Coach turned minister offers insights

Former Hope Bobcat coach and First Baptist Church minister Stan Parris spoke recently to the Hope Kiwanis Club about honoring local ministers.

Parris is currently a minister for the Second Baptist Church of Arkadelphia. Parris has a history in Hope, as Kiwanis member Bob Willis explained during Parris’ his introduction. He also said that Parris was a cherished friend and gave some of his background.

Parris remains in the sports hall of fame as a Hope High graduate. He pursued a career in sports and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills, according to Willis. He was coach for the Hope Bobcats for some time before he totally accepted what he said was a call to the ministry. He also preached in Hope at the First Baptist Church. He served as a missionary for nine years in Venezuela, according to Willis.

The focus of Parris’ message was to encourage pastors and to remind the community and churches that their minister is a human being with the same struggles and temptations as anyone else.
“I think most pastors would say to you this is not a choice, it is a calling. He is a human being whose been given a divine responsibility and a divine calling,” Parris said.

He also talked in depth about a minister being a person to share the word of God, not to be mistaken for God.
“Your pastor would want you to know he has never been mistaken for God. I am not the light. I am here to represent the one who can truly change your life,” Parris said.

He used a humorous description that he said he had kept in a file for a long time to help paint a picture of what kind of pressures a minister of God may face from the outside world. He read “The Ideal Pastor:”
  “‘The ideal pastor is 36 years old, and he has been preaching for 30 years. He is short, tall, thin, heavy set, handsome, he has one brown eye, one blue eye, hair parted in the middle, left side dark and straight, right side blonde and wavy.

‘This pastor has a burning desire to work with the young people and spends all his time with senior adults. He smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his work.

‘He or she, works from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, makes 15 calls a day on church members, spends all his time visiting the unchurched, but is never out of the office.
‘He preaches 20 minute sermons, but thoroughly expounds on the word of God.
‘The ideal pastor condemns sin, but never hurts anybodys feelings.
‘He wears good clothes, buys good books, has a nice family, drives a nice car, lives in a nice house, makes $500 a week and gives $250 of that back to the church.’

 “It’s a little unrealistic isn’t it?,” he asked.
He went on with advice and encouraging words.
“You can be an encouragement to your ministers. They may not be as strong as you think they are, they are human beings. They need encouragement. They need love. They need, at times, to be counseled. They need to be talked to lovingly,” Parris said.

He said ministers are called to be above reproach. He encouraged pastors to find a group they can trust for which to be accountable.
“I learned early on as a missionary, God could have chosen to reveal himself any way he wanted. He could have chosen any way to reach people. If God had wanted to write John 3:16 in the stars, he could have done it,” Parris said.

Parris said he is constantly amazed that God chose humans to spread his word.
“God could do it without human instrumentality, but he has given us the privilege, together, all  of us. We are humans with human limitations, but we’ve all been given authorization and we have all been given a special occupation to testify about the light of the world,” he said.
He ended by saying people should love their minister and be an encouragement, and that is really the most they can do.