Pastor Rich Murray of Mountain View Baptist Church in Johnson City, Tennessee, is bivocational and proud of it.
“If it worked for (the Apostle) Paul, why wouldn’t it work for me?” he asked.
Murray observed that Paul modeled what it meant to be bivocational. “There is nothing more biblical,” he affirmed. “I believe that to be anything else would be a demotion for me because I’m called to be a bivocational pastor. I have very little doubt about it.”
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Not only is he bivocational at Mountain View, so is the entire ministerial staff. The only full-time staff person is Catie Fair, the office administrator.
Murray, who was not called into the ministry until he was 30 years old, has never known anything else. He served as a bivocational youth pastor at New Victory Baptist Church in Jonesborough while running his own home inspection and building consultant business. He also coached football at Science Hill High School in Johnson City.
“I really loved being around young people and being an influence on young people as a youth pastor and on the football field,” he said.
When the position of youth pastor opened at Mountain View, I felt led to apply so I would have a better opportunity to minister to the kids I coached. That’s the draw that God used to pull me to Mountain View,” he recalled.
The week prior to beginning his new position, Murray and his wife, Penny, went to Mountain View just to visit. While there, the pastor called him into his office and informed Murray that he was going to resign in just a few weeks. The pastor told him if he didn’t want to take the job, he would understand.
Murray was shocked but he still remembers thinking, “They held a reception and made a cake for me. I can’t go back.”
Then, he felt the Holy Spirit guiding his answer. He told the pastor, “Brother, the truth of the matter is I really don’t believe you’re the one who called me here anyway. I believe the Lord did. And, so if it is okay with you, I’m just going to stay.”
And, he did — for eight years under another pastor.
‘Great fit’
While at Mountain View, a position opened at the school for Murray as a teacher’s assistant in the shop class at Science Hill’s Alternative School which drew “the roughest of kids.” Less than a year later, one of the teachers retired and he assumed the role.
When Mountain View’s pastor left, the deacons asked Murray to serve as interim pastor and he did so for 10 months. “I knew God had called me to teach just as much as I knew He had called me to preach. Murray was asked to consider being the full-time pastor but he recalled that “I had no peace about it.”
Mountain View called a pastor but he stayed for only four months, so Murray served for another 10 months. One of the church’s longtime deacons remembered that the founding pastor, Jim Cambron (still a member at the age of 90) started the church as a bivocational pastor and that it had reached its greatest growth under his leadership.
‘No more excuses’
Murray said the deacons asked if he would consider becoming the permanent bivocational pastor. “I had no more excuses.”
Eleven years later, the church is still going strong under his leadership, averaging around 176 in attendance post-COVID-19. And, all the staff are bivocational except the office administrator (Catie Fair) and the church’s daycare staff. “The Lord has blessed me with a great staff and they all have the same passion for bivocational ministry as I do. They are a great fit,” he affirmed.
Murray cited two major benefits of Mountain View’s bivocational staff (which includes Melanie Hicks, children’s director; Kenny Adkins, associate pastor; Kelly Davenport, worship leader; Taylor Pruett, youth pastor; and Rick Huber, associate pastor).
First, a bivocational staff frees up more money for church ministry, he said. “If you add all of our salaries up, it would be just a bit more than what we paid our last full-time pastor,” he added.
More importantly, Murray noted, bivocational ministers are out in the workplace and more than likely will have greater opportunities to share a witness for Christ.
He shared the story of a young man in his class who asked to see him after class in early January.
“To make a long story short, I led him to the Lord in my office. He sobbed like a baby as he gave his heart and life to the Lord. I wouldn’t have had that opportunity as a full-time pastor.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Lonnie Wilkey and originally published by Baptist and Reflector.
