161- Here's a Well Rested, Visionary Pastor (with Rich Lammay of High Sierra Fellowship)

Welcome to strength for today's pastor. Conversations with current senior pastors and leaders which will strengthen and help you in your pastoral ministry. And now, here's your host, Bill Holdridge of Poimen Ministries. Welcome to Strength for Today's Pastor. This is episode 161.

Poimen Ministries' focus is for the strengthening and revitalization of the church. Therefore, the goal of this podcast is to provide interview episodes that will be encouraging to pastors and leaders everywhere. So to that end, we have with us today pastor Rich Lammay, the senior/lead pastor of High Sierra Fellowship located in Gardnerville, Nevada. For those of you that are pulling out your maps right now, Gardnerville is just a little bit south of Carson City, which is the capital city of Nevada, and that's just a little bit south of Reno, Nevada. So that's where this church is, and High Sierra Fellowship is a wonderful church, a church I've personally gotten to know a little bit over the past couple of years.

Impressive work of God, wonderful visitation of the spirit upon people. The Lord's doing a good thing. So Rich has gotten back recently in the saddle, back in the saddle after being given a 3-month sabbatical after many years of ministry. So we're gonna hear about that ... Rich, welcome to the program. So great to be able to talk to you this way.

Great to be with you, Bill. Appreciate it. But when we describe our church, we like to say we are east of Lake Tahoe. It sounds a lot better. Alright.

Well, it is. I mean, what is it? Like, a 25 minute drive? You bet. Same county.

That same county. Yeah. That's beautiful. And, there is a Nevada side of Lake Tahoe that Nevadans like to remind everybody about. A lot of people think of the California side, but, you know, that's marginal over there on the on that side, but Nevada, it's awesome. :-)

Anyway, so Rich, let's get to know you a bit here, you're married to Suzanne and have been have been married for over 50 years. Oh, man. Congratulations on that, by the way. So give us sort of a 35,000 foot in the air view of your conversion, your calling, your ministry life if you would. And, we just wanna hear who you are.

You bet. Thanks, Bill. Well, Suzanne and I were just a couple of young hippie kids, and, we got married very, very young. And, I would say for the first couple years, we stayed together because we were very, very stubborn, and that's the only thing. But then, you know, God was doing a great work.

You know, we came to Christ during the, Jesus movement in the 1970s, and what's amazing is the Lord was doing the exact same thing here in Gardnerville, Nevada that He was doing in Southern California. You know, even using Chuck Smith through the radio programs that we would listen to all the time. Well, we came to Christ in 1975, and, you know, we quickly, within 6 months, were involved in ministry. My pastor at the time asked me to teach the junior highers. And so I had to quickly get into God's Word because they knew more than I did.

I gotta stop you right there, Rich, because what you just said is so so interesting. In the Jesus Movement days, pastors were willing to take risks on younger men that had passion, heart, and the same ethos that they had ... they had a love for Jesus, a love for the Word. And that's what happened with you. That's what happened with me. We've lost a little bit of that.

We've lost a little bit of that taking risks and going for it. I I think that's really interesting that you said that. Yeah. And they did ... I mean, he allowed me to do home Bible studies later on and, actually sent me out to fill in for little churches around the area when their pastor was on vacation or something.

And, you know, just a great grounding, you know, But then, God just worked in our lives, quickly changed us. And as I said, we were very involved in ministry. And then in 1990, we and several other families helped found High Sierra Fellowship. We had a vision for having a church where God's Word was brought to life with daily application and inductive Bible studies and, you know, just exegeting the Word properly.

And then have worship that was exciting, but at the same time not extreme in any way ... because we had seen so many things. We actually got saved in a Pentecostal church where the people loved Jesus, but the growth was, you had to do it personally. It never really happened in the church. And so discipleship was a little bit lacking. But be that as it may, you know, we, helped found the church.

