A pastor does more than preach on Sunday mornings. In fact, that’s one thing you should be careful saying to your pastor.

We work throughout the week as well, wearing many varied hats. That may be something you forgot about us pastors. If preaching were all we did, our job would be easy.

image credit: Flickr user Small_Realm

I don’t preach every week, but the weeks that I get the opportunity (though I relish it), I’m completely swamped. None of my other responsibilities go away…it’s just a matter of tacking on 20-25 hours of prep time.

I often counsel folks who are sensing a call to ministry. Their idea of full-time ministry is that you get to have a “quiet time” for a couple of hours in the morning, take a long lunch where you meet with friends, drink coffee all afternoon, and go home by 4:00. They think that ministry is easy.

Trying to paint an accurate picture of the day-to-day life of a pastor is difficult, because there are so many different tasks that we are expected to complete. Though seminary was great, and I benefited from it tremendously, it didn’t prepare me for the gamut of roles I’ve found myself in. My title may be “small groups pastor,” but my job description extends well beyond that.

I’m sure that things are no different for you.

 The Varying Hats a Pastor Wears

• Preacher
• Counselor
• Leader
• Financial planner
• Designer
• Project manager
• Entrepreneur
• Videographer
• Supervisor
• Volunteer coordinator
• Theologian
• Receptionist
• Greeter
• Webmaster
• Community activist
• Writer
• Recruiter
• Life coach
• Shipping department coordinator
• Strategist
• Social media-ite
• Dreamer
• Student
• Disciplinarian
• Teacher
• Social activist
• Events specialist
• Chaplain
• CEO
• COO
• CMO
• CFO
• Operations management
• Janitor
• Salesman
• Communications specialist

Did I leave anything out, that you do or that you’ve seen other pastors do?

 

I had the chance to preach at Grace this past Sunday. What a gift it was.

And what a hard week it was.

Every time I get the call to preach, I forget just how much work it is to prepare until the Wednesday before I preach on Sunday. It’s at that point, when I’m on my 5th rewrite, my 10th bottom line, and my 4th, “I have no idea what I’m going to say” thought for the week.

In the process of preparing and delivering the sermon yesterday, I realized that there are a few things that people often forget about preachers. In fact, I’ve found exactly 10 things that are often forgotten.

10 Things You Forget about Pastors

1. Preaching is a lot of work.

In fact, it takes me between 20-30 hours to prepare my sermon. On top of that, I still have my normal, weekly responsibilities. Last time I checked, adding 30 hours to a work week was a pretty significant amount. The best sermons take time to marinate. Which means that if you enjoyed the sermon…it probably took longer than normal to prepare.

2. Preaching is stressful.

If you mess up in your job, your boss might get upset with you. If we mess up…God is upset with us. I’d rather get the stink eye from your boss than mine any day.

3. Preaching has a lot of moving parts.

We feel the weight of preaching the Scriptures faithfully, in an engaging way, every time. We have to balance humor, theology, and application, making sure to pepper in just the right number of illustrations, but not too many so that people remember the illustration and not the Truth. That’s a lot to balance on a small stage.

4. We don’t always have it all figured out.

We don’t know it all. Or have all of the answers. Or have every truth we’re preaching on mastered. Growing up, I assumed that my pastor knew everything. Now that I’m in that role, I realize that we don’t.

5. We get worn out, too.

Delivering a sermon is physically, emotionally, and spiritually draining. Expect that we’ll be pretty zapped afterwards. After all, “they” say that delivering a sermon is equivalent to 8 hours of work.

6. If you tell us some important detail on a Sunday morning, we’ll probably forget it.

Feel free to tell us, but follow that up with an email. We’ll thank you later. It’s not that we don’t care in the moment…it’s that our minds are racing, and we often have hundreds of thoughts and ideas we’re wrestling with.

7. Preaching is a gift, but it doesn’t always feel that way.

Some days, it feels more like work. I’d love to say that every time we preach, the heavens open up and God gives us great joy in the preparation and in the delivery. But I’d be lying…sometimes it doesn’t feel like a gift.

8. Criticisms need to wait.

Seriously, if you have a bone to pick, call us on Tuesday. We’ll be in a much better spot to handle criticism then, than on your way out the door on Sunday.

9. We see you texting.

Don’t act like you’ve listened to our sermon…we know better.

10. We have to do it all again next week.

Most preachers preach every week. In fact, most preachers preach on Sunday, Sunday night, and then again on Wednesday night. The work of a pastor is never done.

Question:

Have you ever preached? Do any of these resonate with you?

