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closeMatters of faith: Being a pastor isn’t about the money, it’s about life giving words
Kim Latterell / guest columnist
A year ago, a liberal radio personality was given a multi-hundred million dollar contract to entertain his listeners on satellite radio. Recently, a conservative radio host was given a $400 million dollar contract to entertain his listeners on regular radio. The dollar amounts seem staggering.
To slightly modify a well-known phrase, it’s a case of putting our money where their mouth is. Imagine getting paid nearly $500,000 dollars a week to fill waiting ears with caustic, often cruel, frequently spiteful commentary all for the purpose of amusing faithful followers numbering in the tens of millions. Truly, fools and their money are soon parted. Howard and Rush must laugh all the way to the bank every day.
By contrast, some 100,000-plus men and women stand up every Saturday or Sunday in an attempt to speak God’s truth to their waiting audiences, not to entertain but to inform and form them for faithful and compassionate living. Their pay, at best, is shaped by a recommended minimum wage scale because congregations and their money are not so easily parted.
Given the choice between speaking highly paid words that are laugh-giving, and those less expensive words that are life-giving, I suspect most pastors wouldn’t trade places. It’s not about the money but about the responsibility of trying to speak “the Word of the Lord” for this day, this context, these particular needs. Truth is, all the money in the world couldn’t compensate for such an awesome, overwhelming privilege.
As an audience the choice is yours. It’s your money, your ears. You can choose to get far less than what you’re paying for or you can seek to get far more than you could ever pay for. You can play life for laughs, usually at somebody else’s expense, or you can tune into heaven’s radio stations and get a word that just might prove to be priceless. The difference, for life and for eternity, is no laughing matter after all.