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Proud to be called "pastor"
* I've been a senior pastor for 22 years. Pastor Steve and I serve churches that are worlds apart, but our hearts beat together. I've inhaled smoke from "burnout" as well. Dave Goetz's article ["Why Pastor Steve Loves His Job" April 7] speaks for the majority of us. We love our jobs. We have passion to preach. "Being there" for people in crisis deeply moves us. We're called to this. Goetz does more than tell one man's story. He tenderly exposes the dignity and significance of our calling in a way that made me proud to be called "pastor."

Pastor Bill Oudemolen
Foothills Bible Church
Littleton, Colo.

* Too much is written today about the pastor-as-ceo. I was determined that if this was yet another article on one who found a way to "package for the market," I wouldn't waste my time reading it. As American decadence runs rampant, the "Pastor Steves" will be the servants God uses to manifest himself—not another businessman going for a slice of the yuppie pie. You presented the pastor as the Bible does: the shepherd of the flock of God.

Pastor Glenn Baker
Forsyth Baptist Church
Forsyth, Ill.

I sympathize with anyone who, like Steve, has asked his church board for a raise to provide for his family and is rejected. One of his elders suggested if Steve needed more money, he could join the National Guard and become a chaplain.

In addition to serving as pastor of a local church, I have been a chaplain in the National Guard for 26 years. It is an excellent extension of ministry, and it provides opportunities for education and professional development and a wonderful source of additional income, including a pension after age 60. Chaplains in the National Guard don't have to beg their boards for a raise; they get regular increases with time, grade, and cost of living.

The motive of the board member may have been selfish, but his advice was good.

Jay R. Pruim
Lansing, Mich.

* Pastors will remain overworked, underpaid, and continue to face unrealistic expectations as long as they, and the churches they serve, buy into (1) a separation of clergy and laity and (2) a single pastor/leader model. Both concepts would shock the churches described in the New Testament. A return to the New Testament principle of shared leadership and the abolition of the clergy/ laity distinction will empower all of God's people, including those gifted to pastoral ministry, to fulfill their God-ordained roles in the body of Christ.

James Rigney
Picayune, Miss.

* I am church planting with the PCA [Presbyterian Church in America] and find it interesting that Steve struggles in wanting a close relationship with some other man or couple in the congregation, and has a need for someone to be concerned for him as a person. I can echo his heart cry. Church planting is the biggest challenge my wife and I have ever faced. Having other embers in the fire with us would make a world of difference. I think there are many pastors who love their call, yet the loneliness is very intense and difficult. I find that people in the church really don't understand that.

Doug Domin
Concord, N.H.

Right on target
* The article entitled "What Pastors' Wives Wish Their Churches Knew" [April 7] was right on target! As a pastor's wife, I hope that all laypeople who read this will learn a valuable lesson from it. I know I did!

Susan DeLisle
Hickory, N.C.

* Having spent 16 of my 18 years as a Baptist PK, I was astonished at the similarities in the "plight" of the pastor's wife and the pastor's child. I sometimes wonder why the pastor's entire family is not on the parish payroll. My mother and her children often felt pressured to join certain groups. I was always keenly aware that my actions affected how the congregation perceived my father, a heavy burden for an adolescent. I know the percentage of PKs who leave the church is high, and I remember asking my dad if I was going to grow up weird. I am one of the lucky ones: I still believe in the redemptive love of Christ. My father always encouraged his children to be their own selves, not whom the elders believed they should be. The same is true for his wife. It is unfortunate that loneliness seems to be so prevalent in the families of the shepherd, and at the same time, so brushed aside. Zoba most accurately portrayed the problems with so illustrious a position in the community of faith, as well as the rewards.

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May 19 1997, Vol. 41, No. 6