Friday, September 4, 2026
LET’S BUILD A PASTOR!
John 10:1-3
10 Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,
but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2 But he
that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him
the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own
sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
The Teddy Bear was invented in honor of
President Theodore Roosevelt. While on a bear hunt near Onward, Mississippi,
Roosevelt’s aid cornered a bear, but the President refused to shoot it.
“Teddy’s Bear” was modeled after a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman on
November 16, 1902. Now you can design your very own Teddy bear at a company
called Build-A-Bear, but “Build-A-Preacher” has not been as successful.
My
shepherd friends and I dream of a huge flock of
adoring and applauding sheep. We dream of huge facilities manned by an army of
loyal hirelings who perform every function except the weekly public sermon. But
it is all a dream and not the model
for the New Testament church.
The
New Testament model is that of Jesus sitting on a well’s
edge talking to a tainted and tortured woman who had come for water. It is Paul
at the riverside talking to a lady who had come to dye fabric. It is a slow but
exponential growth that requires patience and intimacy in shepherding.
Jesus
is the model for shepherding. He is the good shepherd who
gives his life for the sheep. The shepherd knows his sheep by name because he
has been with them in birthing, untangled them from the briars, or pulled them
from the mouths of beasts. He wears the dew of morning and feels the heat of
noonday. He smells like sheep.
Jer 23:4
4 And
I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no
more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
Oh,
great Shepherd of my soul, thank you for your leading, feeding and love. AMEN
