Church Is Not an Extension of the Pastor’s Ego

You cannot serve God and mammon. We are to set our affections on things above, not on things of this earth. We are to put our treasure in heaven.

Typically we reserve this for talks about money and the dangers of materialism, which is no doubt true. But there are other facets of life that fit here too.

Including your church.

People count what they see. Then we compare our numbers with other people’s numbers. The guy with the big, growing church is being blessed; the guy with the small, struggling church is clearly doing something wrong.

Some are blunt about this judgment, others cloak it in humble talk, but essentially this idea emerges.

As a pastor, I felt this all the time. When visitors came on Sundays when lots of people were gone. When family visited from out of town and commented how small our church was. When other pastors would drop how their new building expansion was going, while my church met in the junior high.

My ego took a hit. My self-esteem, well, after 21 years pastoring in a church that never broke out of struggle, I basically had no self-esteem.

Breaking out of this pattern of thinking is hard, even harder when seemingly everyone you talk to about church reminds you of how terrible and pathetic your church is and by default, you are as a pastor.

People claim all the time that God is the builder of the church, “we just plant and water and God gives the increase.” A growing church is getting the increase, so God is obviously blessing the planting and watering. A struggling church, well, God has pretty much given up on that thing.

Much discouragement, embarrassment, depression, justifications, and self-loathing overwhelmed my soul. My planting and watering must have all been on stony ground, because I got nothing.

In my moments of despair, I’d cry out to God, why no blessing? Why no growth? Why just pain? Can I get a break? I’d lay it out before Him.

I kept coming back to 1 Corinthians 4:1-5. Paul says it was a small thing to be judged by the Corinthians who doubted his apostleship and belittled his ministry. Paul said he didn’t even judge himself! Even if he thought he was completely justified in everything he did, it still didn’t matter.

The only thing that mattered was God’s judgment.

It doesn’t matter what human judgment is upon you or your ministry, not even your own judgment.

This isn’t jerkish pride either, that “I’m better than others so don’t tell me what to do,” nor is this some sort of cosmic, “Get off my back while I take it easy” kind of thing. This is a serious, you alone before God, judgment.

God will judge your ministry. As he says in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, which is the same context by the way, all we do on the foundation will be tested with fire.

Lots of people do visibly impressive things that get attention, accolades, and genuinely looks like big things are happening, and maybe there are. Other guys have hardly anything. The amount before the fire isn’t what matters!

What’s left after the fire matters.

I know pastors who are determined to leave a legacy, a visible proof of their effectiveness. Their desire to grow the church doesn’t seem to be out of a desire for spiritual growth in individuals, but a visible growth of externals so they look and feel like a man.

False teachers are in the church. Their bellies are their motivation. They are always talking about money and always have incredible appetites to spend that money, rarely on anything spiritually helpful, often on a physical thing that proves their effectiveness.

God will judge that. He will judge the pastor who sincerely cares about people’s spiritual growth too, with the exact same fire.

It’s possible to have an impressive amount before the fire and after, this is my desire, but I fear for how much is left after.

That’s the only thing that matters.

Yet it’s so easy to get caught up in ego and pride, the desire to have impressive things going on so we feel better about ourselves.

What are we doing ministry for, to impress people, or to have something survive the fire of God’s judgment? Is your church an extension of your ego, or is it Christ’s Body?

If you struggle with pastoral depression like I did, it’s mostly because of comparison with others. It’s mostly an ego hit.

Yes, I did have sorrow in my heart for how many were rejecting God’s word, perverting His Gospel, and leaving, what I felt, was a place that could help them.

I know that was sincerely in there. I also know I was a mopey, whiny pastor who desperately wanted validation.

Examine what gets you bummed out as a pastor. What stirred it up? Was it external comparison, or divine concern for souls? Examine that before the Lord.

Keep planting and watering. God takes care of the increase. It’s true, let Him worry about that part. Be faithful to the Word, in season and out, preach, teach, exhort, rebuke with all authority, and do all of it in light of you standing alone before God.

Only His opinion matters.

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If you want to know more of my experiences as a pastor of a small church, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. It includes 9 tested and true tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Fathers and Priests

A priest, in the biblical sense of the word, is someone who intercedes on behalf of someone else before God.

Not all priests were official priests. Take Job for instance.

Job probably lived during the time of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Job was probably the first written book of the Bible.

Melchizedek was out there at this time too, and is referred to as a priest, so he seems to be the first official priestly office holder (Genesis 14:18).

But Job made sacrifices for his kids and interceded for them in case they cursed God in their hearts (Job 1:5).

