Would Isaiah Be A Successful Pastor Today?

If you have been to a missionary commission service, you probably have heard Isaiah 6:1-8 read in that service. We all love this part of Scripture where Isaiah sees a vision of heaven and hears a voice saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8) and he answers that call. How many of us actually read the verse after that?

Here is what the rest of Isaiah 6 says:

And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is a desolate waste,
and the LORD removes people far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
And though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains
when it is felled.”
The holy seed is its stump (Isaiah 6:9-13)

This passage is saying, you will preach but they will not hear and because of their lack of hearing and understanding, judgment will come. Who wants a ministry like that? Would a Pastor want that? It has been my experience that most of a pastor's ministry will fall under two categories. The first is successful when the numbers are up and the programs are strong. The other would be a failure because no salvations have occurred and programs are being dropped.

If you read on in the rest of the book, you know that God's Word came true and the people did not listen and judgment came. So the question is, would Isaiah be a successful pastor in the 21st century? Imagine a new pastor with a vision of preaching the Word yet he said there might not be any converts nor will we grow in our numbers. Would you stick around a church with pastor like that? He might be fired in two months if not sooner.

Churches base the success of a pastor or anyone called in ministry based on their success and not faithfulness. As a youth pastor going to a small church building a youth ministry, I knew the road would be long and hard. One youth pastor told me you will either have success and grow or not. Many ministries are like Isaiah's. They preach but no one listens. So, would Isaiah be a successful pastor today? No.

So if you find yourself in a church where you are being faithful but it seems nothing is happening, take heart and remember it is the Lord God Almighty you are serving.