Unpromising Signs

My wife recently conveyed to me a couple of nuggets that she heard from a particularly smug and windy pastor. He said that, as pastor and leader, he makes decisions and if anyone doesn't like them they can leave. Further on in the conversation, he rather pompously declared that in his sermons all he does is exegesis and historical background - no stories, no illustrations, no leading out the readings into life.

My only thought in response to this gasbag is that it is wonderful that one can be a preacher and not preach, and be a leader and be free of introspection - and think that the people you lead are optional and disposable. What's next? Let's see...

A pastor who refuses to provide pastoral care;
A trustee who can't be trusted;
A disciple who won't follow;
A Biblical scholar or theologian who doesn't pray or worship;

(Send in your own on a postcard, in care of this blog...)

How long, O Lord, will we be beset by this plague of idiots?

The only positive use I can find for such a 'pastor' is this: like the plagues in the Old Testament, he is a sign of God's judgement upon us, the church.