{"id":20799,"date":"2020-07-27T08:05:18","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T13:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/?p=20799"},"modified":"2020-07-27T08:06:08","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T13:06:08","slug":"the-noise-of-wolves-in-the-night-and-a-few-unhappy-church-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/the-noise-of-wolves-in-the-night-and-a-few-unhappy-church-members\/","title":{"rendered":"The noise of wolves in the night…and a few unhappy church members"},"content":{"rendered":"

I send you forth as sheep among the wolves… (Matthew 10:16)<\/strong><\/p>\n

After my departure, savage wolves will come…. (Acts 20:29)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019re getting scared.\u00a0 Your enemies are making fierce noises.\u00a0 There are so many of them. You\u00a0 are shaking in your boots, your time may be up, the end may be near, and as pastor, you have nowhere to go.\u00a0 Whatever will you do? This is so awful.<\/p>\n

Or, maybe not.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the mid-1840s, Ulysses S. Grant was a Second Lieutenant in the war between the U.S. and Mexico, with the prize being Texas.\u00a0 Grant\u2019s Memoirs<\/em> make fascinating reading. \u00a0We\u2019re told that Grant was the first former president to write his memoirs, and these are generally conceded to be the best of the lot.\u00a0 (Note: Before reading Memoirs<\/em>, I read Grant\u2019s Final Victory,<\/em> an account of the last year of his life when he penned his story to earn enough money to provide for his wife after his impending death.\u00a0 Great story.\u00a0 He was a far better man than he is often given credit for. )<\/p>\n

At one point, Grant and some troopers were in west Texas, which was sparsely settled except by the Indians and varmints. One night, they heard \u201cthe most unearthly howling of wolves, directly in our front.\u201d\u00a0 The tall grass hid the wolves but they were definitely close by.\u00a0 To my ear, it appeared that there must have been enough of them to devour our party, horses and all at a single meal.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The part of Ohio where Grant had been brought up had no wolves, but his friend Lt. Calvin Benjamin came from rural Indiana where they were still in abundance.\u00a0 He understood the nature of the animal and the capacity of a few to make believe there was an unlimited number of them.<\/em><\/p>\n

Benjamin began moving straight toward the wolves, seemingly unafraid.\u00a0 I followed in his trail, lacking moral courage to turn back\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

After a bit, Benjamin spoke. ‘Grant, how many wolves do you think are in that pack?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Lt. Grant figured he was about to be shown up by overestimating the number.\u00a0 So, I determined to show my acquaintance with the animal by putting the estimate below what could possibly be correct.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Oh, about twenty.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Benjamin smiled and said nothing.\u00a0 In a minute, Grant says, \u201cWe were close upon them and before they saw us.\u00a0 There were just two of them.\u00a0 Seated upon their haunches, with their mouths close together, they had made all the noise we had been hearing for the past ten minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

And now the lesson from this.\u00a0 Throughout the book, Grant loves to drop in little insights and proverbs to share with his readers.\u00a0 We could wish he had expounded on this one.\u00a0 He said:<\/p>\n

I have often thought of this incident since when I have heard the noise of a few disappointed politicians who had deserted their associates. There are always more of them before they are counted.<\/em> (Memoirs, page 35)<\/p>\n

Grant had served two terms as President of the United States.\u00a0 He knew politicians all too well.\u00a0 His observation is solid.<\/p>\n

That can also be said of church.<\/p>\n

Many a pastor has been visited by some complaining church member who\u00a0says,\u00a0\u201cA lot of people in the church are unhappy about\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 or \u201cPastor, I\u2019m hearing a lot of complaining over\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

How many people exactly are unhappy about this?\u00a0 How many are upset over that program?<\/p>\n

Remember Grant\u2019s dictum:\u00a0 There are always more of them before they are counted.<\/em><\/p>\n

Usually, it\u2019s the man speaking and his wife.\u00a0 But would he admit that?\u00a0 Not in a million years.\u00a0 When pressed, the complainer says things like \u201cI\u2019m not at liberty to use names\u201d and \u201cYou\u2019d be surprised, Pastor.\u00a0 A lot of people feel this way.\u201d He might even say, \u201cEven if they aren\u2019t saying it to you, they\u2019re saying it to others.\u201d<\/p>\n

I know this from experience, unfortunately.\u00a0 When that little group found they did not have the votes to oust me, they didn\u2019t know what to do.\u00a0 The chairman of deacons, active in the move to send me packing, admitted, “I’m surprised.\u00a0 I thought there was a lot more opposition to the pastor than this.”<\/p>\n

So, pastor, next time they come to you with this line\u2013\u201cA lot of people are unhappy about\u2026\u201d\u2013I suggest you do two things.\u00a0 First, ask them, \u201cExactly who is unhappy.\u00a0 Please don\u2019t come to me with anonymous criticism.\u00a0 If they don\u2019t have the courage to attach their names to this, then I\u2019m going to assume they are not in agreement with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then, after they refuse to give you the names, as they most certainly will not do\u2013cowards are all alike in this regard; anonymity is their bulletproof vest\u2013tell them the story of President Grant and the wolves of west Texas.\u00a0 (We all remember stories of how President Lincoln would disarm his detractors by saying, \u201cThat all reminds me of a story.\u201d\u00a0 Tell the story. And smile real big.\u00a0 Then, thank the complainers for coming by.\u00a0 Have a brief prayer, then rise, stick out your hand and say, \u201cThanks for coming by.\u00a0 I hope you have a wonderful day.\u201d\u00a0 Be sure to smile real big, and do not wait for an answer from them.\u00a0 They have none.<\/p>\n

Do it.\u00a0 You can do this.\u00a0 Practice it a few times so you will be ready.\u00a0 The baying wolves will not give you advance notice that they\u2019re coming by your office today.\u00a0 So, you have to be prepared.<\/p>\n

Go toward them<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then, take a lesson from Lt. Benjamin (who was killed a few weeks later, Grant says, in one of the battles of that unfortunate war):\u00a0\u00a0Walk toward the wolves.<\/em>\u00a0Do not run away.\u00a0 They are not what your fears say they are.\u00a0 Face them.<\/p>\n

Do not ever let anonymous threats frighten you, Pastor.\u00a0\u00a0As with\u00a0anonymous notes, if\u00a0the owner of those things had\u00a0an ounce of moral courage, they would face you.\u00a0 By remaining in the dark, they hope you will think they are more numerous than they are.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re trying to scare you, Preacher.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let them.<\/p>\n

Be strong in the Lord, my friend.\u00a0 God has not given you the spirit of fear\u2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I send you forth as sheep among the wolves… (Matthew 10:16) After my departure, savage wolves will come…. (Acts 20:29)\u00a0 You\u2019re getting scared.\u00a0 Your enemies are making fierce noises.\u00a0 There are so many of them. You\u00a0 are shaking in your … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,27,39,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conflict","category-church-leadership","category-faith","category-pastors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20799"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20828,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20799\/revisions\/20828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}