This post is written by Michael Duncan, pastor of Eminence Baptist Church for the pastor 30 years.

On November 1, 2009 Eminence Baptist Church, which is located in Eminence, Kentucky, and I celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of our journey as a church and its pastor.  A colleague recently asked me, “How did you do it?  What’s the secret to staying somewhere for thirty years?”  I am not sure there is a secret.  Although I was long ago branded by some as a liberal, I still believe God to be directly involved in the call to ministry and in the call to the place in which ministry will happen.  How did I do it?  I didn’t.  The church and I did it through our openness to God’s leadership and blessing. 

While there is no secret to my long tenure in Eminence, there are factors which have contributed to it.  No factor was more important than my having learned to be as honest and transparent as possible.  It was a lesson learned in the process of interviewing with other churches. 

In January of 1979, I was beginning my fifth year as pastor of a small village church to which I had been called my last year at Southern Seminary.  It was time to move.  I began allowing my resume to be sent out by the Kentucky Baptist Convention.  Over the next six months, I talked to a number of pulpit committees, as they were called in those days.  All the interviews had one thing in common.  I spoke in doublespeak, telling the committee what I believed while using words that would allow them to hear what they wanted to hear.  I grew weary and smarter.  These interviews helped me to see that if I were to remain in ministry, I had to be who I was and those with whom I would share ministry needed to hear what I said whether it matched what they wanted to hear or not.  A few weeks after making that decision, I received a call from Robert W. Moore, chair of the pulpit committee of the Eminence Baptist Church.   Four months later I was the pastor.  Today the journey continues. 

In answer to my colleague’s question, here are some factors that have made a 30-year pastorate possible:

• When my wife Donna and I arrived in Eminence, we chose from day one to make Eminence our home.  Whenever we made trips to Tennessee or Missouri to see our parents, we spoke of “going to see our parents” and announced when we would be coming back “home” to Eminence.  We became involved in our community.
• From the first meeting with the pulpit committee, I have strived to be honest and transparent.  During the interviews with the committee, it became apparent that we differed on key issues: women in ministry, open communion, policies regarding baptism, understanding and interpretation of Scripture.  In spite of this, the committee expressed a strong interest in my becoming their pastor.  They wanted to know how I would handle these differences.  “Just as I’m handling them with you.  I will be open and honest about what I believe to be the truth.  When appropriate, I will speak to these issues.  Having done so, it remains the church’s decision to set its course.  I will be only one member of the congregation.”  Once I became pastor, I deliberately chose not to hide behind the pulpit or my role as the pastor.  Initially, this proved difficult and stressful.  The congregation was not used to seeing their pastor as one like them.  Over the course of about five years, this changed, and the congregation began to discover that they could be honest with me. 
• I have sought and continue to seek means by which to enhance my own spiritual relationship with God.  I came to realize that to be a good pastor I first had to be a good follower of our Lord.  Therefore my devotional practices have taken that focus.  I have been a part of several support groups over the years.  All of them have had in common one thing: The group was made up of persons outside the church, who accepted me unconditionally, challenged me to grow, and held me accountable.
• During my first five years, I worked long hours building relationships with the congregation, visiting, and listening.  By the end of the first year, I had been in every home of our active membership, presenting myself as “Michael, their pastor,” not as “the pastor” or “Bro. Duncan.” 
• Over the years, the emphasis of my pastorate and my role as pastor has been adjusted according to the needs of the congregation and community.  While the pastor is always seeking to be the comforter, visionary, prophet, and administrator, different periods of congregational life have called more emphasis in one area over the others.
• I have learned to allow and empower the congregation to be the people of God.  It took a while for me to learn this, to let go and allow others to use their own gifts and to follow God’s call for their lives.  As I began my ministry, the staff consisted of me and a part-time minister of music/youth, part-time secretary, and part-time custodian.  Today the staff includes me, a part-time minister of music, a part-time secretary, a part-time custodian, and a host of laypersons who have discovered and answered their calling.
• I have regularly read, studied, and prayed to keep my preaching, both content and style, fresh and current.  My sermon preparation receives high priority.  Each sermon is written and reviewed carefully so that from the pulpit I am able to speak as clear a word as possible and to do so in an extemporaneous style.
• Finally, I have practiced being a good listener in relationships with individuals, in committee and deacon meetings, and from the pulpit.  The result is that over the thirty years, the congregation has taught me how to be their pastor.

Is there more to the secret?  I’m sure there is; but these factors have made thirty years possible and have opened the door to years yet to come.