Pastors have a hard job. We all know this. The last few years certainly hasn’t made things easier, with huge numbers of pastors opening up about feelings of burnout. But even without COVID-19 and political divisiveness, pastors face the challenges of navigating the complicated social dynamics, running a small business, ministering to those in need and preaching the Word.
Pastors are only human, and there are bound to be a few missteps. Sometimes, they’re private flubs that are easily brushed away. Other times, well, they make it into the Pastor Brain Fart Hall of Fame.
This post will be updated regularly as more contenders for the Hall of Fame present themselves.
A True Classic
This lightly R-rated pastor brain fart is a classic of the genre, because it really has everything you could want. A nice guy who just got a little tongue tied. An audience who just couldn’t let him get away with it. And an inability to move on even as it’s increasingly clear that he’s going to have to address it. “Stop laughing!” he finally begs. “Man! Alright? Am I red right now? Holy cow!” is about as pure a string of phrases as you could ask for, until you get to the clincher: “I hope this isn’t on video tape!”
An Attempted Clarification
This good natured attempt at clarification couldn’t have gone more awry, and it’s helped along by the soothing, meditative music that acts as a soundtrack for a gentle, slow motion train wreck.
Unfortunate Timing
This pastor’s slip-up would have been funny in any context, but coming on the heels of discussing sexual sin in Corinth adds a little extra grease to the fire.
No Filters
Some pastors struggle with not having a filter on stage. This pastor had the opposite problem. Early in COVID lockdown when churches were still getting used to their Zoom setup, Scott Mowery of Immanuel Baptist Church in Butler, Missouri, accidentally preached his sermon in a variety of wizard hats, astronaut helmets and googley eyes, much to his wife’s amusement who spent the sermon trying to get his attention in the comments to alert him.
“Let’s Close”
As we’ve seen, there are two ways to respond to a pastor brain fart. One is to attempt to power through — a useless tactic that only makes the whole thing last longer. Then there is the more noble route: the gentleman’s admission. Full credit to this preacher, who saw his flub for what it was and owned it immediately. That’s real class.
