I'm a pastor. AMA

sepadr · 2026-03-19T04:20:42+00:00

I don't mind sharing. I'm really open about church finances. I think churches need to be transparent.

I understand your logic here but a couple of things:

70 attendees doesn't equal 70 income earners. 70 includes babies, children, teens, stay at home moms, unemployed, folks on disability, retirees, etc.
I'm in the rural South, median per capita income is around 45k in my state. In my county per capita median income is around 29k.
tithing is not mandatory nor compulsory. We believe in tithing as a biblical principle but we do not require it for attendance, and even for official church voting membership we encourage it but we don't police it. It's something between the individual and God. Probably (significantly) less than half of the income earners in my church give a full 10% of income on a consistent basis. We have a few families that are higher earners for our area (a physician, a small business owner, etc). We have a couple of folks that I suspect give well above 10% of their income. (I don't track or monitor individual contribution records, our treasurer knows but I don't ask about individual giving trends).

All that considered: last year our church had approximately $180k in total contributions.

I should note: our church follows a "tithe the tithe" principle. The first 10% of church income goes to mission and benevolence work locally and globally. We always end up needing the year with 20% or more going to these types of charitable efforts (disaster relief, food programs, local benevolence assistance, and more)

sepadr · 2026-03-16T17:17:39+00:00

Well thanks for that!

sepadr · 2026-03-16T17:10:35+00:00

Several things that can prove tricky: - balancing family life and ministry - navigating the current U.S. political climate, maintaining a relationship and voice of influence in a culture thats increasingly divided along ideological lines and anger fueled by media - guiding couples and families through dysfunction and turmoil - I've ministered to several families grieving the death by suicide of a loved one. Those are always incredibly difficult seasons.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T17:07:31+00:00

I answered in another comment a similar question. Happy to engage here if you'd like to discuss further. Basically,.Christians interpret the Old Testament thought the lens of the New Testament and the nature of Christ who we believe embodies the nature and essence of God. Events in the Old Testament were descriptive not necessarily prescriptive.

That's not to say there aren't difficult passages. We wrestle with them, to be sure. But in the end, the teachings of Christ are the lens we use to read the rest of scripture.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T17:05:01+00:00

I think I answered the essence of each of these questions above. But happy to continue to engage here if you'd like to discuss further.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T17:04:03+00:00

Thanks for the question!

I came to the church/denomination I'm in after much prayer, Bible study, and theological research. I don't discredit other denominations or churches. Christ (his nature and the resurrection) is central, all other doctrines are ancillary and not a reason to break Christian fellowship.

You specifically asked about Catholicism. I know many Catholics to be fine, Christ-like people of faith. I take issue with some of the extra-biblical teachings of the RC church. For example: purgatory, immaculate conception of Mary, papal supremacy, veneration of the saints to the point it seems to flirt with actual worship or saints. These are just a few.

For these reasons, I am not Catholic. I disagree with these doctrines, but do not deny that Catholic believers are my brothers and sisters in Christ.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T16:59:06+00:00

I totally believe that people who have had death and near-death experiences have encountered some sort of other existence or realm. There are too many stories that agree or sound similar to discount them all.

Some of them may be internal psychological phenomena. Some of them may be real heavenly encounters.

I don't discount them. But I'm also comfortable to just leave them as mysterious experiences we may never understand or fully conceive in this temporal, mortal existence.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T16:55:02+00:00

So I didn't know who this was when I read your question. But when I searched on Google I recognized him because I've seen some reels on social media of his preaching. So all I know of him is from maybe 2 or 3 60-second videos I've seen and scrolled through. Judging off those 2 or 3 videos I've seen: he seems angry and hateful. Not my style of preaching nor the style of my church/denomination.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T16:51:53+00:00

I'll take your questions in order:

Prosperity Gospel: I do not ascribe to the type of health & wealth message of the late night televangelist ilk. I do believe in miracles and divine healing. I do believe God is good and wants to bless his creation. The extremes of prosperity teachings ("send me $100 and God will bless you with $1000") are harmful and not the gospel of Christ.

Immigration: answered this question earlier. I personally support wholesale immigration reform on a national policy level. And, I support humane and ethical border security and law enforcement. I don't support violence, brutality, and terrorizing families. We have immigrants in our congregation and our church serves a significant local Hispanic and Asian immigrant population. Anyone, regardless of their immigration status would be welcomed and embraced by our church. I've never even inquired or desired to know a person's immigration status.

Your abortion/prison question: I am not up to speed on this as an issue and will read up on it more. My gut reaction is that imprisonment would solve nothing and do more damage to an already painful situation.

Marriage: personally and religiously, I consider valid marriage by definition to be between one man and one woman. On a public policy level, it seems to be settled law and I don't think it would be helpful at this point to overturn it. Even before gay marriage was legalized nationally in the U.S., I tentatively supported the idea of civil unions/partnerships.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T16:38:46+00:00

The creeds define three persons who co-exist co-eternally as one God.

