Pastor for Hire?

I got a call from a funeral home on Saturday because a family had suffered a loss and had no church home or pastor to minister to the family. I agreed to help and called the family. I met with them on Monday and performed the service yesterday morning.

Before the service the funeral director gave me a envelope with a check in it. He told me that it was compensation for my time. I certainly didn’t expect it but told them that I appreciated it.

After everything was finished and wrapped up I went to the funeral director to thank him for his help and for giving me the opportunity. Here’s how he responded, “You did a great job. Can we call you again the next time we have a need?” Nothing unusual there but when I replied with a “Sure” he said, “Great, I’ll add you to our vendor list!”

What? Add me to the vendor list? What’s that? One of the other gentlemen from the funeral home told me that was just the list of people they buy things from. “What in the world would they buy from me,” I inquired? “Your services,” he replied.

Honestly, I have no idea what to think of that. I understand that as a minister it is my job to minister to people, which I certainly don’t mind doing. It is also my job in which I use to support my family so why not get paid for performing my “services”? I’ve just never thought of it as selling. As a minister I get called a lot of things, some good some bad. I just never in a million years would have expected to be called a vendor.