And by 1992, we needed a senior pastor and, I was called. You know, at the time, I was working in the corporate world, pretty high level corporate job. And after 2 years of doing double duty, the Lord made it very clear that it was time to leave the job. And, He did that in several ways. You know, one way was I had some very, big health issues going on.

And it's amazing. The day I made the decision to leave the corporate world, all of those issues went away. It was just God trying to get my attention. Wow. And so, you know, as far as the calling, you know, as I said, we were deeply involved in ministry from the day of our conversion, you know, in 1975.

And, God just kept using us in ministry even in the corporate world. I would lead Bible studies and, people would come to me for counseling. It was obvious that God had more for me. And then I actually had several people speak over me, that they saw the call of God in my life. But, you know, I'm pretty—I don't wanna say skeptical—pragmatic about things like that.

And, I just kinda did what Mary did when Gabriel went to her. It says she treasured up those things in her heart. And I just kinda held on to them. And then, you know, many years later, you know, it all came to fruition. So, I've been a student of of the Word since I got saved.

But, I felt like, seeing how my corporate education was all business and business management and things like that, I felt like I needed to further my education. So as a pastor, I pursued both a bachelor's in Biblical studies and Master's in theology. And those were really good, times of growth for me, you know, just to take me to another level beyond what I'd learned from my mentors and what I'd learned through personal study and stuff.

So how how far into the pastorate was that for you, Rich, that you, went into your undergrad and then graduate studies?

Well, my my, graduate studies began after I'd been pastoring for 20 years.

Yeah. How about your undergrad here? That was quite a while. How about the bachelor's?

I would say probably 10 years into it.

Okay. So you got you got started, so here's the picture, you you got started, you were young in the Lord relatively, not really young in the Lord, but, I mean, you were young in in that kind of experience. You knew what you wanted to do in terms of helping a church get started. You had people right around you earlier that believed in you, and as they were speaking into your life, you had a passion to follow God's plan, you had a passion for the people and for the Word of God, and all those things kinda merged together.

But then you took a step of faith, big step of faith, leaving the corporate world and going out into the wide open spaces of we don't know what's coming next.  I mean, that's really something that's important, don't you think? I mean, this next generation, they're not always eager to plant churches, the younger ones. And there are probably a lot of reasons for that. But one of the reasons I think is that that whole idea of taking radical steps of faith to pursue what God is calling us to do, that's that's not as prominent as it was back then. Would you agree?

I would agree with that. Yeah.

A lot of lot of people enter into ministry and they expect to, you know, get hired by a church, have a good salary, retirement programs, and all of that. And you know, it wasn't like that back then, and for 8 years, I became bi-vocational, but you know, even though it wasn't the high level corporate job that I had—I was able to watch God provide in amazing ways. I can remember pastor Chuck Smith talking about working for a mortuary at one time and picking up corpses and stuff. Yeah. It was very similar types of things for me. But, you know, I I think we all know that, you know, faith comes by hearing the word.

But I would say, remind guys that faith comes in another way. When you take a step of faith and you see God's faithfulness, your faith is built up, and the next step of faith is much easier. You know, and I think that's the story of, High Sierra Fellowship. You know, we have taken huge steps of faith all the way along the way, even in 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, building our own building, and, you know, it wasn't like scary because we've just seen God provide in so many ways. Yeah, wow.

Remember back in the day that one of the big songs that we used to sing," Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God," by Karen Lafferty. I mean, that was a song that was born for that movement, really. I think often of Matthew 6:33, and steps of faith. So that's great. So, keep keep telling the story.

This is great. You know, it I gotta tell you that was, to this day, it stands out as a highlight to my life, in my life when I handed in my resignation because I was really at the top of my game. I was, I like to say I was the fair haired boy. They loved me at the corporation. And I loved it, I loved working in that position, but, you know your calling.