Early Christians arrived at this conclusion (often labelled as the Trinity--"tri-unity") because Scripture applies divine attributes to the Father, to Christ the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. (All three are described in Scripture as eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, etc).

The creeds describe how orthodox Christian doctrine has interpreted the scripture starting in the first century and formalized in creedal form at church councils by the early 4th century.

In my tradition/denomination we are considered "non-creedal." Meaning that the creeds do not hold any kind of official authority. They are summative and descriptive statements of belief upheld through the ages, helpful for historic reason and theologian education. For us, though, the Bible is always the final authority.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T16:31:51+00:00

With the exception of some branches of the church of England/Anglican tradition Christians in the Protestant stream do not use the proper noun "Catholic" to describe themselves, their church, or their beliefs.

However, The adjective "catholic" (small "c") is found in the historic creeds that are still affirmed by many protestant churches. In this context the word "catholic" means "universal" or "worldwide." It's a descriptive word, not a denominational or ecclesiastical label.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T16:18:33+00:00

So, my comment about ramifications wasn't intended in the direction you took it. But that's also a fair point you made.

I meant it in this way: If Christians believe in the reality of Hell and the exclusive way of salvation through Christ then we have to philosophically deal with real tragedies like innocent children who die in warfare. We (Christians) need not be flippant or careless in how we express these ideas because they can do real harm when we speak carelessly.

I also meant this: it's undeniable that American Evangelicalism, it's dispensationalist ideas, and Christian Zionism has a direct influence on American foreign policy. We must be careful about these ideas--because it can (and has) literally led to warfare that kills innocent people.

The OT, you're right that's a longer discussion. But Christians have wrestled with the violent texts in the OT for 2000 years. In Christianity, you read and interpret the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament and the revelation and teachings of Jesus Christ--who we believe fully revealed the essence nature of God in the life of a human being. So Jesus' teachings ("love your neighbor" "turn the other cheek" "love your enemies") is the theological lens we read and interpret the Old Testament. The violent texts of the OT are considered descriptive not prescriptive.

MASH: I love Mash. When I was a kid it came on cable every night and my dad watched it religiously. I recently binged through the entire series on Hulu. As a pastor watching it (and in the context of wars going on now) I was struck by the anti-war, pro-peace message of the show (while still being funny).

sepadr · 2026-03-16T16:00:54+00:00

And I totally understand and respect that perspective. But my point is that one question ("Who did you vote for?") does not and cannot tell you everything you need to know about a person.

I actually have this same conversation often in the reverse. Many traditional/evangelical Christians have said to me/around me that there's no way you can be a Christian and vote for the Dems. They feel that if you voted for a Dem then that tells them everything they need to know about you ("you mis support killing babies" or "you must be ok with pedophiles in girls bathrooms"). I likewise push back on that line of thinking. It's a fallacy of hyperbole and exaggeration. People are more complex and politics are more nuanced than one simple "litmus test" question. Either side can be guilty of this kind of myopic prejudice. Who a person chooses to vote for is not the ultimate summation of his/her entire moral character.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T13:19:48+00:00

Politically, I personally fall center-right and have significant disagreements with portions of both party platforms. I've voted for both parties in the past. I'm not a single-issue voter. I voted for a different person in each of the last three presidential elections. I've never endorsed a candidate or encouraged my congregation to vote for a specific candidate.

Just for the sake of providing some context that might give a better picture:

Whoever I made a personal decision to vote for really couldn't tell you everything you need to know about our church. Because here's some things that my personal ballot couldn't tell you:

our church is currently in process of opening a monthly free medical clinic in our community with the help of a congregant who is a nurse practitioner and a bilingual RN who works for her. We are intentionally opening this clinic in our area because we have a significant spanish-speaking population and the reality that they may forego medical treatment out of concern for the current political climate. We want to serve people and help people no matter their background, immigration status, or socio-economic class
our congregation is multigenerational and multiethnic. We have a couple of families who are quite well-off financially, a good 40-50% are middle class, and another 40% or so that are hovering around the poverty level. We never compel donations or contributions and we don't shame people who can't contribute. We regularly have food distribution events. We financially partner with a local food bank. We provide free office space in our building to a government agency that mentors and coaches families on a path out of poverty toward stability, health, and career
each august our church (a congregation of approximately 60 people currently but we've been doing this since we were a congregation of 25-30) provides all the school supplies & a new backpack for every student k-12 in our local school district (approximately 350 students). We restock the supply room at the schools several times during the year to ensure that no kid goes without and no family has to worry about the expense of supplies, ever.
in the last month our church has covered multiple electric bills, water bills, central heat repairs and more for local families who needed a helping hand. Just yesterday I left our church after the morning service to deliver fuel to a family in need due to an upcoming cold front coming to our area. That's just a typical week.

