I Was 20, Unready, and Called to Pastor—What That First Church Gave Me Still Matters

by Chuck Lawless Church Answers Consultant

It was March 1981. I had turned 20 just a few months before, and I was in conversation with a small country church in Ohio about becoming their pastor. Looking back now, 45 years later, the whole story is a bit unusual.

I knew the church because one of their previous pastors had been the youth pastor where I was a member as a teenager. God saved me when I was 13, and the church had a few youth pastors during my teen years—but this pastor really challenged me to consider my calling to preach. When he himself became the senior pastor of the church I would later pastor, he invited me often to preach so I could grow in this task. He opened the door for me to do what I still love to do so much today: to preach the Word.

I have no idea why that church called me as pastor, except that they were looking for someone who would come cheaply. And I would have preached for nothing! The crowd was small (only 19 people attended on the first Sunday), but those few made a difference in my life. Here are some things I remember:

They invited me into their lives. Because I was so young, I wasn’t sure how pastors were supposed to act with members. I’m sure I was sometimes isolated and introverted, but these folks welcomed me into their homes. From the grandmother who invited me to breakfast with her family every Friday morning to the folks who allowed me to live in their home, they loved me. I was not only their pastor; I was their friend. They loved me enough to let me make mistakes… and start again. I’m honestly surprised they didn’t fire me at times because of my poor leadership. I was arrogant about my “success” as a young preacher and thought I was almost always right. I wasn’t, and they knew that fact. Still, they loved me. They gave me…