Mike Butler? Here. Richard Campbell? Here. Ron Campbell? Here. Ron Campbell? Yeah, he's right there. Sherman Campbell? Here. Bill Burnett? Here. Ellen Hanson? Here. Roger Mim? Here. David Alvin? Here. Gene Balborez? Here. Ron Wilson, Aaron Walter, Bernie Fletcher, Basil Miller, Jim Nichols, Jim Phillips, and Mark Jackson. Boy, that trip must have done to Jim Phillips. Jim didn't bother. I'll pass around the picture of our wedding and you come over here and take a look at it and hang them back up. The bride and groom look at him first. Which one was the bride? Yeah, the little one. And that was about the most uninspiring group at a wedding. I hope so. They had a good preacher, though. I understand what's false. Well, he could read. Oh boy. Which 30 pounds is he looking at? He tried to take a picture of the bathroom when he was two years old. He told me a few years ago that he was spiritually out of it. He told me about a spiritual memory he had. A what? New American Catholic Bible. New American Bible. You mean he got sick of the Bible? Let's wind up our little discussion about funerals very briefly. We'll just wind up with some very brief comments about What you do when you go to the cemetery, yesterday we, you know, we talked about preceding the casket out to the cemetery, and then when you get to the cemetery, get out of the car or the horse or whatever you're riding in, go back and stand back behind the coach and out of the way of the pallbearers and the funeral director, and then lead the profession out to the grave. That's the minister's job and responsibility. And don't make the mistake that many ministers make of failing to look back occasionally, because there are two extremes to do. One is to walk so close in front of the profession that people feel like they're going to step on your heels. and the other is getting so far ahead of them that you've already reached the graveside and they're a hundred yards behind you. When you get to the graveside, remember that if you've already had the funeral service, the graveside service should be very short. Sometimes you have a service at a graveside. You have the whole funeral service at the graveside. But unless you do that, then the graveside service will be very short, not more than five minutes, plus or minus. OK, well, Mr. Chairman, right over here, we'll follow you down the middle of where it is. And then hopefully, we'll follow you here. We will be reimbursed for that. Hey, Robert. What do you do at a grave site? To me, it seems efficient to read a selected passage of Scripture. My favorite is in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, from verses 13 through 18. That's, you know, that's probably the best one you can get. Because it talks about them which sleep in the grave, which yield comfort to the future, the Lord himself, who descends from heaven, will shout with the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, who found the dead in Christ to rise first, Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another, Lord Jesus. Amen. If a committal is called for, and this might be if a person is a very faithful, known faithful church member, and some people like to give a committal, then I think it's sufficient to just use some of the more common words, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. We commit his body to the ground from whence it came. We commend his spirit to God who gave it. That's about all. Here is a phrase committal that I sometimes use. Because God in his providence has deemed fit to call this our beloved brother, or sister, from earth to heaven. We commit his body back to the ground from which it came, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. As the scripture says, dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return. We cherish his memory here, and we confidently await the glorious morning of the resurrection, when all the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. To me, the Lord is there, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. I will try to get a mini-graph handout for you before this term is over on some of these things. And then you simply close with a benediction. If there is an assisting minister, it would be somewhat appropriate, I think, to call upon him after you've given the committal to pray the closing prayer. Sometimes a family will want three ministers to work together. You know, well, we'd like for this brother to have some part in the service. All right, calling him to assist in the graveside service. I mean, the Supervision Graveside, the third man I'm talking about. And to pray the closing prayer. Okay, what do you do immediately after the service is over? You close with a benediction. And the benediction should be on behalf of the family. They're there at that grave site. They're looking at that catechist for the last time. And so it's appropriate to pray for them, that the Lord would give them strength, sustaining grace, courage. And then, as soon as the prayer is over, it's customary, but not necessary. to shake hands with immediate members of the immediate family. That's sort of an awkward thing to do if there's a big family. I don't even try it. I usually go down the front row and maybe speak to the widow, if it's a man, or the widower, if it's a woman, or maybe the children, if it's the older parents, you know. But I don't try to speak to all of the members of the family. I'm pretty curious with each one of them. I just make myself available for a few minutes. Stand out to one side, make yourself available. Don't go off and get into a head-to-head conversation with someone so that people feel