When you know your calling, you have to do it. You know, there's nothing else I could do. And, we encourage, I know you do all the time, encourage the young guys. If there's something else you can do, do it, you know, but if God's got a hold of you, you have to follow your pursuit in ministry.

Mhmm. So there's obviously a lot of learning that goes on during those first stages of ministry launching out, taking steps of faith. What are some of the things that you learned, Rich, during that time?

Boy, there are a lot of things that, lessons learned. You know, I would say one of the biggest lessons for me personally, was to speak the truth and love to people.

You know, I tend to easily fall into being a people pleaser and try to, you know, just be gracious towards people all the time. But it's really gracious to be people, towards people if you speak truth in love. You know, you gotta deal with the hard things. And I would say early on, I didn't do that very well, you know, but, you know, you learn lessons as you go, and sometimes you learn them the hard way.

And I would say that is probably one of the biggest lessons. And then, you know, just study to show yourself approved. You know, you can't devour enough of the Word of God. Maybe you're like me, and you've taught through the Bible multiple times, but every time it's fresh and alive and really exciting.

That's a good recipe right there. Stick with the truth, speak it in love, and, just keep the nose in the book and let the Spirit work. That's awesome. Okay. So now the the the church is meeting in its new facility; as you mentioned, built during COVID and all of that kind of thing. How many times has the church moved in the last 34 years?

Well, we we started out meeting in a park and and then we went to people's homes. We went to a room in the library. We met in a barn for a little while. We actually got evicted by the county from the barn.

We met in a daycare. We met in a wedding chapel in a casino. But then as far as rented facilities, we've we've been in 5 different locations, including one where we actually shared our church with another church. We would meet in the morning and then they would come a little later in the morning.

That's awesome. So now you've got these beautiful facilities that the Lord has provided. And after a relatively short time in your present building, you're already running out of room. And you're expanding your parking lot, and you're thinking of how you can expand space in your meeting area and auxiliary rooms, like new offices and all that kind of stuff. What's going on?

Well, you know, God has just graciously blessed us. When when we decided to build, you know, we had a vision to stay in the heart of of town. We didn't wanna move to the outskirts. We had a couple opportunities to do that, and, they just didn't feel right or they fell through. And so it became very evident that we needed to build in town and, then God miraculously provided this piece of property at an amazingly discounted price, and we were able to buy it. And, then the Lord made it very evident that we couldn't build or we shouldn't start building until we had a certain amount of money and God just provided that. So through the whole process, I you can just see God's hand, and then, you know—you hate to say you build it and they shall come, but it's a reality to some degree.

Mhmm. And, you know, our biggest issue right now, which you're very aware of, is is building infrastructure. You know, that we we're behind the gun, you know. And in retrospect, I would say, we should have built infrastructure before we built the building, you know, or or at least built it up more, and, but God is gracious.

I mean, every week, you know, there's people, coming to church and coming to the Lord. And, it's exciting, you know, to watch God work.

Okay. So I think you'll need to explain that a little bit, Rich. What does it mean to you to build infrastructure? What does that look like? I mean, you have to go into specifics, that's an interesting concept.

Well, we, we've always functioned with people working as elders within the church, but we didn't have an official title for anybody and we didn't pour into those guys in the type of ministry they should be doing as well as much as we are now. And so we're building the eldership with it, because the congregation gets to a size that the pastor can no longer minister to everyone in the congregation. And then, staff members, you know, just having the right people in the right places.

The staff we have are amazing. And, during the sabbatical time, you know, everybody stepped up and just did incredible. And, that was very exciting, But we still are in need of some staff members.

Right. That's great. Well, I know that, just recently, you guys established a new ministry which is not new to the men that are doing it, but it's new to the congregation. The care elders. The care elders, there are 3 of them right now, but you're aiming to to add more. But their their role is to do the kinds of things that we often as senior pastors get called to, but we we can't practically do it for a congregation that's the size of High Sierra Fellowship or beyond. So, yeah, talk about that. What was the vision for for the care elders?