 

Carrying around a megaphone doesn’t legitimize your message.

image credit: Flickr user Hazzat

It just makes your message louder.

Just like talking about your dreams doesn’t mean you’ve taken any real action to accomplishing them.

It just makes your dreams more widely distributed.

We love to talk about our plans and goals and dreams. Sharing your dreams is a great way to keep a conversation going, and make us seem like we’re the forward-thinking, out-of-the-box type.

But just like the guy who writes a blog about how to write a blog about blogging is great at spinning his wheels but creating no real movement, so too are our wheels spinning.

We go in circles trying to justify our inaction.

9 times out of 10, our inaction is driven by our fear.

Faith takes risks, trusting God to truly be a God who loves to do the impossible. You’ll never fully understand God’s power until you have the faith to believe, pray, and act on the fact that our God is a God who loves to do the impossible. (Re: Ephesians 3:20-21)

You can’t experience God’s power if you trust Him with what you, in your power alone, can do. Faith requires risk. Risk to trust God. Risk to fight your fear. Risk to believe and act in confidence that God is who He says He is and does what He says he’ll do.

Instead of writing about marriage, take your wife on a date.

Instead of taking about reaching out to your neighbor, do it.

Instead of leading others to be generous, do it yourself.

Instead of telling others about your dream, start living it.

Don’t write. Do.

Don’t speak. Be.

Don’t dream. Act.

 

Any change takes is tough. Whether that change is at home, at work, or at the gym, change of any sort brings about a mixture of feelings, emotions, and, in the case of the gym, pain. Every time.

There are big changes coming down the pike where I serve on staff at Grace Community Church. My pastor, Ron Edmondson, is leaving to pastor Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, KY. Ron helped launch Grace over 6 years ago, and has served as co-pastor the whole time.

Ron and his wife, Cheryl, are leaving a huge hole as they transition out. Ron is an unbelievably gifted leader and communicator. He’s helped lead our staff team, and our church, from 11 families to ~2500 on Sunday mornings. He’s shaped the culture of our church, and our staff team, into a healthy environment. Ron’s not leaving a disheveled mess of a leadership team. In fact, I believe that we’re as healthy as we’ve ever been. He’s leaving on a high note, which makes this faith step even harder.

For most people, it’s easy to walk away from something that’s unhealthy. Especially when you have something healthy to walk into.

But for Ron, he’s doing the opposite. He’s walking away from something that’s thriving (Grace) and towards something that isn’t (Immanuel). Which makes this an even larger step of faith.

I’m proud of Ron, for the step he’s taking, the work he’s done, and the work ahead of him. His next team will be blessed to sit under his teaching and leadership.

I’m also excited for the days ahead of us at Grace. I’m confident in the leadership of Chad Rowland, our lead pastor. God has crafted him to lead our church, and he’s got a staff that’s ready and willing to follow. I’m excited to see how God’s going to use Chad in the coming weeks, months, and years, as Grace transitions into its next season.

Here’s the video we released this week, explaining Ron’s new position, and casting vision for what’s to come.

Question: what’s the biggest change you’ve ever had to face?

 

image credit: Creation Swap user http://creationswap.com/joshyates

We created art today,

my son & I crafting a masterpiece.

Weaving figure 8s, sweeping our brushes across,

we dominated the back yard.

We created art today.

He used the green, I the orange.

No blade stood a chance

as we blanketed every square inch of our canvas.

We created art today

amidst a stifling heat.

We left, covered in green bits of canvas

from which we had crafted.

We created art today,

art of the best kind.

Art that gives you hope

and makes you laugh.

We created art today,

art that displays real life.

And spotlights the best this life can offer.

Art that beckons others’ enjoyment.

We created art today

and we’ll do it again next week.

When the long blades call out

for a father and son to create a masterpiece.

 

Don’t miss out on my “This is awkward” series HERE.

Creative Commons user Marc Wathieu, edits mine

As a pastor, I’m supposed to have it all figured out.

I have a degree in theology.

I have been called to full-time vocational ministry.

I help other people work on their marriages.

I’ve even written blog posts about how to preach a marriage ceremony, for crying out loud.

But I don’t have it figured out.

My wife and I, in seasons of our marriage, have had to ask for help. Shore up some weaknesses. Make our marriage stronger. Get my wife to realize how awesome I am.

Does that mean we’re weak? And not where we need to be? And that we don’t have a perfect marriage? And that we don’t have all of the answers.

Yep. You bet it does.

Honest community

And we’re okay being honest about that. In being honest about times in our marriage when we needed help, we’re able to step alongside other couples and say, “It’s okay to ask for help. We have, too.”