There is no explanation of this behavior, no mention as to whether it “worked.” But it is mentioned in part as proof of the uprightness of Job. It certainly wasn’t a bad thing.

That role is similar to what a priest does.

Perhaps fathers were the first priests. Any good dad will petition God on behalf of his kids. Good dads are aware of their children’s sins and weaknesses, the areas of life they will have trouble in.

I have prayed many, many times for my children. I did this when they were little when they had no real notion of God or prayer. They aren’t living in conscious awareness of God, and I know it needs to occur, so I did it for them.

When they were and are older, I pray for them because I know they are out there on their own doing who knows what. I don’t really know their heart. I know they are in a young part of life where they get busy and might not be thinking about God or prioritizing life in light of Him as well as they could. So I pray for them.

My kids do not need me as a mediator between them and God. Christ is the one mediator. I’m not saying I’m actually their priest, I’m saying that the father role is priest-like!

I don’t know if any of my prayers for my kids have made an actual difference. I don’t know if God is more merciful to them on account of my prayers for them.

I guess I don’t really care, in one sense. It’s a natural outflow of loving my kids. I do know that things are working out ok for me and them, and part of that has to at least be on account of my loving concern for their spiritual health. I can’t imagine things would be better if I hadn’t done all that on their behalf.

The priest knew more about God and saw more about God than the children of Israel did. They knew, or were supposed to know, more and were to take their increased knowledge of God, plus their responsibility as leaders of the people, seriously and intercede.

Parents do the same thing. They know more than their kids. They know more of God and the spiritual needs of their kids if they are paying attention. How can a parent not intercede on behalf of their kids?

One way is if the parents are spiritually dead themselves and simply not concerned for spiritual things. Another way is when parents get their kids saved by forcing them in so many ways to “say the prayer.” Once they “get them saved,” they cease worrying about the eternal state of their children.

This is not good parenting or priesting.

Parents have a critical role in the spiritual health of their children. Kids reflect their parents. There are always exceptions to the rule, but they are pretty rare.

Be spiritually concerned for your kids, no matter how old they are or whether or not you think they are saved. It’s sort of the job of being a parent. This is especially true if you are a pastor. The Apostle Paul says if you’re not a good father you shouldn’t be a pastor (1 Timothy 3:4-5). I imagine this means something.

In all your concern for the spiritual health of people in your church, start with the people in your family.

Paul’s First Command To Timothy: Pray

Prayer is our most unused tool in the church.

Our prayers become formulaic, everyone has to sound like they are praying, with all the “Father Gods” and “Lords” and King James English and breathy tones. We know what it sounds like to pray, so we do our best to sound like that.

If your voice changes when you pray, you’re probably praying for the audience.

On top of that, most of our prayers are only concerned with physical things, and mostly with our health. If it weren’t for getting sick, I don’t know that most Christians would ever pray.

As a pastor, it’s very important that you pray right. People will follow your example whether you want them to or not.

By “right,” I of course mean biblically. You don’t have to measure up to my standard. You should measure up to God’s.

How you pray will impact your life; how you live will impact your prayers.

Our prayers should reflect the new life in Christ made available in the Gospel. We should have new concerns, things that are higher than this earth, things that would come out of the mouth of a citizen of heaven.

If we are made new spiritual creations in Christ Jesus, you would think our primary concerns would be for spiritual things.

You would think so, but no casual glance at Christianity reflects this.

We pray as if we are merely physical people and all our concerns are physical. New jobs, new cars, knee problems, cancer treatments, kid’s taking tests, etc.

Certainly these things are real concerns and we are told we can pray about all things. Nothing wrong with praying about these things. Did you hear me?! There’s nothing wrong with praying about these things.

BUT DON’T FORGET THE SPIRITUAL COMPONENT WHICH IS FAR GREATER!

When people want me to pray for their cancer treatments or desire for a new job, I will always include something along the lines of “help them learn whatever they can through this experience and lead them to spiritual growth.” I even go so far as to say, “If them having cancer draws them closer to you, then let them have cancer. If healing them will draw them closer; then heal them.” You’ll be amazed at how fewer people will ask you to pray for all their issues!

Raise people’s vision higher. Remind them of our spiritual selves that will live for eternity.

Before Paul tells Timothy anything directly related to how to be a leader in a church, he says:

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, (1 Timothy 2:1-3)

The first thing Paul brings up is prayer! Primarily prayer for people, and especially for people in positions of authority.

Why the focus on praying for people, particularly those in authority?

Because Paul wants us to shut up.

