Smaller churches can offer a pastor great opportunities for service/fulfillment, but lack the budget to pay well. Retired military men and women often take on second careers with a secure income from their retirement.
Does anyone see a potential for a mutual, God-given calling? My response is yes!
As I was finishing my Air Force career in Montgomery, Ala., I saw quaint towns where small churches scramble for ministers and pulpits stand vacant. Presbyterian churches had no full-time pastor due to their small sizes and budgets, and the financial expectations on these churches by the denomination.
Upon retirement in 2005, I returned to my home state, California, with the desire to attend San Francisco Theological Seminary near that city. As I explored northern California, I discovered a similar situation — dozens of towns with unfilled Presbyterian pulpits in what is called the Northern parish of the Presbytery of the Redwoods.
I worked through a time of discernment. I was aware of the Commissioned Lay Pastor option for ministers (see the Book of Order at 14.0801) from the strong training the Alabama Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley provides. The Presbytery of the Redwoods was enthusiastic about my filling a few of the empty and wonderful pulpit opportunities.
I am convinced that we retired military men and women have an amazing opportunity to serve as partially salaried or unpaid CLPs. We answered a call to sacrificially serve our country and now we might hear another call to serve the church in many needed ways.
I asked myself — and ask them — these questions:
· Can you see yourself living out the Gospel in a revolutionary way?
· Can you see yourself simplifying your lifestyle so that your retirement stipend is adequate to meet your needs?
· Can you see yourself bringing the amazing array of transferable skills — leadership training, communication skills, conflict management, and multi-cultural awareness among others — in service to small congregations?
I did answer to my new call to serve.
There are many online education options, and many presbyteries ready to train CLPs. But I chose to attend seminary and work in a degree program, the M.A. in Theological Studies. I believe the Book of Order describes bare minimums for a CLP. The Garberville (Calif.) Community Presbyterian Church deserved more from me. When I first met them to do pulpit supply, I knew we were meant for each other. And they agreed to wait for me to finish the full course of study.
What seminary did for me is generally called formation. SFTS has one of the finest spirituality programs in the world. During two years of course work, I was challenged to my core about priorities and holdover behaviors from Air Force leadership demands. In a phrase, when I graduated with the M.A.T.S., friends remarked, “There you are!” It took some work to find the gentler, more intentional, contemplative woman I also missed while in uniform. I came to seminary to find my authentic voice, and find it I did.
Garberville Church welcomed me after graduation. I decided to forego any salary, but asked for an administrative assistant three afternoons a week and reimbursement for business expenses. The session has been responsive in every regard.
I walked into a church that had been without a pastor for five years, but had been well served by its elders. They are talented, committed leaders. It is a privilege to serve with them as we seek to revitalize both our church and this formerly bustling timber town. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) system of government lends itself to lay leadership growth.
I don’t have enough space to fully share the walk I’ve had with God these past months. I am convinced with Jeremiah 29:11-13 that, for all the opportunities to make a difference I had in the Air Force, the very best is yet to come.
Can you imagine yourself on such a journey?
Sharon Latour retired as a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel after 20 years mostly teaching leadership education for the Chaplain’s School and the Air Force Academy. She was commissioned the CLP to Garberville Community Presbyterian Church in May after receiving her M.A.T.S. degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, Calif. She also has a Ph.D. in athletic administration and leadership theory from the University of Southern California.