that they're interrupting, that they want to come and speak to you. Just stand out to one side, make yourself available. If someone does come up and want to talk to you, speak briefly to them, so other people have a chance to do the same thing, and then leave you. Just like that. Now, after the service, after the graveside service is over, and after you have gone back to the funeral home and picked up your own car, then it's appropriate to go to the home. to call it the home of the Marine family as soon after the service as possible. I mean, when they get back home, then you should go back too. Try to go back at that time, and don't ever act as if you expect a fee from the family, or the funeral. If they want you to have one, there's probably a better arrangement for that already. It's becoming more and more customary, especially here in California, for a minister's expenses to be included in the overall cost of the funeral, and you get a check from the funeral home. Well, what do you do in a case like that? In a case like that, I stick it in my pocket. And I do whatever I want to with it. Someone might say, well, I think you ought to give every penny of it to the church. I do, but that's my business. If that would be up to me, would I want to do that? I wouldn't want to trade it. That's what you ought to do. If it's something that the family wants you to have, and they've made arrangements for you to have a check through with your mom, then fine. Take it. Be grateful about it. Don't be ungrateful or ungrateful either in this matter of accepting money, because if people want you to have it, they're going to make the first move, and they come and say, here's a check, and I want you to take it. And don't say, well, I'm just not about to do it. You know, when you stick that right back in your pocket and hold it there, that's the way my mother acted. She was so independent that I wondered if I raised her right. But, you know, you do have to learn to accept things gracefully. Don't ever act as if you're a moocher. That's very undignified and unbecoming to a Christian and a minister to act as though you're a moocher, and that you're always mooching for something. But at the same time, don't flop over to the other extreme and be so infernally independent that you cannot accept things gracefully. I think it's a good practice to make a follow-up visit within a few days after a funeral. The reason I think it's a good practice is because, say, three or four days after a funeral service is over, The children and the other relatives who've come from long distances have already gone home. And that little widow may be there at the house all by herself. And that'll be probably the most trying period she will have, is during that initial period, within a few days after the funeral service is over, when everyone else has gone home, the kids are all gone, and the house is empty. That's when a pastor ought to minister to his people. That's when you really ought to minister to your people. And so, if you can, remember that your visit will actually be more meaningful a week later than it would be one day later, when maybe the children are still there and they're still rushing around, rushing around, taking care of business. And it's not a bad idea if you like to write letters, it's a good pastoral practice to send a letter to the family, including maybe one or two scriptures that you use in your funeral service, words of comfort. If there are married children, I'll send each one of them a letter. Okay, any questions about funeral services? That's pretty easy to obtain if you're on the ball, you know. Just go to the widow and ask for the address of who you're taking. Tell her what you want to do. Well, you could do that, you know, when you write up your comments for your obituary. It's the date of birth, date of death, the number of survivors, the names of the survivors, the family records. Okay, if that's all about phenos, I won't talk to you anymore today. I don't remember what he used to say, but there was one visit that there would be where David lost a child, and he says, he says, he can't come back to me, but I can go to him. I have found your little minister manuals helpful in that. They give you recommended One of the best little manuals that I've ever seen is the Ritual of the Methodist Church. I told you that once before, and I'll remind you of it again if you ever get a chance to buy one of those. I don't think they tell anyone that they're purchased, but you could write, you know, and say, I lost my manual. Would you please send me another one? And you don't have to tell them you're a Methodist. You don't even have one of those, do you? You're a Methodist. That's that modernist. Okay, if you ever get a chance to go get a copy of that little book called The Ritual of the Master Church, it's got a lot of garbage in it. It's got a lot of stuff in there about, well, I don't know, some of their funny ways that they do it, some of their funny rituals that they have, but it's also got some excellent collections of scriptures uh, for burial services, you know, it has the, uh, Episcopal wedding ceremony in it, which is the old traditional, dearly beloved, we gather here in the time of God, and He's working to keep us, the one that's similar to what we had over here the other day. And it's in a little big book that's about that size and just about that thin, printed on India paper, like Bible paper. You slip it down in your coat pocket, never know it's there. And it looks kind of like a little Bible. And I have two of them, but the other one's not the same. How about a tap? You're a thief? I prefer