I've heard of both being used.
THE REVerend 'Smith' is maybe more of a formal title for a clergyperson
PASTOR 'Smith' is a perhaps more easy version when referring to a clergyperson.
I imagine the ELCA and other religiious "authorities" and congregations will use The Reverend 'Smith' when writing publications
I've been told by local pastors here and there to refer to them however I wish (with all respect of course) Pastor Derr, or The Reverend Derr, or simply Mandy, Pastor Fryer, or Carol, Pastor Kling (the last one is referring to my Dad who retired a few years ago, but he still preaches on a few occasions for other Pastors who are vacationing)... and even using the person's first name as you would anyone else...they like to be regular people themselves a lot of the time.
It seems that using PASTOR is much easier to say audibly than to always say THE REVEREND.
Ask somebody who's been to a seminary, they might have somewhat more information on how they refer to graduates who have been ordained as REVERENDS.
And my Dad won't preach at his old church, nor will he do any weddings or funerals for people he knew when he was Pastoring at his last "church of regular employment". It's would be a big confilct of interest if he did so, and how many weddings and funerals should they expect him to perform even after he's retired. He and my mother still attend their old church, and they still give offering, but they like to explore other churches now and then. The organist at another Lutheran Church in Ft. Collins, her husband Mr. Yernberg used to work at Koininia in upstate NY. His wife Marcia plays very well too, which seems somewhat rare compared to what Dr. Thomas Schmidt does for St. Peters.
Another sidenote, and perhaps this might take any validity from my reply here, but my Dad says that The Missouri Synod had originally "promised" to help with the "old" Green LBWs, but when it came time to publish the hymnals, The Missouri Synod bailed out of paying for the hymnal. That's one that gets my Dad in an uproar if I talk about it. I've told a few people that I'm not as happy with the new hymnals, not as much harmony printed for different parts. Drives me up the wall after singing with everyone at St. Peters in NYC. Of Course St. Peters had a lot of people who were familiar with the different parts, and Tom was always good about playing what exactly was printed. People aren't as musically inclined/enabled in a lot of other places. Ok, enough of my ramblings on topic further from the original about a clergy-person being called either PASTOR or REVEREND. I would think that the development and use of the language of English has had many references to the same profession. Ask a Pastor, an English teacher, a Seminary student or teacher, Lutheran, Episcopalean, Baptist, etal Protestant, Catholic Priests, and then even the churches around NYC, the Hebrew Central Cathedral across from St. Peters, etc. if you're that determined to know and perhaps write about how the use of PASTOR and REVEREND have been and are still now used at least in the Christian Churches.
Maybe I should have been Missouri Synod is the lesson I get from this if being exact to the printed music is what I always have wanted. And refer to all clergy people as PASTOR.
