Heath and I are in the midst of deep research on co-pastors. There's not a lot of us out there, but the trend is growing. I don't like calling it a trend because it feels like we're calling it a fad. But at any rate, the model of co-ministry is growing.
As I was doing this research, I came across one Mary Lee Cagle. She actually led her future husband Henry to the Lord during one of her revival campaigns in 1897. In 1900, they were married, and the two worked together for the next 50 years as pastors, district superintendents, evangelists, and church planters with the Church of the Nazarene. In 1927 as circumstances had dictated, Henry was district superintendent in Texas while Mary Lee worked as the district evangelist. Her report to the 1927 District Assembly said:
"Our work has not been with the larger churches, but with the weak, struggling ones. I have held 13 revival meetings, preached 175 times, saw 216 converted and 118 sanctified, and... have travelled about 10,000 miles in a car and have made a few trips on the train. I have [visited] practically all of the churches in the district and some of them more than once. "
I don't know if I'm the only one or not, but her statements convict me to the core. What are we doing? Pastors today are so busy complaining and whining about unsupportive church members, finances, and seeker-friendly facilities, that we've totally neglected what we should be about. As I read Rev. Cagle's report, I felt unworthy to even write about her life. We've got to get busy. And when we stand before God, please don't let me be standing next to her!
