"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done to you" (John 13:14-15)
When you hear the word Pastor in your head you paint a picture of a man in a suit with a tie around his neck & shiny pointed shoes. In Church Pastor has a special seat in front and he is treated with honor. Imagine the guy helping in the car park comes up the Pulpit to Preach! The Car Guard is actually the Pastor of the Church 🙉🙉🙉, just imagine.
There were times when my family was scheduled to serve coffee at Church. Therefore I would windup the sermon quickly, and get straight to the kitchen serving tea and coffee. There were times I stayed at the entrance downstairs for security purposes, and later closed up the entrance to go up to preach. Imagine the guy who ushered you into the Church building is actually the Pastor.
On one of my posts a certain brother who didn't know me well enough but depended on the gossip mill wanted to spite me by saying, "this guy needs to be helped to come back into preaching. He was once a powerful Preacher but he is reduced to be a simple waiter" This brother has actually motivated me to begin this series of "A PASTORING WAITER".
In these series of my lived reality, I will share what I learnt as a waiter waiting on tables. THE DANGER OF ACQUIRING ONE QUALIFICATION Because ministry was my single focus I didn't see the need to acquire any skill unrelated to ministry. After completing my Grade 12 I went straight to acquire an Associate Diploma In Practical Theology. Because I had a lot of questions about some of the things we were practicing I felt I needed to study more so as to satisfy my inquisitiveness. 21 years ago I decided to relocate to South Africa. The reasons of coming to South Africa were twofold; Firstly, to look for opportunities to further my Theological studies. Secondly, to seek ministry opportunities outside my country. 10 years later non of these two reasons materialized. I come from a background where a Pastor cannot be involved in "secular" work. What do you then do as a Pastor in a foreign country with no prospects of getting ministry related work? Considering the fact that I have no skill apart from ministry. South Africa taught me that there is no shame in work. "Umusebenzi ngu musebenzi" which means work is work! Whether you clean toilets, dig graves, watching over cars, petrol attendant or waiting on the tables in the restaurant it is work! There is no shame in doing these jobs as a Pastor. Your value as a child of God, as a minister of the gospel is not reduced because you are doing these jobs. I shudder at the thought of Christians actually scorning at a brother or sister working as a domestic worker, caring for the old and frail, cleaning toilets or digging graves. Why would you loathe a person working & earning a decent wage? Is it honorable for you to use a public toilet to relieve yourself, but dishonorable for a person ensuring you are doing your private business in a clean toilet? Wearing a Pastor's collar and walking around or praying non-stop won't pay rent and bills. I found out this very late in life. Don't make the mistakes I made in my youth.
In a foreign country I realized that earning a descent wage is better than sweating so hard that your armpits begin to drop sweat calling people to plant or give tithe and offering. Very early on in ministry I was not too comfortable with the means of collecting money which mostly bordered on twisting scripture to suit your agenda, warning people of curses for failure to pay tithe simply put peddling the gospel for profit. So I went to work doing odd jobs, but I will concentrate on being a waiter because I really enjoyed serving, and it's the job I did for a very long time. PASTOR GETS TITHES, WAITERS GETS TIPS I am not getting into the argument of whether tithe is a New Testament Practice or not. I am using the term tithe as commonly used today. Members give a tithe which is 10% to support the Pastor. The Restaurants work on 10% tip that goes to the waiter. Service is key in serving tables in the restaurant. The table must be clean, cutlery well polished, food and drinks should come on time. In order to serve confidently well a waiter needs to study and know the menu well.
The confidence of the waiter depends on his knowledge of the menu, just like the confidence of the Pastor is derived from the knowledge of God's word. Often customers don't understand the menu, like Pastors, waiters have a duty to explain the content in the menu. Both a waiter and a Pastor are in the service industry. The waiter makes his/her living on tips. You can't be grumpy, sloppy & slow waiter making mistakes in getting orders and expect to be tipped 10%. While 10% is a standard, a waiter depends on the Patron/Matron's discretion. The table can decide not to tip you. You can get a 0% out of the bill. They can decide to give you 10% out of principle. But as a waiter my goal was to get more than 10 %. Let me end this first post by giving two testimonies of satisfied customers. One night at about 21:45 two Gentlemen walked in and said they want to eat. The kitchen closes at 22:00 exactly. The Chefs will not take an order 15 minutes to closing time. So I told the Gentlemen that the restaurant is closing in few minutes. But they begged me to serve them because other restaurants around were closed. I quickly begged my chef, and he accepted. So I pressed the order, served the two Gentlemen while my colleagues were cashing up getting ready to knockoff. When I gave them a bill of about R400 the Gentleman put R400 in the bill folder. Then he took a stockpile of notes and started counting 1,2,3....10. These were hundred rand notes. He gave me a tip of R1000 with a condition. "Lawrence when you get time take your wife out". Of course my wife had other ideas for a R1000 which was a lot of money in those days you could fill up two trolleys of groceries in Checkers. Instead of R40 tip that night I got R1000 plus other tips from the tables I served before. There is no shame in serving.
The last testimony for today. In the same restaurant a regular couple came in to eat. There was a waitress who normally served them. She said to me, "Lawrence do this table I am spinning with other tables". They ate Sushi for about R290. I was expecting at least R29 tip. This couple asked me about my family, school where my son is going etc., just waiter-patron conversations. This couple paid their bill and tipped me R3000. I couldn't believe my eyes and the lady said to me "you need money for you son's school stationary since it's the beginning of the year". Again it's a long time ago R3000 was a lot of money. My Zambian brother felt telling the world that this "pastor is REDUCED to be a waiter" will make me feel embarrassed, didn't realize that my family is my priority and their education is important to me.
My work as a waiter taught me how to serve my wife. I now can make a cup of coffee for my wife, and prepare a meal for my wife & children without feeling "REDUCED". You maybe a young Pastor out there struggling financially, especially during this period of the covid19 pandemic. Instead of depending entirely on tithes/offerings/seeds get a job if you can. Have a second or third hustle, my dear Pastor. Bake if you can. Start a cleaning company if you can. Go out and sell Products people need. Do everything you can while Prioritizing the Kingdom of God.
#ToContinue..........
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