Popular pastor and radio preacher Chuck Swindoll says no. In an address at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA, Swindoll, now 75, gave some good warnings against Christian celebrity culture and the corrosive effect of “the American dream” on the ministry.
He also addressed the issue of retirement and lifelong faithfulness. He says he wants to go out in the saddle: ‘”One of my great goals in life is to live long enough to where I am in the pulpit, preaching my heart out, and I die on the spot, my chin hits the pulpit – boom! – and I’m down and out. What a way to die!” he shared to laughter.’
Swindoll often makes me laugh at some down home story or turn of phrase. But I wondered about the wisdom of this. I can count a handful of men who seem to me to be well beyond their prime preaching prowess. It seems wise to retire–both for their health and that of the church.
What do you think? Should pastors ever retire?
