Some things I've learned from Pastors this year...

I’ve met with several pastors this past year with an ear bent to learn.  Sitting in coffee shops.   Social distancing around camp fires (seems like yesterday).  Crying in offices.  Banding together on Zoom calls.  Pacing the halls on the telephone.  Taking walks on trails.  Sharing our hearts over breakfast.  Breaking bread in each other’s home.  I’ve been listening closely to what’s going on between their ears and under their sternum making mental notes of things that stand out to me.  Here’s what I’ve picked up along the way hanging out with these good folks we call our “pastors”.  

 

-       I’ve not met a pastor who craves power.  Not one.  I’m sure they’re out there, but I don’t know one personally.  We hear stories of celebrity pastors having moral failures usually borne of an enlarged ego, but the vast majority of pastors are humble servants.

 

-       Most pastors didn’t sign up to do what most of them are doing.  As gifted as they may be, pastors were never meant to be the Swiss Armies Knives of leadership.  Modernity is changing the expectations put on the office of the pastorate.  The ones I’ve met are trying to learn and adapt as fast as they can.

 

-       I marvel at how many hours they are spending doing good things no one but God knows about.  In a world drugged on the “dopamine hits” of attention & affirmation, so many pastors serve in the shadows of obscurity without guise or guile.

 

-       I’ve admired in recent years the openness of pastors to receiving coaching and counseling from someone with biblical expertise in psychology.  For too long spiritual shepherds haven’t had anyone shepherding their souls.  Freedom is happening.

 

-       I know there is talk of having a special anointing, and pastors are often expected to have possess this mysterious unction, but pastors don’t have any more of the Holy Spirit than anyone else.  There is no extra measure of God’s presence given to them than is available to any other believer.  

 

-       I’m seeing more openness between denominations, congregations, and pastors than at any other moment in my lifetime.  This spirit of unity in the bond of peace is long overdue and the world is dying to see the prayer of Jesus answered found in John 17.

 

-       Many of the decisions in the church that people call no-brainers are honestly behind-the-scene “brainers” forcing leaders to sort out the nuances with intellectual humility and spiritual discernment.  The pastors I know don’t think they’re always right, on the contrary, many of them battle hidden insecurity.

 

-       Pastors don’t always know how to be leaders.  You can debate if it’s right or wrong, but either way, it’s not a requirement in seminary.  Leading people isn’t the same as loving people.  Not all preachers are good leaders.  It’s a strange conundrum, but I feel that distinction has to be made.

 

-       Most pastors truly want to just help people.  As I’ve processed situations with pastors the last few years, none of them are cavalier about hurting people.  They secretly suffer when their leadership causes unintended pain.  It vexes them.  Unresolved conflict and irreconcilable differences bother them more than they let on.

 

-       The thing I appreciate most about pastors the older I get is how many stories they hold in sacred confidence.  Many of people’s darkest secrets are kept in the safe souls of their ministers.   One phrase I love to hear from pastors is this: “I’m not able to openly discuss that.”  Pondering things in your heart is the holy ground and grail of ministry.

 

-       All pastors are flawed, earthen vessels.  I’m reminded of 2 Corinthians 11:29 where Paul says of himself: “Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?”  So many pastors feel that burn.  That vulnerably and transparency doesn’t make a pastor weak, it demonstrates strength.  Keep being fearfully honest.

 

-       Pastors rely largely on volunteerism to accomplish the vision.  They need roughly 50x’s more people than they can employee to pull off a healthy church expression of The Great Commandment and the Great Commission.  To motivate people to lead, give, serve, and work without the incentive of a paycheck…well, that’s genius!

 

-       I love when I hear pastors talk about their staff, their board, and their teams with admiration and affection.  People don’t know the half of how proud pastors are to serve with good-hearted souls sticking their necks out for each other. 

 

-       I grew up in a pastor’s home and one of my favorite memories was listening to my mom and dad verbally honor the everyday people in our church.  They would start sentences this way: “What I love about so-and-so is…”  I want to be more like that.

 

Many thanks to the pastors that have led me down through the years.  Pastor Parelli.  Pastor Willetts.  Pastor Phil.  I’m learning more and more how blessed I was to sit under your steady leadership.  And thank you to all my pastor-friends out their continuing to kill it for the kingdom!  It’s an honor be in the trenches with you.  Being a pastor is a privilege and a pleasure.

 

So grateful to be surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses in my past and great constellation of colleagues in my present.  My desire is to be a pastor for all of my days and more than anything I want to stand before Jesus someday and hear Him say: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”  

 

Keep fighting the good fight, Pastor-Warriors!