My Un-Cool Church Part 4: Our Pastor

Brian & Brenda

Brian Kearns has been my pastor for nearly 20 years.  There are some distinct differences between him and the other pastors we have had since I have been at Ewtonville.  He is a year younger than me; our children are the same age.  This has made our relationship different than with other pastors.  I consider him my brother and my friend.

Brian came with a determination to stay for the long haul.  Most of the other pastors we had didn’t stay more than two or three years.  Having a pastor stay for a long time has brought a stability to our church that we didn’t have before.  The deacons have learned to play a different role in leadership because of Brian, and that has led to much spiritual growth in their lives.  Let me explain further.

In the church I grew up in and lots of others, the pastor runs everything.  That was not true when I came to Ewtonville.  The deacons saw to the running of the church because they had to.  The pastors we had before were “short-termers.”  The deacons had to insure that things were going to continue no matter who the pastor was.  Once Brian came and was willing to stay (and we wanted him to stay), they were able to change their approach to leadership in some ways.

Brian preaches differently than our other pastors.  His approach is expository, which is what I grew up listening to.  He chooses a book of the Bible and works his way through it.  His desire is to teach “the full counsel” of the Word of God.

As I’ve been calling this series “My Un-Cool Church,” Brian is just oozing with “un-coolness” (Sorry, Brian).  He has trouble pronouncing words.  He cuts off words at the ends of sentences when he’s preaching.  He uses lame object lessons (Sorry again, Brian).  But these are things that, rather than bother us, have endeared Brian to us.

And what he lacks in coolness, he makes up for in sincerity, in humility, in love.  Brian sets an example of humility that is very often lacking from pastors.   He feels no need to be threatened when someone has an idea they want to try out.  He’s all for us all using our gifts.  There is no job in our church that he would not do.  He would clean toilets if they needed it (and probably has); he deems no job beneath his position.  In short, Brian has a servant’s heart.  And I’ll take that over coolness any day of the week.

Brian "runs the race" "to win the prize."