A Christian Leader

For the first time in nearly 10 years, Douglas McLachlan is not my pastor. His retirement service at Fourth Baptist Church (Plymouth, MN) took place last Sunday night. Filled with remembrances and a few tears, it was a fitting conclusion to 18 years of ministry at Fourth.

For a decade, I observed Pastor McLachlan. It was a fascinating experience. With about 15 years of pastoral experience, I had some idea of what to look for. My conclusion is that Douglas McLachlan is one of the best models of pastoral leadership that anyone could ever have.

The first thing most people noticed about Pastor McLachlan was his unique style of preaching. His outlines sometimes bristled with alliteration, and his vocabulary often included words of his own coinage. Though he was sometimes criticized for these peculiarities (and tried to use them less as time went by), those who knew him found his uniqueness to be endearing. His sermons, however, were anything but gimmicks. He studied hard and read constantly. He put considerable thought into what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it. He was convinced of the value of expository preaching. He aimed to communicate the Scriptures while making himself as unobtrusive as possible.

The result was astonishing. His invitations were always low-key, “no hocus-pocus,” as he sometimes put it. Often there would be no public response to the preaching. Nevertheless, people did respond. You could hardly walk away from his sermons without being challenged to make some small change in your spiritual walk. Week after week of little changes mounted up into transformed lives. Pastor McLachlan led his people by instructing them, and they responded.

A Christian leader leads by his exposition. He also leads by his example. The example that Douglas McLachlan set was one that will be difficult to live up to.

He had a yearning to see people come to Christ, and he was a compassionate personal evangelist. His presentation of the gospel was careful and methodical. He was not concerned about getting quick decisions, but he was concerned about people genuinely understanding what the Good News meant to them. He would take the time that he needed to reason with them from the Scriptures, again and again if necessary.

If a shepherd must be gentle, then Douglas McLachlan was a model shepherd. He was horrified by what he called “pugilistic attitudes” among Christians. In all of his leadership, he was tenderhearted and kind. He cared about people, even when they became, let’s say, “inconvenient.” He could confront church members if he believed that they were placing themselves or others in spiritual danger, but even in confrontation, he acted in their best interest. He never wounded anyone deliberately.

Perhaps that was because he knew what it felt like to be wounded. He occupied the pastorate of Fourth Baptist Church on two occasions. His first pastorate, which occurred during the 1980s, was anything but a placid experience. Though he was loved by most of the congregation, bitter opponents chided him privately. Rather than take the church through a conflict, he quietly resigned before most of the church was even aware of the conflict. Only after his departure were the issues dealt with, and by then he was no longer the pastor.

Years later, the church invited him to become the pastor again. To accept the call was a considerable risk, and it demanded both great faith and great humility. Douglas McLachlan exemplified both.

Humility? Even when he was the pastor of a large church and president of a seminary, he never saw himself as an important man. In his own eyes, he was simply “little Dougie McLachlan” without pretense or affectation. He viewed these ministries as wonderful gifts from a gracious God, and he always ministered as one who thought himself undeserving.

And as for faith—moving the church out of North Minneapolis was a huge step of trust in a sovereign and gracious God. He led the church to sell its old facilities when the congregation had neither property nor funds. He led the way in planting a new, urban congregation when the older, suburban church left the area, a move that cost Fourth Baptist a significant proportion of its membership at the very time when their continued involvement would have been most useful. These decisions were not foolhardy, but they did involve a confidence that the Lord would provide in ways that the church could not foresee.

The move to plant Family Baptist also illuminates another aspect of Pastor McLachlan’s character. He wanted his decisions to be directed by principle and not merely by convenience. He believed that North Minneapolis needed a good church and that Fourth Baptist had the duty to start one if possible. He was willing to sacrifice a key staff member and many church members to the new work, simply because he thought it was the right thing to do.

He showed the same mettle in his direction of the seminary. Around 2001, he came to the conclusion that he could not be an effective pastor and an effective seminary president at the same time (none of us agreed, but it was his decision). In the long run, he determined to give up the presidency. In a time when many Christian leaders are concerned about consolidating their power, he looked for ways to give it away. His experience told him that giving away power would be for the good of both organizations, and his principles told him to do what was good for the ministry.

Not many men can pastor a large church. About the time that a congregation passes 200 to 300 in membership, most pastors discover that they have stopped being shepherds and have become ranchers. Douglas McLachlan was the millionth man, the one who could actually be a shepherd to hundreds and hundreds of people. He loved them, cared for them, sacrificed for them, and prayed for them. Personally. And they felt it, and they loved him back.

The only thing wrong with McLachlan’s leadership is that he made it look too easy. Leadership seemed to come so naturally to him that we were tempted to think that anyone could do what he did. Unfortunately, most of us cannot. Even if we never can lead as well as Pastor McLachlan, however, we will be better leaders for having tried. I am only one of the many who are profoundly grateful to have had the opportunity to profit from his ministry.

To Music Bent Is My Retired Mind

Thomas Campion (1567-1620)

To Music bent is my retired mind,

And fain would I some song of pleasure sing;

But in vain joys no comfort now I find,

From heav’nly thoughts all true delight doth spring.

Thy power, O God, thy mercies, to record,

Will sweeten ev’ry note and ev’ry word.

All earthly pomp or beauty to express,

Is but to carve in snow, on waves to write.

Celestial things, though men conceive them less,

Yet fullest are they in themselves of light:

Such beams they yield as know no means to die,

Such heat they cast as lifts the Spirit high.

This essay is by Dr. Kevin T. Bauder, president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN). Not every professor, student, or alumnus of Central Seminary necessarily agrees with every opinion that it expresses.