to burn you. Don't they have a book store here in Los Angeles somewhere? Do you know about that either? I don't know where it is. I think it would be like Coatsbury's. Do they have a Coatsbury book store? Not a good place. As a matter of fact, next time I'm down there, I'll see if I can check in there, see if those are available. If they are, I think you can go into the browns and have a look for them. Sometimes you can get a lot of letters, books, and manuals and everything. Well, I don't think you'd run on to one of these in there, because this is a pastor's manual, a ritual of the Methodist Church. It's just a whole thing in there about, well, you know, you wouldn't even have to be called a priest to be a Methodist minister, because everything's in there for you, all written out. You just have to be a good leader. I can't believe it. Well, anyway, that's a good one. You might keep that in mind and see if you can find one of those. How many of you guys in here want one of those, if you can find one? I'll try to make a little profit on those. Are we going to give our fingers that we bought for five dollars? I don't have any idea. I was almost dead in the hospital when those pictures were taken. Are they going to get any pictures of you? Well, last year we had a problem coming in. We got three colored cops in the ambulance that were black and white. They paid the same price. We can get in there. We're lucky to get in there. Just tell them about the angle right there. $125 in the hole. That's good. That's what we were talking about. It's a piece. Don't laugh too much. Is that an official complaint you're making? Well, there's one I've heard expressed, and I've said otherwise to the bottom of the pot, so we have an agent. Well, the problem is I made money, and the thought was that we wouldn't want to give up the same deal to save money by having Brother Fox take the picture. We haven't got many horses out there. Well, I imagine you haven't gotten them back because they haven't been processed. Did you process the negatives and the positives for the annual? We got one for the annual, but we only got one of each. One of each? Did you take the negatives and mix them over then? I don't really know how to answer your question, because I've never seen those pictures and don't know who took them. Like I tell you, I was in the hospital at the time and I've never heard it discussed since then. But if it really means that much to you, I'll get your picture made and I'll do it. I'll do it on my own feet, you know, to make you happy. I apologize for turning it up late. I'm going to get my angle up and have to pick you up. You apologize when you're right. That's not good in the family. That's the way it is. Okay, okay. You talk to us about it and we'll get something done about it. Okay, I'd like to discuss with you today the work of a pastor as an administrator, pastoral administration. And I'm going to just bring you a little talk from my notes. The pastor is an administrator for the Church. He's a man called a priest, but keep in mind at the same time, that the Church is an organization, and all organizations must have an executive, must have an executive head of some kind. Don't read anything into there that's not fair, and please don't go away saying, Brother Ethan, the pastor is the head of the Church. Christ is the spiritual head of the Church, of course, that's what the Bible teaches. And I'm not speaking of the pastor as being the head of the church in that sense. But I am speaking of the pastor serving as the chief executive over the material matters involved with the operation of the church. There are several passages of Scripture that sustain that thought, that idea. Look up the words, for example, in the New Testament that refer to the pastor's work, the pastor's office, and you will find words like shepherd, the shepherd of the flock. You'll find Peter saying, for example, to the elders, feed the flock of God over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseer. You'll find the Apostle Paul saying that elders that rule well should be counted worthy of double honor. A church, in a sense, is like a machine. Now, the church is not a machine. And I don't believe in machines if I understand what that means when people talk about, you know, that's just a machine in that church. But let's think of this analogy of a church being like a machine. Well, all machines must be run by someone. If you get them started, someone has to push the button to make them start. A few times I've gone to church when I thought it was a standoff as to who got the services started. It passed through the psalmy register, the synagogue, the priest and dentist, BCC director, or what have you. So someone has to get the machine started. Also, like a machine, friction must be reduced. and put a little oil on there once in a while. I heard a little story one time about people that were riding on a streetcar, and every time the door opened, there was a terrible screeching sound, metal grinding against metal. And the people were on their way home from work, and everybody was tense. You know, here's the little secretary sitting over here, and she's been timing the typewriter all day, and here's the businessman over here that's been making decisions all day, and here's the gal that works in the laundry, and she's all uptight. And so after about four or five times that door opening, there was one fellow that was a machinist. Had on his bib overalls, and he had his lunch pail in his hand. And the oaf of his lunch pail took out a little oil can, walked over and squirted quite a bit of oil on the hinges of