Pastor John C.W. is leaving his ministry because it became an idol, trapping him in crowd expectations and blocking his connection to God. He warns against pastor celebrity culture and urges believers to develop their own prayer and Bible study instead of relying on clergy. He's appointed multiple leaders to run the church without him.
I have never seen a pastor do this. Now, I have been learning a lot about pastoral ministry and starting a church and what it means to be the church, and this is one of the— probably the first time I've ever seen somebody do this, and it was incredibly sobering and encouraging. It just, um, really changed my perspective of what pastoral ministry looks like. So this is Pastor John C.W., or Teacher John C.W. as he goes by, Let's take a look at how he just gave up his ministry.
It's my last time to minister to you. My job is done. I need to go up the mountain and to hear God again. There are things in my life I need to correct. There is a language I need to hear.
Now, he, he doesn't have a small ministry. It's not like he's just getting started and feels like he needs to hear God at what seems to be a real inflection point in his ministry and his being known by people, he's talking about things that he still needs to fix. And man, if that's not such a real thing. And it's encouraging to know that no matter where you get in life, how big your platform gets, always be humble enough to know that there's some things you still need to correct.
And one of the things I've noticed is that Ministry lies to people. The preacher is so caught up in ministry that doesn't know how to slow down. He's so caught up with the crowd and the church and the people telling him, Papa, preach! That catches the— the preacher is normally under that slavery for long. I've seen so many preachers, I don't want to go go that direction.
Now, one thing that I have realized in my short life in ministry— like, I mean, I've been a pastor for about, you know, 2 years, preaching for 4 or 5— and, um, the applaud of men could be deafening, and the plot of men can sometimes be so loud that you don't hear God. And you always need to make sure that people don't clap you out of your position. Life and clap you out of your destiny.
So, um, yeah, what's more important to me than serving you is being his. It's more important to me. And so I'll be calling the rest. They don't know. Even these ones didn't know after seeking the Lord for long. I want you to release me so I can go up the mountain. Moses would have stayed for 40 days. I don't know me how long I'll stay.
Another thing is, it's like, it's not like scandal is what's taking him. Like, we've seen people step down from ministry because there was a fall, or, you know, there was some scandal, but this is no scandal. This is just him deeply wanting to seek the face of God and not wanting to be so caught up in ministry and the crowd and people that he forget that he has to work out his own salvation with fear and trembling.
But this is the reason why God calls us to build others. We don't build ministry around ourselves. We build ministry around Christ. And if Christ wants to use a donkey to speak, so be it. But one thing I vowed to myself, I will never allow ministry— there is a place I've seen many young people, that's what they like. I will not allow ministry to get me to that point where they dare to seek the Lord. I'm interested about what, what about them?
And I don't want this to be like I'm establishing the doctrine here, right? This is just him, his convictions, how he feels personally about ministry. Um, so don't, don't— it's not a, it's not a doctrine. I'm not saying that every pastor in the world should step down. God forbid that happens, right? You know, you're called to a flock. But listen to what he's saying.
I have given you Jesus. I have taught you the principles of light. Not as the best man ever— I'm the least, probably the worst. By grace, I have shown you the light of his salvation. You will need to learn to hear God for yourself, to pray for yourself, and to study the Bible for yourself, to seek his truth for yourself, until you finally arrive to that point where it is God and you, man.
You know, we can't— we can't have a crutch in our walk with Christ. We can't outsource our salvation. We can't outsource our prayer life. You can't outsource that Fellowship with God, that's something that you have to do yourself. Your pastor can't do it, your bishop can't do it, your evangelist can't do it. It has to be you. And many times, you know, we, we rely so much on other people, and it's good, right? It's a reason why God has given us the evangelists. It's a reason why he's given us teachers. There's a reason why he's given us pastors. But there's also a reason why he's given us his Holy Spirit.
And in order to exercise you, we must break that superstar thing that I'm seeing my generation trying to build around my life. Looking unto Jesus. Looking unto Jesus. These two men, one is Martin, sorry, Pastor.
Um, and then he just goes on to really just impart people. He selected two pastors, an elder, an operations person. I mean, he created a real solid structure so that when he steps away, the church continues, right? Because that church was put there to revere Christ. That's what all churches are placed there for. And I, I, I can't help but think that there are so many churches that if you take the lead pastor away, many people leave with the lead pastor. And I, I, I wish it wasn't so. I wish that we can get to a point where we all go to church and know that we have met Christ, we've come to hear the truth, hear the gospel, and we care less about who's saying it and more about what's being said. We care more about the, the blood and the flesh of Jesus being presented in our communion. We care more about making sure that people are coming and they're giving their life and they're being baptized, a real water total immersive baptism, that we care so much about all the things that we do as the church because we are the church and not just one person. I know there are some exceptional preachers out there, man, and I will list them out and I will be like, yeah, this person is set apart. But honestly, there's so many local pastors that are doing great things that we must make sure that we are not having this— if you're not 100,000 followers, if you don't have these crusades, then you're not gonna be my pastor. Like, if Jesus can use a donkey let's not overlook the person that doesn't have the most eloquence. Like Paul says, he did not come with the eloquence of speech, he came in a demonstration of power. And what is power? The gospel. The gospel of God is for the salvation of souls. So, um, this was a sobering moment, a pastor just stepping away from ministry, handing it over to his, his other pastors. And, you know, we'll see what the church does, if the church grows if the church leaves, but I think what he did was exceptional. Let me know what you think in the comments. Otherwise, it's Pastor O. I'll see you soon.
