Utility Infielders

The late Elmer Little was a good friend of mine, who preached in Des Moines when we first moved to Iowa.  Elmer sometimes described well known preachers as “Brotherhood Somewhats.”   There is something of a pecking order among preachers, although I don’t know that I could actually name the “dirty dozen.”  The list keeps changing, and I probably wouldn’t know the names of today’s “Brotherhood Somewhats.”  I recently looked the schedule of a college lectureship event, and I barely knew the names of a third of the speakers.  I’ve never been a Brotherhood Somewhat and really have no desire to be one.  

However, as I look back at 50 plus years of ministry I think I could legitimately compare myself to utility infielders on baseball teams. Utility infielders don’t usually have high batting averages.  Their fielding is adequate but they don’t win golden glove awards.  They’ll never play in all star games, but they are valuable team members because they can play just about anywhere in the infield, and they’re even called on for pinch hitting duties on occasions.  Their play is good enough to keep them on the team, but their picture will never be enshrined at Cooperstown.

My ministry experiences have been something like that.  I started out as a pulpit minister for a small town church.  I’ve served in that capacity several different times, but at other times I’ve had different roles.  I was a youth minister before anybody ever decided to make that a job title.  I’ve been an educational minister, a personal evangelism minister, a bus evangelism minister, a church planter, a family minister, an elder, and an associate minister.  The term “associate” is a convenient term to describe duties that aren’t specifically labeled.  Perhaps the term “general flunky” would be applicable.  Maybe it would be more dignified if I had been given the title I had when I work in construction – “common laborer.”

In the process I’ve often worked with ministry teams.  I’ve been in some relatively large churches, and I helped start a church that began with 14 members. Most of my ministry experiences have involved serving churches with fewer than 200 members. Some might consider me a “jack of all trades and a master of none.”  From my viewpoint, I think I’ve had a wonderful variety of ministry experience.   I suppose being a “brotherhood somewhat” has its merits, but I know one thing for sure. Utility infielders don’t get bored.