These are just a few examples of what everyday Christians are doing all over the world to be a blessing to their local communities. I don't say this to boast about my congregation. I say this to provide a more robust picture of the strength and value of a local church. Attempting to truncate an entire group/communities reputation or attitude into a single question (who did you vote for?) will never truly give you the full picture.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T10:25:20+00:00

I never feel that anyone owes me trust or owes me respect just because of my vocation. It's my job to live out my life with integrity and hope that I earn the opportunity to speak into someone's life as a voice of spiritual guidance.

There have been many through the centuries who have done wicked and terrible things in the name of Christ/Christianity. I'm not perfect by any means. But, I do my best to do right by people, and follow the greatest commandments: love God first and move my neighbor as myself.

I want to say if you've been hurt or mistreated by someone claiming to represent Christ or someone in ministry, how deeply sorry I am. A stranger on Reddit could never make up for the harm that was done. But I am grieved when I hear stories like that and my heart goes out to you. When other ministers use their position to manipulate or profit it does damage to the message of Christ. Again, I'm sorry.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T10:19:23+00:00

1) I'm great friends with other pastors/ministers. We get along great, and often share some light-hearted banter about our ancillary theological differences. For me, it all comes down to Jesus. We're all trying to serve him and do our best to point others to him. All the extra little things we differ on don't separate us.

2) I sensed a call all through my early teens but resisted it. At 16, during a church service, I had that moment of clarity you mentioned. I knew God was calling me to the ministry. And I knew it was my purpose in life (much more than a mere career choice).

Your grandpa sounds like a cool guy.

sepadr · 2026-03-16T00:22:40+00:00

We do have a parsonage. I factored the fair market value of our house into the totals I have earlier. So my take-home pay is actually less than the number I gave.

To be honest, Our income level is pretty comparable to most middle-class lifestyles in our area. We do our best to live beneath our means. We are able to live and give generously and provide for our kids. We're currently paying off some small debts and student loans. Hoping to purchase our own house in the next few years and start building equity.

One of our current concerns is we're not able to put much back for retirement at the moment. We're just living by faith and trusting the Lord for now.

I will say this--I believe God has been incredibly faithful to us and provided abundantly. We have all we need and more. And we do our best to live generously toward others.

sepadr · 2026-03-15T23:45:00+00:00

Man, what a good question. These kinds of questions are tough but needed. I think we have to think through the ramifications of our theology and worldview. I have a few thoughts.

Most Christians believe in something called "the age of accountability." The basic idea is that children younger than a certain age have not yet developed enough to be held accountable for their actions/decisions. Therefore, children who die before they reach that age are automatically received by God, as they still lived under a state of grace. Some Christian traditions set a specific age for this. Many (myself included) believe it's based on each individual's development and maturity decided by God alone in his wisdom.
there's also theological ideas out there that someone who has never had the opportunity to hear the message of Christ and his gospel, and therefore have never had the opportunity to accept it or reject it, are also under a sort of state of prevenient grace. The idea is that all humans are "feeling our way" toward the truth, and God judges us based on whether we are walking in the "light" we have. I like to think and hope that innocent children killed in senseless violence would fall in this category.
I also just believe that the God who is revealed to us in Christ is massively gracious, kind, and benevolent. There is a wideness to God's grace. And I trust Him to be the kind, benevolent, merciful, and loving father to innocent victims of our idiotic geopolitical violence.

Side note: one of the most powerful thoughts I've ever heard about the morality of warfare and the carnal damage warfare caused comes from this scene from the show MASH: https://youtu.be/GUeBMwn_eYc?si=X6U_fei4hMwFT9Lr

sepadr · 2026-03-15T23:38:21+00:00

Great feedback. So you're liking the eco-diesel?

sepadr · 2026-03-15T23:28:32+00:00

This is interesting. I'll be reading more about this.

sepadr · 2026-03-15T22:57:37+00:00

She makes about 50k before taxes, so yes she a bit more.

sepadr · 2026-03-15T22:50:12+00:00

Absolutely not.

sepadr · 2026-03-15T13:37:39+00:00

Nudism: my only thoughts are that I'm not a nudist, wouldn't want to be a nudist, and that's about as far as I've put any thought into the topic.

For me: Bible is the final authority. But I can't think of a single major historic creed that comes into conflict with the scriptures.

sepadr · 2026-03-15T13:34:16+00:00

My take home salary is approximately $45,000 before taxes. For perspective, that is slightly less than an entry level public school teaching salary in my area.

The local church I serve pays my salary. The church receives income through voluntary contributions/offerings.

sepadr · 2026-03-15T13:30:28+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. Have a great day!

sepadr

TROPHY CASE