Welcome to the World of a Pastor

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Pastoral Theology Course Notes
Lesson Eighteen

Lesson One
Lesson Two
Lesson Three
Lesson Four
Lesson Five
Lesson Six
Lesson Seven
Lesson Eight
Lesson Nine
Lesson Ten
Lesson Eleven
Lesson Twelve
Lesson Thirteen
Lesson Fourteen
Lesson Fifteen
Lesson Sixteen
Lesson Seventeen
Lesson Eighteen
Lesson Nineteen
Lesson Twenty
Lesson Twenty-one
Lesson Twenty-two
Lesson Twenty-three
Lesson Twenty-four
Lesson Twenty-five
Lesson Twenty-six
Lesson Twenty-seven

So, What Happened to the Bus Ministry?

In times gone by, the fundamental Bible-believing evangelistic movement was stapled with the bus ministry. Certainly in this century more people have come to church and heard the gospel by way of this out-reach ministry than any other. So what happened to this ministry? Why has it died out? What does the death of this ministry mean?

First of all let me say I do not think anyone can argue the fact that the bus ministry has been used of God and greatly blessed. Within independent fundamentalism, an aggressive evangelistic bus ministry was the "ear mark" of our ministry. What happened? Did this ministry lose its effectiveness? Has the Lord truly led so many churches to sell their busses and down-size, if not completely shut down this ministry? Let me answer both questions with an emphatic "NO!"

Why has this ministry died out?

First of all it has died because some got into it for the wrong reasons. Now, no one will admit this because it sounds bad, but the truth is some folks only had a bus ministry because they were "supposed to". When the price of gas moved up, they moved out. To these I say, get some committment. Souls are worth the price of gasoline and if you'll trust God and wait upon Him, He'll bless and supply.

Some only had a bus ministry to jack up their Sunday School numbers. To these I say, "Shame on you!" That group is probably out of the ministry by now or under the judgment of God.

Second, without much committment from the pastors there will be little recruitment. Many of our pastors today don't have a heart for souls or for an outreach that won't pay for itself. For this reason most large bus ministries are staffed by college students (hence every large church has a Bible college)and teenagers. The bus ministry in its prime was run by the solid lay people of the church, the ones who didn't go home at the end of the semester or who were at the behest of mom and dad. Pastors preached towards this ministry and faith was placed in God to supply the needs. At that time the independent fundamental Bible-believing churches were the largest in most states.

Finally, let's get back to this great tool. Let's run the busses for all of the services. Sunday night and Wednesday night a van might be used in place of a bus. Let's try to reach the parents of the kids we are picking up. Revelation 2:5 says, “Remember therefore from whence THOU ART FALLEN, and REPENT, and DO THE FIRST WORKS; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, EXCEPT THOU REPENT.”

We are the light of the world. Let's trust God and let the busses run.