Well, that was it. You know, establishing like I said, we've always had men who have functioned in those ways, but we didn't officially recognize them in front of the congregation, laying hands on them, and equipping them in the ways that they can minister.

And so now we're doing that, and we're meeting with those guys on a regular basis and, trying to help equip them for future ministry. One of the guys, well, actually, two of them now have been actually overseeing memorial services, which, you know, when the congregation gets to that size, you know, the the pastor, even the associate pastors cannot handle those types of loads. You know, visitation to hospitals and visitation for those who are homebound and stuff.  Really awesome to see what God's doing through those guys and watching them, bloom within the ministry that God's given them. And I know from firsthand observation, these are good men.

They are really good men. Enjoyed being with them. So you're talking about outer structure, church facilities, we're talking about that, and then infrastructure, what happens within to make it go.

These things are intentional, you know, the if you build it, they will come kind of a concept. I mean, we sort of laugh at it, but it's true.

But what people are really looking for in the community is they're looking for something that's stable, that's meaningful, that has definition to it, that they can commit to and know that they're part of something that is God breathed in a sense. And they see it in facilities. They see it in the way the building is built, the way it's maintained. They see it in the way they feel safe when they put their children in in the children's ministry or their younger children in the nursery. They feel it from the pulpit when there's a sound exposition of God's Word and it's consistent every week.

It's the Bible we're getting. We're not getting man's opinions. And then they're seeing it when they realize that there is a team, a wide team, a deep team of leaders throughout the church that are serving and they've been equipped for the work of the ministry and they're doing it and the senior leadership of the church, the senior pastor and the elders are expediting and facilitating that kind of ministry to happen. They're giving it away. They want it to happen that way and people get so blessed being part of that.

It's like the Queen of Sheba visiting Solomon in the temple. He just amazed like, wow, we get to be part of something like that. And I felt that, Rich, at High Sierra Fellowship. I felt that palpably. People were so happy to be there. I don't know if I've ever been in as happy of the church as that in terms of happy to be there and so blessed to be part of it. But I think what it's talk we're talking about these things, infrastructure, I think it matters to people. It matters to their sense of stability in a very unstable world where you can't depend on anything really other than Jesus Himself and rarely can even depend upon people. But to have the church something that is rock solid and and structured—well, that's important.

Yeah. You know, what wisdom you just spoke, you know, you you build this beautiful facility, and it is.

Yeah, you've you've seen it. It is a beautiful facility, beautiful landscaping, very inviting, you know, when you walk in the door, it looks really good. And I think that does draw people, but what keeps the people coming back is the consistent exegesis of the Word of God. You know, just being faithful to God's Word, you know, not jumping from place to place and just working out, like, currently, we're going through the book of Daniel. And, you know, I I was talking a couple of Sundays ago about why study prophecy, you know? And it's so important to our foundation because so much of the word of god is prophecy. Why would we skip over those things?

And people hear things like that and they they observe how we're going through the scriptures and getting it in context, and they do see this is a firm place. This is a solid place for me and my family. Yeah. Amen.

And and it's transferable to not just them as you know, but to couples, the parents, their children and their teenagers. And I mean, it's just a it's a healthy environment for family growth. It's big time.

So let's fast forward now to the present day because you, as we said in the beginning of the of the program, we, you started a three month sabbatical back in April and you just finished up mid July. And, there was a lot that had to go into preparing for that. And of course, you know, those that listen to this idea I mean, you know, they might think: "he's only been serving 34 years. Why does he need something like this? I mean, some people are gonna be like that with their thinking. But we've discovered how important it is that rest in the rhythms of ministry and life, how important that really is. So what was the preparation leading up to the sabbatical? What are some of the moving parts that had to be worked through? Right. Well, you know, it was well over a year in planning.

