a non-Christian can easily understand.
God has a blueprint for His Church; no matter how much good we do (eg. 1Cor. 13), we aren't doing it God's prescribed way nor can we receive the full blessing until we build according to the blueprint. The blueprint isn't goodwill, church that restricts the Holy Spirit, or pastors who don't minister to their flock alongside other ministries and ministers; it's inclusive, not exclusive. For all of you who grew up being taught that to see or acknowledge wrong is to judge, you should toss that mindset and check out what the Bible teaches on the surface (on the surface means you don't need a degree or to be a theologian or to go digging in the Bible to find the truth). It isn't so-called pastor bashers and 'the usual suspects' who are the problem; it is the mindsets (beliefs our minds are SET on or that are SET in our minds, holding us captive to lies) that are so anti-God that they resist the truth and the Holy Spirit. A brief example of how powerful mindsets are (sorry that this isn't taught about though it is the cause for the bondage on millions of people in the world): Jesus couldn't be clearer to His apostles and disciples that they were to go FIRST to the Jews and THEN to the Gentiles... Somehow when He left, they conveniently forgot and even fought against the concept. They didn't forget at all; the Jewish mindset that was anti-Gentile had them in bondage so that though they obeyed in other areas, that resisted the Holy Spirit in this area. When God reminded them by the salvation of Cornelius' household that Jesus was for the Gentiles too, they were so bound by that anti-God, anti-Gentile mindset that they were actually amazed. I mean what did they expect was the reason God sent them to preach to those Gentiles. Then they returned to the other disciples and were attacked for going and preaching to Gentiles by the same others to whom Jesus had told to preach to the Gentiles. This is the power of mindsets; they're nothing to trifle with. (2Cor. 10:3-6.) So before we talk about pastors and other things that we've come to believe today, we should be aware that we all have in us still, until we're renewed in those areas, mindsets and false views and beliefs that are anti-God and actually exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. That means we're so bound by these false beliefs that we actually replace God's ACTUAL Word and truth with our own beliefs; that's what it means that the beliefs/thoughts/imaginations exalt themselves against the knowledge (the better or superior judgment) of God... It takes a great deal of pride to pull that off, and in our unrenewed minds, we're running over with pride or "I know better than God".