There’s a perception that asking for help means you’ve got some sort of deficiency. That some disease has stricken your marriage, and now everybody looks at you like you’re a leper.

If that’s true, maybe it’s time to look for a new community where it’s okay to be yourself, scars and all.

It’s more than “okay” to ask for help in your marriage. In fact, I’d call it “wisdom.”

Time to wise up. Ask for some help from a couple that’s a little further down the road from you.

Ask them how they’ve worked through difficulties. How they’ve grown in their faith. How they’ve learned to argue well. How they’ve pointed their family to Jesus along the way.

Our marriages are too valuable to ignore our need for outside help.

The Spirit of God helps us in our weaknesses (Romans 8:26), and He often does that through others.

There’s no shame in asking for help.

Umm…this is awkward…but can you help me with my marriage?

 

Stop it.

 

image credit: Creation Swap user http://creationswap.com/kconner

You, alone

are not the Church.

are bull-headed.

are prone to give up.

think you’re right.

are narrow-minded.

only have 24 hours in a day.

have only 2 ears to hear from God.

have only 1 life experience to draw from.

can blindly veer straight into foolishness.

easily slide into pride.

think you’re more amazing than you really are.

are alone.

You, together

collaborate.

curate the best ideas.

encourage one another.

refine processes.

think outside your box.

have 24 x ___ hours in a day.

have 2 x ____ ears to hear from God.

can build more relationships.

have multiple life experiences.

fight against pride that any one person is always “right.”

get more done.

pursue the most wisdom.

are the Church.

So quit trying to lead by yourself.

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. – Proverbs 15:22

 

image credit NBC.com

Ron Swanson, Parks Department Director in Pawnee, IL on NBC’s Parks & Rec, shares his wisdom on building relationships:

When people get a little too chummy with me, I like to call them by the wrong name to let them know I don’t really care about them. – Ron Swanson

Pastors, we’ve got to be better at this. Write new names down. Save them to your phone. Ask for a bit of help.

But there’s no excuse to not remembering people’s names. “I’m just bad with names” doesn’t cut it. “I’m good with faces” doesn’t, either.

Name recognition shows you care nearly as much as any single act. Going out of your way to make this a priority builds bridges.

Don’t overlook the power of remembering someone’s name.

Question:

Are you good with names? Or is it a discipline you need to learn?

 

Truth: “Hey preacher man, good sermon!” is nice…but come on, we can do better than that, right?

We can do better than the shoulder squeeze with the solemn look in the eye. Better than the slow head nod of approval. Especially when we remember that our pastor spends hours each week pouring out their heart on stage, ministering to and in our communities, and shepherding hard-heads like us.

image credit: Creative Commons user ThisIsAGoodSign

The work of a pastor is often lonely, difficult work…we need your encouragement.

Encouragement isn’t that difficult, but it takes being intentional.

10 Ways to encourage your pastor:

1. Appreciate the work they do throughout the week, not just on Sunday. You know that being a pastor is more than a Sunday gig, right? We don’t love that you-only-work-one-day-a-week ribbing, by the way.

2. Take notes on Sunday. This is a great way to encourage your pastor…at least act like you’re going to work diligently to remember and apply their teaching.

3. Email them on Tuesday and let them know you’re still working through your notes from Sunday.

4. Deflect criticism on their behalf. Your pastor likely takes a lot of heat. Some may be deserved…much of it likely isn’t. Instead of joining in the criticism, stand up and show your pastor some love. Help others see the good side of your pastor.

5. Speak well of your local church. Your pastor takes great care and spends much effort to present and grow a beautiful local church. Speaking well of your church is a great way to encourage and honor the work your pastor’s done.

6. Serve. I don’t mean that you should necessarily bring your pastor dinner…you should serve others in your local church. This is unbelievably encouraging! Your pastor’s desire is not to be the only one who does ministry.

7. Pray for them. Often.

8. Speak well of their spouse. A pastor’s spouse is married to the ministry. They often do ministry themselves, and end up carrying the burden of their spouse as they lead. It’s a tough spot to be in. Speaking well of your pastor’s spouse helps your pastor feel like you’ve got their back.

9. Start consistently feeding them fresh preaching points every day. By email. And phone calls. And text messages. And Facebook wall posts.

10. Give generously. This is a fruit of faithful, biblical preaching…people growing up in their faith to the point where they’re generous with their financial resources. Give to your local church, yes. But give generously to others. “Don’t let your left hand know what your right is doing.” – Matthew 6:3

Not sure where to start? Pick one for this upcoming week, and bless your pastor. Your local church will be better because of your small investment.

image credit: Creative Commons user ThisIsAGoodSign