… Is The Godfather I and II.
That’s what a seminary professor told me one time.
Pretty funny huh?
Holly and I just watched The Godfather I and II for the first time actually.
(Please don’t email about how pastors shouldn’t condone movies that are rated R. That’s not the point here. And, if I may chase this rabbit and rant for a moment, it’s funny how some Christians who boycott movies that are rated R for violence will watch a PG-13 chick flick or an episode of Friends rampant with casual sex and think nothing of it. End rant.)
At the same time we were making our way through the Godfather movies, which took about 2 weeks because they’re each about 4 days long, I was reading the book of Joshua in my devotions.
And it turns out Joshua and Michael Corleone have a lot more in common than I ever would have guessed.
Read this passage.
And this one.
Disturbing stuff.
R rated stuff.
Calm down. I’m not going to go off the deep end and suggest that pastors should assassinate wicked government officials for Jesus, or that the church should burn down strip clubs and bomb abortion clinics.
I’m not talking about physical violence or property damage at all, actually.
I am saying that the way we train pastors in our country prepares them to be more like Mister Rogers than Joshua. Or Jesus.
And most pastors who are formally trained graduate with a Ph.D in pomp and prissiness, with no clue how to engage the enemy, draw first blood, and strategically occupy a city with the rule of the Kingdom of God.
Because of the perception of Pastoral ministry we’ve perpetuated, the sharpest and highest potential young leaders in our country go on to do other things with their lives.
After all, who wants to give the best years of their lives to keeping a committee of angry white deacons happy about the carpet color and the type of flowers in the vestibule?
(One of my pastor friends actually told me that the first business meeting of his first pastorate featured a knock down drag-out debate about how they were wasting God’s money on toilet paper that was too thick… “We don’t need that quilted stuff… “)
Nevertheless, I’m encouraged.
Currently in the body of Christ there is a new generation of Joshua pastors rising up.
They often look more like youth pastors than pastors.
They say words like sucks and crap, and they probably shouldn’t.
They are rough around the edges, they don’t always get it right, but they’d rather fail aggressively than simply exist passively.
They might not have the best bedside manner, but they have a fire in their bones to preach God’s Word with no apologies.
And it is high time that we restore the true definition of spiritual leadership by raising up leaders who are more like Joshua. More like Jesus.
More concerned about changed lives than job security.
More concerned about God’s direction than committee recommendations.
Who are willing to forcefully advance the Kingdom of God by any means necessary.
And to charge the forces of hell with the heavy artillery of heaven until our cities are revolutionized and irreversibly transformed for the glory of God.