that door, and then walked back and sat down. And there was a preacher that happened to be on the bus, and the next time the door opened they didn't hear a sound except just a little pushing sound. And he said, Lord, help me the next time I go out into the world to take an oil can with me. Because that fellow had done so much good for so many people there by just that little thoughtful act that he did. Okay, wheels and gears must be lubricated. Repairs must be made. Every part of the mechanism must be subjected to constant scrutiny and supervision in order that the machine may do the work for which it has been created. Now, if you think of the church as an analogy to that machine, then you kind of have an idea of the many facets of pastoral administration. Someone must be the general overseer of the overall program. What constitutes the overall program of the church? Well, think of all the different things that go on in a church. Do you have publicity, such as newsletters, bulletins, advertising, recruitment of personnel? Is there such a thing as a youth program? Is there a recreational program? Is there a financial program? You know, regardless of how many treasurers you have and how many finance committees you have, the pastor is still the main fundraiser for the church. He's the man who has the primary, basic responsibility for raising money for the church. And any kind of a balanced diet from the pulpit should include messages on what God's Word teaches about giving. Do you have an educational program in the church? If so, of what does it consist? Sunday school, DTC, ladies' auxiliary, vacation Bible school, home Bible studies, youth Bible studies? All of those things are a part of the overall work of the church. Do you have denominational responsibilities? Do you cooperate with other churches in certain things? For example, the publishing of literature, the supporting of missionaries and missionary activities, the supporting of a school such as CMBI. All of those things are a part of the work of a church. And so, all of those things are part of the administrative responsibility of the pastor. Now, I suppose Bill Burnett should repeat after me what I've just gotten to say. All of the administration... Okay, there are some essential qualities for effective administration. Some essential qualities for effective administration. Would you repeat that last part? Essential qualities for effective administration. Number one, honesty. Number one, honesty. And then do you have them two last Sunday? Oh, I don't know, must have been two or three hundred. Actually, it was 137. They took the number that they had for Sunday school and the number that they had for church and had it to do with that company that they had that morning. So, they had, well, they didn't have that many, didn't pay off that many, but they did their conservancy. I should bring a record to class with you someday called Tiptoe Through the Tigers. Anyone ever hear that record? Anyone ever heard that record, Tiptoe Through the Tigers? I don't know if I'll bring it to class. Do we have that record yet? Okay, I'll bring it to class. So this is a record. It's really new. What are you talking about? Counting the cat out on the bench and the boy that threw his ball into the parking lot? All right. What are you going to bring? Oh, let's see. What do we have coming up for tomorrow on the program? Hospital qualifications. Hospital qualifications and remissions. Well, not remissions. Not to squeeze it in tomorrow? Yeah, I think if anybody should bleed out and be a priority person, it should be that person. So I think that's pretty good. I'm sure they will. I can only speak for myself, brother, but I've tried to do just that. And not just retire, but if you don't stop to retire, then you have a better morning than the Jews were made to do under the law. Thirty percent would be more likely to replace you. Okay, the second essential quality is humility. Humility is such a delicate virtue that when you begin to talk about it, it disappears. If you don't remember at all times that you're dealing with volunteer workers, they find ways to remind you. They talked to him as their pastor because of the humility of him, and they gave him a button to pin the humility on it. And next Sunday he got up to thank the church for it, and he's very happy that they gave it to him, that they pinned the license. Well, why didn't you say that? The third essential quality for effective administration is tact. T-A-C-T, tact. Now how do you define tact? Tact is the ability to... Tact is the ability to show people the point without letting them feel the needle. I remember a business man said, once he was a poor man, he told people he wore a hell of an outfit for his trip. Without feeling the needle, did you say? Feeling, feeling. Tax is the ability to kill people to point without letting them feel the needless. I heard another way to say it. You're going to need to sell somebody a bird's nest for $10 and make a print. Oh, I don't know whether I'd go along with that or not. That doesn't sound very tactful. That sounds like, yeah, I'm deceitful. Now that's tact. I'd like to hear what President Baxter just said. What was the statement he just made? Bill, they wanted you to repeat your statement. Telling a man to go to hell and making him look forward to the trip. I don't know, would that be tactful? The third essential quality for effective administration is conviction. Fourth, okay, fourth. Conviction. I don't think that tax is a synonym for spinelessness. A pastor who doesn't have some conviction doesn't deserve to be a pastor. He shouldn't be a pastor. You