15. Preaching Shirt
First off I have to apologize to my readers, I broke the cardinal rule of blogging... I took time off. I know the number one rule of blogging is consistency, and I took a week off. I was on Vancouver Island candidating for a youth pastor position. The photo on this post was taken during the weekend. In the end it did not work out but we are thankful for the opportunity to get to know the church and for them to get to know us (see my upcoming post on full disclosure while candidating).But this is humourous Friday, not serious Tuesday so I will address an entirely different topic... Preaching clothes.
My brother told me a story years ago about his first computer programming job and dress codes. He went in his first day feeling quite uncomfortable because he had to dress nice. He put on his dockers and a golf shirt (or something like that) and went in to work. After some clients had come through his boss pulled him aside and told him that what he was wearing was unappropriate for the workplace. For a moment my brother was confused and wondered if he'd have to wear a tie the next day. Au contraire mon frere!
He was told that when clients come through they want to see nerds at messy computer stations wearing jeans and T-shirts with Atari symbols or lame jokes that non-programmers don't understand such as "I <3 Linux" or "I write poetry in COBOL".
This made me think about the youth pastors dress code. During my entire candidation weekend I wore the youth pastors' uniform, plaid button down short sleeve shirt, shorts and flip flops. That's pretty much the standard youth pastor look, you could substitute the plaid shirt for a tshirt with the logo of a missions trip, camp or retreat on the front.
There is, of course, the exception. My students always knew when I was preaching because I wore my preaching shirt. I have expanded my collection and now have 4 or 5 preaching shirts, but really, they are all the same shirt. It's the one shirt I have that fits properly, has no holes, no fading and no paint stains. Such a shirt that I refuse to hold my own baby before church because I don't want it spoiled by mashed cookie, drool or baby snot. Such a shirt that I take it off directly after church as to save it from extra wear and tear. Such a shirt that when I walk through the foyer students stop in their tracks and say, "Hey, you're preaching today!"
I admit, I did take it a step too far. I put on a tie. Yes, for many youth pastors a tie is a noose but I did it. In my first church I pushed the boundaries of casual and was the first pastor in memory to preach in shorts and flip flops (which was allowed because we were leaving for camp immediately after the service) and at my last church I pushed the boundaries of formal by being the first pastor in recent memory to wear a tie while preaching (and trust me, my senior pastor was told how refreshing it was to see someone dressed properly to teach the Word!).
So do you have a go to outfit when you preach? Do your students recognize at first glance that it's your morning on the stage?
" For me a painting is like a story which stimulates the imagination and draws the mind into a place filled with expectation, excitement, wonder and pleasure"
Reply to this