Part of the preparation for the sabbatical was because we had some things that we had to work through as a congregation, and we we did that. And, so, you know, I gotta speak about Poimen Ministries here. You guys really helped us to understand what a sabbatical is all about. You know, the materials that you provided and books that you recommended and stuff, it really planted within me the idea of the need for this time of rest, and a time of reflection, and a time of just seeking the Lord for the future of the church. And so there was a lot of preparation in all of that reading and then planning out the right timing.

Some of it was a little bit, personal that, I didn't wanna do it in the middle of winter because we're outdoor people. So we did, you know, spring/summer, which, you know, that was just a logistical thing that was important to me and Suzanne. But, a lot of it was this was the right time. And, you your your ministry, you and Phil Evans coming to fill in, just made it such an easy transition. But you know, when you're in the middle of of everyday ministry, year after year and you're and the church is growing and you're trying to keep up with what God's doing, you don't realize how tired you are.

You don't realize, you know, I I don't really care for the word burnout, because as Jon Courson used to say, it reminds you of Eli's sons, you know, don't know until you're away. And then all of a sudden, one day, you realize I need this rest. I need this time of reflection. I need this time to seek the Lord for the future of this congregation.

So, you know, it had to be birthed in your heart to where you saw the need for it. You felt you and your wife felt the need for it. And then, of course, there's the communication with your board, and then there's the financial planning that's involved. Talk a little bit about that because that's part of the year long planning. You know, just how are we gonna do this? How much are what's this gonna cost us? We have to count the cost on things. Right? So talk about those things.

Yeah. And and I would say, you know, that, I really thank God for my board because they planted the idea, and we actually wrote it into our bylaws that every 5 years, the senior pastor takes a 3 month sabbatical. And at first, I was like, what's that all about? I've been going for 34 years, who cares? It's okay, I can keep going.

But then as, you know, the different things that you provided for me and the materials of books that I read and stuff, it became very evident that this is a very good thing. And then, Suzanne and I talked about it and, you know, at first, we were a little apprehensive, you know, what does this look like? How do you walk away for 3 months from the people that you love and care for so much and the church that has been part of your life for so many years. But, you know, how long the decompression time took, which was several weeks. You know, it took several weeks to really experience that. Decompress is a good word for it, I think.

Then we just really enjoyed that time. Time together as a couple, time with myself, personally with the Lord as I I took a week and just went camping up in the mountains. Just me and God and the Bible, and, I've been working on another book and I was able to work on that, and that was just very, uplifting for myself, you know.

So you mentioned decompression and you mentioned 3 weeks it took, approximately, for you to decompress. What does that mean? I mean, what what are you decompressing from? What did you feel kind of oozing out of your pores and leaving you when you were decompressing?

Well, just the fact that you don't have your daily, weekly routines in the church, you know, so there was that physical aspect of that, you know, not setting an alarm clock on Tuesday mornings to go to prayer or Sunday mornings to get up so early and pray and seek the Lord before preaching his word.

So there was that physical side, but the emotional side of trusting that God has got this, without me, you know? And it it does become very emotional, and I think that that is a a powerful lesson to learn that, you know, God doesn't need me. You know? I mean, he used a donkey.

He could use anybody. Right? You know? But, you know, it it there's this emotional side that, you know, because you love these people, you you've walked with life through these people. I mean, you've got people that I've married and buried and baptized their kids and baptized them or whatever, and, you know, it it's hard.

It's hard to walk away. But once that decompression took place, it became a very vital time and it's gonna be a highlight of my ministry and my life.

Awesome. So I'm thinking as you're sharing, Rich, that, you know, that how how can I leave for 3 months, you know, these people and and all that? The insecure pastor will say, how could they survive without me? The secure pastor will say, I'm so glad that the Lord has provided people through whom He can continue to oversee and manage His church without me. Amen. And and so really, I say kudos to the pastor that takes sabbatical and has the latter attitude because, that pastor has done a good job equipping the saints and preparing them for his taking a sabbatical. I mean, were it not for the pastor's leadership team, things would be a hot mess. You know, sabbatical would be a chaos. It would be a free for all in some cases, you know, it wouldn't be pretty. Right. So good job there.

