The townspeople had expectations too. Local citizens defined me by a common tradition a century long. They expected certain behavior of their ministers. These expectations were seldom verbalized, and when they were, I was usually surprised. Once a man from another church told me that my predecessor was a great pastor because he spent so much time with people outside his congregation. I’m pretty sure he was criticizing his pastor. At any rate, what he meant was that I should spend less time with my people and more with him! Another man dropped by one day to ask me to pray at an American Legion memorial service at the cemetery. I’d never met him before. In his view, pastors prayed for dead soldiers—once a year!