By Matt at The Church of No PeopleI was a Preacher's Kid.
Now I'm a Preacher's grown kid, and a preacher myself. I plan to have a couple Preacher's Kids of my own someday. If I can't have my own, I'll adopt a couple of Preacher's Kids. Preacher's Kids are the cutest.
I wasn't one of those whiny rebellious Preacher's Kids as a teenager, but I wasn't Reverend Jr. either. I just tried to be real with people and I was so darn handsome and charming that people expressed surprise that my Dad was a Pastor. I liked that. It's like I was blindsiding them with Jesus. People didn't expect such a totally awesome guy to be in league with Jesus. They expected me to be either completely socially inept, or a major screwup.
I probably didn't rebel because my parents weren't raving fundamentalists. They had smart rules in the home that were easy to respect and they respected their sons.
I was reminded about being a Preacher's Kid when that balloon boy gave his confused response in his interview to his parents,
"You told me we did it for the show." It reminded me that being a Preacher's Kid was a lot like reality TV.
But really, being a Preacher's Kid was totally awesome, and I'll never understand why any kids would want to rebel against that life.
Four Reasons That Being a Preacher's Kid RuledChurch People are Amazing... Amazing...ly entertaining. Even an eight-year-old can be amused at the absurd combination of people God has assembled to do His bidding. It's like
Gilligan's Island. And the church committee is the most entertaining of all, because they take care of the truly
important things God needs done. Come hell or high water, or bickering like schoolgirls, those people
will decide what color the foyer should be painted. And with God as my witness, it
won't be that awful yellow that Steve wants.
Accountability PartnersThe whole church was my accountability partner. Little Matthew couldn't take two steps without Mom and Dad knowing about it. As a college kid looking for a fun night, you better believe that the one lousy house party I went to* where some smoldering cigars left in the planters filled with Miracle Gro caused the deck to burn down, my parents heard about it...because it was one of the Elder's kids who threw the party and then learned how to build a deck.
*This is not to say that I only went to one house party. It was just the only one where a deck burned down.Family TiesI've told you before my Dad pastored a [difficult] church. Well, the church itself wasn't difficult. The building was quite lovely. The people inside seemed to be the main problem. He endured a lot of criticism on a regular (read: weekly) basis for a few years, until the sources of criticism left. I appreciated the fact that my Dad had such great accountability partners. If he started to believe he was ever worth anything, his head would've gotten way too big. It drove me to defend my Dad...until we got in a personal fight, and then I had extra ammunition.
You're a Celebrity!Come on, this was the best. Being the Preacher's Kid, you felt like the center of attention all the time. Lots of Preacher's Kids whine about living in a 'glass house.' I think living in a real glass house would be awesome! Being the Preacher's Kid is like being a celebrity, just without the money. That's win-win! Not only do you get to experience the glamorous lifestyle of a Paparazzi hunted star, but you get it without the corruption of lots of money, big houses, expensive clothes, new cars, restaurant trips, big Christmases, name brand cereal, allowances, and all the other stuff Satan doesn't want you to have.
What else was awesome about being a Preacher's Kid? Were your Preacher's Kids screw ups or little junior pastors who erred on the side of 'creepy?'
Comments (8)
I'm glad you had such a great experience as a PK. I am also a PK and had an overall very good experience. Some of us aren't as fond of being the center of attention, though. Also, a lot of PK's endure huge amounts of hurt along with their families. I had a good experience, but I can definitely understand those who rebel. PK's often see very little of their parents, particularly their fathers. They also have to deal with seeing a public ministry side of their parents and a private side, and they have to deal with the discrepancies. At times, you learn just how evil Christian people can act, and sometimes you're too young to handle everything you know. Sounds like you had a great PK personality. I am also grateful for the good experience I had. I know, though, that some endure a great deal more hurt.
I had a love/hate relationship being a PK, and I am now a PW, preachers wife, my husband does the occasional fill in preaching job, since he quit full time in June. I mean its a give and take, I didn't like being a celebrity and the attention sucked. But knowing things other people didn't know that was my favorite part :) just kidding. I still am known by my parents and my husband I technically don't have a name its only when I'm by myself do I get asked my name. But I am glad you had a good experience.
another good thing about being a PK: bonding with other PKs when nobody else understands! :D
My best friend is a pastor's daughter...I don't know if that's any similar, but she hates it. But she's not a screw-up. I mean, sure, she is practically half-goth, but she's really God/Jesus loving and whatnot. And she tries to convert me under the guise of "informing" me about Jesus...
So, she's pretty well off.
I like this post! At my church, we had a sermon a few weeks ago about "church people" and the pastor was saying a good place to find entertainment is a church business meeting. Hehe--good stuff.
I wasn't a PK, but only because my dad was Catholic and wasn't called to be a priest. He was just about as involved as any pastor of any church I've ever been to. He ran the music, was on every board and council you could think of, including those for the private school the church also ran, and he was involved with men's ministries and organizations. Growing up, I kind of felt like I had to follow in his footsteps, and maybe sometimes I didn't like it, but I'm glad I was as involved as I was, because it made me want to evangelize and set the basis for my love for writing, talking, singing, playing banjo, and of course ministry.
It's great that this person had a good experience. A lot of the PKs I know rebelled because they DID have rather fundamentalist, or pushy, parents. I blame both parties. The parents, while I DO think they should educate on God and the Bible and require church attendance, they don't need to push. And kids often like to ignore things because their parents make them mad. Just because a person's parents are pushy about something doesn't mean they should automatically reject said thing.
You had a GREAT experience as a PK...not all of us were that blessed.
I became a PK at the age of 16, but my parents were elders and VERY involved in the church during my childhood...they were pretty fundamentalist, I was not allowed to listen to any music that wasn't Christian/Gospel music, I HAD to go to church, I was not allowed to participate in Girl Scouts because it took place the same day and time as bible study, and I was not allowed to see any movies that were rated R, etc. However, I guess it all worked out in the end...I'm still in church and want to go into ministry, go figure! lol