So you and Suzanne, were obviously way for those 3 months. What kind of things happened? You've already touched on some things. And what you just said is a big one. The doctrine of the, self sufficiency of God. He doesn't need anything, you know, and He doesn't need us. So that's huge, but what are some of the other things that he showed you during that time?

Well, you know, on the personal level, you know, Suzanne and I have always enjoyed doing things together and just being together. We're not the kind that needs a vacation from one another by any means, and we're very active people. And so, on the marriage level, it was just a great time. You know, Paul says to redeem the time for the days are evil. And it was just a time that we were able to redeem the time.

And I think to readjust some priorities to keep the busyness of ministry from affecting our quality time together. So on the marriage level, I think that was a powerful lesson that hopefully, Lord willing, that, as the spiritual leader of the home, I don't forget that lesson and, keep loving my wife in those practical ways. Because certainly, you know, quality time is my wife's love language, and I need to keep that in mind.

Yeah. Well said.

You know, and then personally, you know, especially that that week that I took away by myself, the Lord spoke some things to my own heart that were just, attitudes of the heart that, you know, they weren't necessarily sinful, but they were things that, you know, I've kinda just buried through the years and and just needed to give over to God. And it was just a great time of communing with the Lord. You know, as I was up in the mountains by myself in my trailer, I'd get up, have a cup of coffee with Jesus, and just go for a hike, and just commune with the Lord. And then that time of study was really good for me, and I I love to write, and I've been working on a book for a couple of years and, you know, I was able to really get it nailed down and, Lord willing, we'll have it published by the end of the year.

But, I think that that stepping away for 3 months really showed me how, God wants to build a healthy church. And I think in a lot of ways, we are very healthy church. We can always be healthier, and it is it has to do with equipping the saints. You know, that's our job to equip the saints for the ministry of the Lord.

And, you know, we need to be making disciples that are theologically sound, but more than that, that they have that personal relationship with Jesus. And then, small group ministry is pretty vital when the church gets to the size of our church, you know, that's the only way that people can have that personal connection. And so, little more emphasis on that, the Lord really revealed to me, some things with that, and it was really good.

So you mentioned that, Suzanne's love language is quality time with you. Well, I think Jesus' love language is when a church makes disciples and grows them into lovers of Him and they're able to multiply and be mature and be equipped.

I think that is His love language. Amen. That's what He's called us to do. So I love that. That's it.

So, you know, now you've got the perspective of being away for a while from your sabbatical. You're 3 months, 3 weeks into your post sabbatical time. What has changed or what might change or what definitely will change, do you think, moving forward ... specifically in relationship to what perspective you gained during the sabbatical. And I'm quoting G. Campbell Morgan here, who made the statement, "the value of distance is perspective." And that's that's what happens sometimes during sabbaticals, I think. So what do you think? What do you what's gonna change? What has changed? What might change moving forward? Yeah.

You know, I wasn't familiar with that quote, and I thought, boy, there is such truth in that. You know, you step away and you're able to look at things with a different perspective, you know. And I've always preached to the staff and the the volunteers that, try to walk into the church with the perspective of a first timer, you know, then you see the trash on the floor, then you see, you know, things that are happening good or bad, you know, are we greeting people well and and little things like that, and that's all important. But, you know, stepping away for 3 months, you do get that perspective at a deeper level. And, certainly, I think I've we've already discussed most of it, you know, that, when a church grows very fast, you know, you're behind the gun, you're playing catch up.

And we've been in that mode, but I think we're getting there. We're very close to it. The establishment of more care elders, those guys are amazing. They're doing a great job. And so establishing and equipping more care care elders, and the further development of discipleship ministry.

