When I first started serving our local church on a ministerial level twelve years ago, I pulled back from the local political effort. I had helped to found the local Daufuskie Island Council, serving as the chairman for the first two years then vice-chairman for the third year (although the chairman resigned and I took that seat once more). But the thing about sitting in the seat of local politics is that you will inevitably make people mad for saying or doing something that they disagree with. It is no different standing in the pulpit – on many occasions I have said or done things at church that have made people upset. The difference between the two situations is simply that, at the church, I try to let my words and actions be guided straight out of Scripture, so that if people are upset with me, they are actually upset with the Bible (in theory, at least).
I have taken that approach, because there is nothing more important than making disciples of Jesus (would you expect a pastor to say anything else?). I have purposefully chosen to avoid the political world that so many want to weigh in on, because I don’t want to give anyone an easy reason to not come to our church. That doesn’t mean that I’ve stayed silent; rather, it means that I have tended to work behind the scenes utilizing relationships that I have developed from the nearly 20 years of living on this island. Yet I have tried to keep that part of my life out of sight, to keep the church as my primary focus.
Having said all that, when God called me to become a pastor, He didn’t call me as a teenager who could then go to seminary. Nope. He called me after I had completed undergraduate and business school, spent a few years in the headquarters of publicly traded companies, and then a few years on development projects large and small. And He called me after a productive time in local politics. Therefore, the man called to be pastor of this small church had a lifetime of experiences associated with not being a pastor that came along with him.
I have no desire to wade back into the world of politics, locally or any other level. However, with the recent debacle of the public ferry contract, I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer. As a friend and island resident said to me after Hurricane Matthew, before the storm I was the pastor of the First Union African Baptist Church, but after the storm I was the pastor of Daufuskie Island. I take that very seriously, so the harm being done to our entire community wasn’t something that I could stay silent about. It isn’t simply that I see the harm being done, but also that my experiences before becoming pastor have given me a perspective on this particular issue that most might not have when it comes to the many layers involved.
As I said, God didn’t call someone who was only a Bible scholar to be the pastor. Instead, perhaps He saw that this is a unique place that requires a pastor who can, when the time calls, put on a few other hats that help the community. 1 John 3:17 declares: “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” While experience and knowledge may be viewed differently from material possessions, they still represent assets that can be leveraged to help when our island is in need. Therefore, realizing that there is still nothing more important to me than helping members of our island community become disciples of Christ, I hope that you will forgive me if I weigh in on a few other topics from time to time.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron