Power games

Seminary graduation looms right around the corner. Candidates are interviewing for positions. It reminds me of when I started in my first pastorate. We bemoaned the many things “they never taught us in seminary,” but I‘m pretty sure that even if they had, I wouldn’t have taken those courses. As a result, I did a lot of on-the-job study.

The most important thing I learned as I entered the pastorate were the lessons of power. I began as a solo pastor as a five-foot-tall, twenty-six-year-old woman. I was raised to be a submissive Baptist and grew into a job where servant-leadership was the main expectation. None of this helped me as I began to negotiate among lawyers, CEOs, pro ball players, businessmen and Ivy-league professors. They were all present around different tables at that tiny rural church. But all of it was easy to overcome once I began to understand the rules of the game.