don't have some conviction about what you believe, what you stand for, and that's not the most important thing, that's just one of the important things. Okay? Number five, vision. Vision. Vision is the ability to see the unseen. Yeah, that's vision. That's the ability to see the unseen. Or is the ability to walk out on a vacant lot somewhere and see a church building there with lots of people worshiping the Lord with me on the Sunday? It's $300 a week. Where did that come from? I heard the story one time of a pastor showing a group of preachers around the fine new church building they just built. And one young preacher was looking at it and saying, boy, would I like to walk into something like this. An older brother said, son, you don't walk into something like this. You crawl into it on your knees. You get the point? Number six, ability to systematize and organize. I think that that would be a good thing to add, maybe for future classes, would be how to gather material for sermons. You know, you read material all the time, but to keep it and put it in order. We have, of course, a monolithic order. The ability to systematize and organize, or as Bill Gannett says, to put in order. The system, though, is more than a state of mind. It's one thing to visualize a fine organization, but it's another thing to put it in order one step at a time. Obviously, if you only have 15 members, you don't need five committees. But there should be some system and some order even if you only have 15 members. There should be some organization. What kind of organization? What kind of system? Well, do you think it would be proper and systematic to plan a series of sermons for a month's briefing? That's one system that I'm talking about. Do you think it's a good thing to plan... That's my first question. Do you think it's a good thing to plan the activities ahead of time? The layout activities ahead of time? We're going to have a Vacation Bible School this summer. How would it be if we came up to within three days a Vacation Bible School and on the women's night before? They said, oh yeah, Bible school starts next Monday. Would anyone like to teach in it? That wouldn't work. What do you do? You systematize and organize in advance so that this thing is well planned out. And then when time comes, everyone feels comfortable because they've been making proper preparation. OK, everyone's business is no one's business. Even if you have one man committee to work on the project, there will be someone who becomes a part of your system and your organization to carry out the will of the church. We talked in Parliamentary Law the other day about, I'll make a motion we paint the church. Okay, second motion, all in favor say aye. And the ayes have it. And so we'll paint the church. I suppose you just dismiss without saying anything. What kind of questions would be left hanging right there? When? What color? How much? Okay, so you see that a part of your administration is organized so that you get those questions answered. and that someone is appointed to carry out that mandate from the church. Number seven, confidence. Okay, here is Brother Reed's definition of confidence. It's that smug feeling you get just before you fall flat on your face. You know about that feeling, don't you? No, what I really mean by confidence is this. A trumpet must not give an uncertain sound, or else the soldiers don't know what to do. They misinterpret it. That's what that scripture means. If a trumpet gives an uncertain sound, then how do the soldiers know what to do? That stems back to the day when they had a bugler that rode by the side of the commanding officer into every battle. And the commanding officer would tell the mutilator to sound charge, sound retreat, sound the holding pattern, something like that. And the mutilator would give his sound, and the soldiers knew by the sound whether they were supposed to advance or retreat. Now, if a trumpet gives an uncertain sound, how do people know what to do? How would you apply that to pastoral duties, to pastoral administration? A trumpet must not give an uncertain sound. The pastor must have enough confidence in any kind of a program he initiates to believe that it will work. And he must know how to organize in order to make it work. I got this quote from Dr. Dobbins, I don't know where I got it. It says, let action rest on conviction, not on mere consent. Depend more on honest, intelligent prayer than upon human wisdom and an immune practice. Base decisions, policies, courses of action on facts, not guesses, rumors, gossips, or sentimental wishes. Keep up, or most always, the eternal value of the individual. Cultivate the spirit of incurable optimism. What do we mean by confidence, anyway? Well, I certainly believe that a preacher should give a random prayer, constant, daily, fervent prayer. But now, fellas, you can't just pray. and never translate the results of your prayers into positive action. That just won't work. And that's not what the Lord intends. You should pray for progress in your church. And then you should organize and systematize so that you can see that progress become a reality. And so confidence is a sort of a combination of the two things. It's a combination of faith in your prayers and also the ability to carry out what you feel is the result of your prayers. Okay, now, looking back over those notes you just made, do you have any questions or any items you'd like to discuss further? Any one of those items you'd like to discuss further? OK, if there are no other items you'd like to discuss further, let's discuss one more. The ROE bill. Thank you. Thank you.