The Spontaneous Pastor

Sam Rainer

One thing that does not come naturally to me is spontaneity. I am a planner, scheduler, and organizer. I do very little on a whim. If the calendar on my computer were to crash, my world would crumble. My wife, on the other hand, is the queen of spontaneity. I know God has a sense of humor because He created the “opposites attract” thing. Erin likes to do things on the spur of the moment. I do not.

[Interruption! As soon as I typed the last sentence above, my assistant told me that a man was at the front of our church wanting the pastor to pray with him. This interruption was clearly not a planned part of my day, but I went downstairs to join him. After praying with him, I had the privilege of seeing the Holy Spirit work in his life as he accepted Christ. God works in amazing ways – I was writing a blog on being more spontaneous, and He immediately interrupted my writing and provided such an opportunity. What a great God we serve!]

The remainder of this post clearly takes on a new meaning for me now. My purpose was to demonstrate how important it is for pastors just to live life. But instead of writing about it, God allowed me to see it in real time. I was going to write about how spontaneity helps with better sermon illustrations. I was planning on making the point that spontaneity provides opportunities to share your faith. I was going to write about how spontaneity prevents a pastor from making too many decisions behind a desk. Instead, I think I’ll end my post now and thank God for introducing me to someone who needed Him. It’s entirely unplanned, but entirely a God thing.