These are things that are going to happen. The small group ministry, we've we've always had some small groups, but I think we need to be a church where small groups are part of our ministry and not just something we do, you know. Do them with purpose and direction. Because, you know, when you get to this size, it it is hard to build relationships. And the church is family. You know?

And how do you keep that family feel and still turn nobody away? You know, there are people who say, well, the church is too big or, you know, well, if God brings them, we need to bless them and love them. And I think that's something we have to do. That probably is going to require somebody else to oversee. I can't do that.

And so we're looking at adding some staff to do just that, you know, and potentially raise up some leaders that eventually could take my place and fill in, which we have some young guys that are, doing amazing, and I'm excited about them. Well, that brings up another subject, which is related to questions that pastors often have as their church is growing numerically. How do I how do we add staff? Why do we add staff? And for what purpose do we add staff?

So you've got a vision here. You've got something you know has to happen. Your church has gotten large numerically. So how can it remain small as you're growing larger? Right?

So you've had the foresight to think this is going to have to be something that we add a staff member to. And I know having had discussions with you and all of, on that subject, you're looking for somebody that's pastoral, somebody that's an equipper himself, somebody who's passionate about small groups and about developing that into the culture and the ethos of the church, it's it's gonna be wonderful what happens. I'm so excited for you guys to see that thing just really break off. I mean, people are meeting in smaller groups a lot of times anyway through projects and things like that. But to be intentional like what you're doing, it's really, really awesome.

So that's how you add staff is you add it according to the need that is consistent with your vision and your way of implementing that vision.

Exactly. Yeah. That's good. So, yeah.

A lot of changes. So I know one of the things that you had said to me, and I'm now going public with it (we'll delete this if we if we need to). But, you had just said that there are things that you're realizing you were on the sabbatical, things that you're realizing that you didn't need to come back to and and keep on doing. Others can do it, you know, so I'm gonna keep that off of my plate. Is it okay to share that? I just did. It's perfectly okay. It's really, an important concept, especially when you are, part of a church from the foundation.

You know, when the church is really small, there are many things, many hats that the pastor has to wear, because nobody else is there to do it. And you can't rely on people who are very busy and working, and I mean, everything from adjusting the sound, you know, at the ladies bible study to, you know, mopping a floor that is just dirty or whatever. And not that you ever become too big to do those things. You know, we had a great example in pastor Chuck, you know, picking up cigarette butts in the parking lot or fixing plumbing in the bathroom. But to hang on to so many of those things as the church grows, you actually are denying people an opportunity to serve.

You know, we have a guy in our church that just loves to do physical projects, and one thing I did, I asked him to take care of, some dead trees we had on our property while, I was gone, and he did a great job. You know, I could've done that. I'm handy. I could gone out there with a chainsaw and taken care of them, but, you know, he took it as personal ownership, and that's his ministry, you know. And so it's really good to see, that perspective.

And when you step away, you realize I've been hanging on to things that really I've been keeping people from growing in their faith because they want to serve in these areas. And you know, we pastors need to be having more time devoted to prayer and, the study of God's Word. Right. You know, just like the book of Acts. Yeah. And they said it is not right that we should leave the word of God to serve tables.

Not that they were unwilling to do it. It just wasn't right to do it. Exactly. So that I can see I can hear the young younger pastor or any pastor really no matter what their age is. I'm thinking, well, I wonder what all the things are that I do without even knowing that I'm doing them, all the things I feel responsible for.

The pastor might say to himself, "Maybe I should sit down over the course of a couple weeks and take a personal inventory of the things I'm doing. And maybe I should start deciding intentionally, what can I give away and what would others be able to do this what people could do these things just as well or better than I could?" You know, that would be a healthy exercise. I believe it would be.

You know, I wish that that was something that, I had done 5 years ago, you know, at least.

Yeah. Well, I I resemble that remark. I wish I would have done it in my ministry more often myself.

