I've been giving this some thought and a lot of us have been discussing whether a white pastor or a black pastor would be best for, I'd say approximately, a 70% white/30% black church located in a black community with the goal to serve, love, and evangelize that black community. The original reason for existence was to love and make a difference in the community in which it stood. Knowing that a black pastor would be the greatest testimony for a then (11 years ago) 97% white newly-formed church, the leadership intentionally sought out and found the perfect black pastor for the job. He was excellent (I can write a whole blog on him), but now he's gone. Now the question is who should be selected as the next pastor? A black man or a white man? (For anyone wondering why not a woman, don't even ask; this is the PCA folks).
What I have surmised is that there are two ways to think about it for me because the radical gospel and what you have the nerve to say from the pulpit is most important to me. Our last pastor had what I call the "Obama dilemma"...he couldn't just come right out and say what was really on his mind. He had to temper his words for all of the conservative, un-racially educated white folk and nervous, uncomfortable, under-racially educated black folk listening. I believed he had stronger feelings and much more to say, but, like President Obama, he wasn't obliged to present them as much as he wanted to. Now that's my opinion. Don't go jumping on me for that (I had my own playful nickname for him: Undercover Brother...so you know what I really thought).
Should the pastor be black? Probably.... because of the mission of the church in this community; the great testimony of having a black minister presiding over a multiracial church is a miracle in itself. It sets the church off from other churches as different and having a black pastor certainly attracts black members and hopefully attracts people from the community it serves. It is also a testimony to the predominantly white PCA denomination. Given the paucity of African-American teaching elders in the PCA, it was a tremendous testimony both to the denomination and the larger community to have such a gifted African-American as the founding pastor.Those are major reasons and almost insurmountable. But what about this "Obama dilemma?" Does a black pastor have to be truly tempered so much that he cannot even mention certain strong words in the pulpit for fear of being called radical or threatening? Can a black pastor really get the true gospel out strongly without fearing he is stepping on toes? I am not sure a black pastor would have the nerve or ability -- no matter how humble, educated, well-liked, or nice he is -- to preach what I am going to call to shorten it "the radical gospel."
But on the other hand, a white man can. White people have always had the freedom to talk radically in a mixed group if he chooses. It makes him look good to us, at least to the blacks. We trust him more, we will get behind him and serve with him more diligently. He can say strong words like "this is racism, this is passive racism, what happened when that cop shot that young black boy is sin!" He can say "take down that confederate flag right now because of what it stands for; it's offensive to that black brother or sister sitting right next to you." He can say these things with power right from the pulpit without people charging him with being too black or an angry black man. A white pastor might not have to be timid about saying it loud, that is, if this kind of white man can be found. I already know that a racially-educated, radical white pastor is going to be hard to find. But we also have to think about those nearly insurmountable reasons for selecting a black pastor. These are serious difficult questions that the search committee must address. I'll be praying. But there is no compromise on the radical Gospel of Jesus Christ that must be preached by the chosen pastor. Even though these words were spoken over 45 years ago by Dr. Columbus Sally at Wheaton College (I'm sure he rattled that 99% white student/faculty audience in 1970. Ron was there that day; in fact, he was the student who invited Dr. Sally to Wheaton), they are very relevant today:
"If we cannot demonstrate to black people a gospel that can communicate to them in their totality, and by that I mean a gospel that can deal with black men who are unemployed, a gospel that can deal with a black family that lives in a dilapidated apartment. If it cannot deal with police brutality, if it cannot deal with the black child who is being miseducated, who is a victim of an educational system that denounces the legitimacy of his everyday culture, if our gospel cannot deal with that, it's passe. That's not to say Christ is passe! It just simply means that the transmitters of that reality are passe, ineffective, and antiquated. They have become anachronistic." --Dr. Columbus Sally
Now that's the radical gospel. Search Committee, find a pastor that won't have to succumb to the "Obama dilemma," one who is not passe but one who has the nerve to be a transmitter of the deep gospel, who is relevant, and has the ability to preach a gospel that will really effect change in the hearts and minds of the congregation and community. This will be hard to find. It will take a miracle from God. But God did it once; He can do it again!
