Clergy Echo Chambers: A Conversation with Pastor Lenworth Sealey

Michaela: Tell us where you are in your ministry life, however you want to interpret that question, and how long you've been in ministry.

Lenworth: Pastoral ministry, 10 years in going on 11, currently serving with Southwest Region Conference. I'm in a place in my ministry where I think I can lean into honesty a little more than initially.

I'm trying to be honest about what I observe as pitfalls, trying to learn from others who are resonating with an increased need to not focus solely on Adventists. I do believe in in-reach, but I feel like it's to the detriment of those who need the Gospel in a unique way. I'm trying to be aware of what the members are doing, yes, but also asking, “How are we making this space inclusive?”

Michaela: I love that you're able to recognize where you are. There's an intentionality with which you are living and ministering. How do you ensure that you are making room for others?

Lenworth: One of the things I'm trying to do is listen more and I know that sounds very cliche. I’m someone who's grown up in the Adventist Church, and I would even say the Adventist bubble—not in a pejorative sense—I feel like we have created a bubble where we can exist and live in harmony without external interruption.

I've kind of gone through a process of deconstructing my viewpoints. I realized that a lot of it is cultural. My folks are from Jamaica. I grew up in a church where there were folks from Jamaica, Trinidad, St. Vincent, Grenada, Guyana. There are things that have been shared with me [through that cultural experience] that I have taken and made a part of who I am. As I've grown in my understanding of God, I'm like, “Wait a minute, that’s not biblical.” A part of the intentionality is doing a bit of self work.

When I recoil at something I hear, I take a bit and say, “Okay, is this hitting me in this way because is it the Holy Spirit or is it a personal preference or a cultural identity clash kind of thing?

Michaela: So in the midst of pastoring two churches, how do you make time to listen?

Lenworth: I cut my own hair. It usually takes me about an hour so I put an audio book on, and can get through a lot of listening in an hour.

I've been trying to operate on a 9 to 5 kind of schedule, doing a little bit more to erect boundaries. It's not clean because I have prayer meetings and board meetings. Everything else on the bookends of those hours are mine. I can read, watch something if I want, go on a date with my wife. If I need to go shopping, I can do that. I make the time. 

There's a book I recently read called The Emotionally Healthy Leader after a recommendation from a friend for The Emotionally Healthy Church. Man, going through that book really helped me to understand the importance of investing in myself. We've all heard the saying that the river rises no higher than its banks. And it's true.

I heard about taking the fifth Sabbath of the month and making that a family Sabbath. So I built that into the schedule. I don’t work on Mondays which helps me a lot cause I tend to retain a lot [in my head]. Even if I'm not on the phone with someone, in a meeting, or working on a message or devotional thought, it's up here and it's like a monkey on my back that I never quite get off. So, I am very intentional about drawing the boundaries. 

I've even tried to do a class or two—that’s something else I've picked up from colleagues. It’s not just for your ministry's sake, it's for you. You are a whole human being. You have to start with you. 

Michaela: I feel like the idea of a 9 to 5 is kind of revolutionary in the context of our pastoral ministry. Right?

Lenworth: You know, even as I share that with you, I'm over here like, "Whoa, I feel the heat from this.” But check this: I've had people calling me very early in the morning and late at night and my initial response is, Oh man, what do they need? But I'm not 911. I'm not God. If it's an emergency, and maybe if they call me twice, and especially if they leave a message, I might be inclined to check it out. 

The idea of setting boundaries not only helps the person who sets them, but it teaches the people around what to expect. And maybe my desire is not to come between them and God, but that's what a lack of boundaries teaches them. So the first person they turn to is the pastor. We should be asking, “Why don't you go pray about that?” “Why don't you go talk to so-and-so about what happened and sort it out amongst yourselves?” “Why don't you cut out the middle man?”

Michaela: So I'm curious. If we're becoming more of that emotionally healthy leader, what are the chances of us actually existing in an echo chamber? The more we're able to see ourselves clearly, maybe the less we need the coddling that the echo chamber provides? Is that a fair assessment? 

Lenworth: As you started speaking, I thought of an instance in Acts where Paul has to reprimand Peter because he gets swept up in the “circumcision corporation”. It is possible that while you're in the echo chamber—hearing things that you're familiar with and concepts that you affirm—for group-think to take over. The more emotionally healthy you are, the easier it is for you to avoid falling into that kind of trap. 

Michaela: It’s one thing to work on our individual emotional maturity. How do we foster that so that our churches don’t become another echo chamber?

Lenworth: Whether from the pulpit, in a Bible study, or prayer meeting, I try to challenge our perspective, especially when I can tell readily that it's not necessarily grounded in the Bible. 

I see it as more of my calling to affix people to Jesus and not the institution. That doesn't mean that I don't want them to be a part of the global community. It means that being a disciple of Jesus becomes more of your identity than your attachment to the institution. That way, as you're learning about Jesus and his Word, if you see something in the institution that is unlike him or unbiblical, you can readily go, Wait a minute. That's not right. We need to stop. We need to pray. We need to refocus on what's important here. You no longer feel like it's a personal attack.

Small groups can be a blessing. If we were to establish these intimate groups, maybe with individuals from different demographics, maybe it could force us to take a second look at our faith and see another aspect to our belief that we didn't see before. 

Michaela: I hadn't thought about the connection between emotional maturity and echo chambers until this conversation. But starting with that awareness of where we are emotionally and growing through those growing pains—I would guess that's the hardest part of it…the start.

Lenworth: You didn’t need me for this interview. You got it, man. Look at that.

Michaela: Whatever! All of this is based on what you've been saying! It's good. This has been good. Thank you.

Lenworth: Oh, praise God. If anything I've learned can be a blessing to someone else, I have no problem giving it away.

Lenworth Sealey pastors the Killeen New Hope and Mount Lebanon Seventh-day Adventist Churches in Killeen, TX and Waco, TX, respectively.