Well, Rich, this has been great. You've painted a good picture of what a sabbatical can be and what it is like. And I think it's helpful. And I'm excited about High Sierra Fellowship moving into this next season. It's gonna be a new season, and the sabbatical has, I think, a lot to do with that. And so I'm excited for you and for the church. So, what I'd like you to do now, Rich, if you would, is just take a couple of minutes to put on your mentor hat, which you have well earned and deserved, to be a coach and a mentor and example to other pastors, and put on that mentor hat and just share for a couple of minutes directly to your fellow pastors and leaders what's on your heart, today.

Thanks, Bill. I appreciate that opportunity. I believe that we are entering a very exciting time for the church. You know, we look at what's going on in the world and so many people are getting overwhelmed with stuff, or they're, going political with stuff, or they're going into despair with stuff.

And it isn't a time to do that. What we have right now is at least the second, if not the 3rd generation of ignorance. Ignorance can be fixed. Ignorance is just lack of knowledge. And so people are ignorant of who Jesus is.

They're ignorant of the Bible. And so we have these blank slates out there. And what I see in a lot of young people right now is a hunger. They've they've tasted of the things of the world, and they've been left empty. And they're realizing there is truth.

And when we present God's word as truth, and we really believe what we're preaching, you know, they're drawn to that. And and we're seeing it in our church, and I'm hearing it from other pastors that this is a very exciting time for the church. You know, I  don't worry about the times or the seasons as much as I worry about being faithful. You know, Jesus said, occupy until I come. You know, what does that look like?

You know, Peter tells us in light of the Lord's coming, we're to live holy and godly lives. You know, being that salt and light. And as we are, I think we will see more and more people, young and old, drawn to this great faith that we have. You know, not too long ago, we had a guy. He's in his late seventies. And he's lived his whole life as one who believed in God. But then he got born again, and everything is different. And he's got the joy of the Lord of a young Christian upon him, and it's just exciting to be part of those things.

So I would encourage guys, you know, don't be discouraged. Don't be looking around at the world too much. Yeah. We gotta stay connected with what what's happening and, around the world, but, you know, be concerned with the gospel, and let the world know about this great Jesus that we serve. Oh, I love that.

That's awesome. Well, thank you so much, Rich, for that and thanks for joining us on this podcast episode. Your story is a story of faithfulness. And I think aboutthe long-term pastor, and I think about the guys that on our Poimen Ministries team as well. I think of the book that Warren Wiersbe wrote called In Praise of Plodders.

A plodder is somebody who puts one foot in front of another every day. It seems like it's just sort of, routine and regular. I do this every day kind of lifestyle. But you know, that's how Warren Wiersbe identified himself. I'm a plodder.

You know, that's what I am, he said. And the book is amazing, bunch of anecdotes that talk about the benefit of just being faithful, to stay at it. Don't lose your focus, don't take your eyes off the prize. Keep keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, all those kinds of things. And that's what ministry is.

Your ministry is a story of that kind of faithfulness and a faithful plodding, if you like that, if you like that moniker. Anyway, it's great. Thanks for joining us. I really appreciate it.

Thanks for having me, Bill.

You're welcome. God bless you, Rich.

So Poimen Ministries, what we are is a group of pastoral couples that have retired from their long term pastorates, but have by no means retired from ministry. We see ourselves now as those that can be a help to and a strength into existing pastors of churches. Just head to PoimenMinistries.com, and the announcer will give you more details.

So, thanks for listening to podcast 161. We've been with pastor Rich Lammay of High Sierra Fellowship in Gardnerville, Nevada. God bless you all in Jesus' name.

Strength for today's pastor is sponsored by Poimen Ministries. You can find us at poimenministries.com.

That's spelled poimenministries.com. If something in today's program prompts a question or comment or if you have a topic idea for a future podcast, just send us an email at strongerpastors@gmail.com.