The church should not be marked with political wrangling and theorizing and bashing on authority. The world does that. Those are the world’s people dealing with the world’s concerns. They have nothing else. For after all these things do the Gentiles (the unsaved nations) seek.

Christians are different. The world can have the world. The world is dead to me (Galatians 6:14).

We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Donald Trump is not your enemy. Joe Biden is not your enemy. Satan is. Don’t be fooled. Pray for all these people, as most of them are caught in Satan’s grip. Pray for their souls.

If you viewed your political enemies as souls who will spend eternity somewhere, and spent more time praying for them than bashing them, I imagine your heart would be softened. I imagine that would lead to a quiet and peaceable life.

Praying constantly for the spiritual help of everyone around you will make you quiet, peaceful, godly, and dignified.

People red in the face angry, screaming and carrying on, is not a mark of one who is born from above. Of one who has been placed into the body of the Prince of Peace. Of one who has the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, PEACE).

Our prayers should raise us above the fray.

Oh yes, I know, here’s where That One Guy says, “Don’t be so heavenly minded you’re no earthly good.”

Never in the history of humanity has anyone ever been too heavenly minded. Jesus Christ, who actually came from heaven to earth, and then went back to heaven, was the most perfectly heavenly minded person ever and He had quite the impact down here.

Don’t buy into that stupid line.

You will never in a million years be too heavenly minded. That is in fact one of our main problems in life: we are too earthly minded. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life consume us. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Etc.

Being excessively heavenly minded is exactly what we should be and it’s desperately what people in our church need to see in their pastor.

If you were heavenly minded your prayers would reflect it. Pray for people. This is where Paul starts with Timothy.

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If you’d like to hear more of what I think the Bible says to pastors that will annoy people, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

Don’t Forget Pastor: You’re a Sinner

In 1 Timothy, Paul says he is the “chief of sinners.” He’s #1 in the sinner rankings. Many have noted that Paul said earlier in his ministry that he was less than the least of all saints and less than the other apostles.

Paul had a serious view of his sin. Paul was a man. Never forget that biblical people were still human. Paul sinned, not just in the past, but all his life. When you see your sin, it is depressing.

I’ve heard Christians say that because of Christ’s forgiveness you shouldn’t have any regrets or shame about the past. I understand the point. Paul also said to “forget those things that are behind.” But to have a calloused attitude toward sin, to not be humbled by your trespasses, seems dangerous territory.

Paul was in ministry. Ministry has a way of making you see other people’s sins, and boy howdy will you see them. You’ll see and hear about so many of them you might be tempted to think, “What is wrong with you people?” Perhaps you’ll follow that up with, “Lord, thank you that you did not make me like those sinners.”

As soon as sin becomes “what other people do” and you view yourself as better than those lowly, evil sinners, you should resign.

Yes, forgiveness is great and yes, God has removed our sin as far as the east is from the west. We should press toward the mark and forget what is behind. But never forget you were and are a sinner.

The flip side of not seeing your sin is to have a hardened conscience, which in the Bible is always a characteristic of unbelievers. If we say we have no sin we are liars.

Paul knew his sin, remembered his sin, and regretted his sin. This is normal and healthy, a mark of true spiritual wisdom.

Paul didn’t beat himself into the ground over it, he didn’t whine and give up in mopey inadequacy. Paul saw the sin, but also saw the greatness of His Savior. Read the full quote:

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

–1 Timothy 1:15-17

Paul saw his sin right along with the greatness of his Savior, leading him to worship his great God.

There are many reports of pastors falling into disgrace. Typically this happens because they don’t take their sin seriously. They fixate on and yell about the sins of others, while feeling their “sins” are justified because of their spiritual position. They revel in their “Man of God” status, they feel they are God’s gift to humanity, the whole church needs them and their wisdom.

You’d never hear any of them say they were the chief of sinners, or less than the least of all saints (However, some do belabor this point in humble bragging, which is also a warning sign).

Humility should mark your ministry. Humility is best understood by seeing that you are a sinner, not just them other people, but you, the guy up front, the “spiritual leader.”

Don’t lose sight of your sin, your need for a Savior and the Gospel, and your need for spiritual growth and maturing. Self-righteousness is nothing more than forgetting you are a sinner.

At the same time, you do no one any good to wallow in your sinful misery and be too afraid of the master and bury your talents. Yes, your sin is tremendous, but our Savior and His Gospel are more powerful still.

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If you’d like to hear more details about my depressing experiences pastoring my church, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50!

I Am Grateful for My Years in Pastoral Ministry

Although I have enjoyed making fun of and complaining about and whining about and being cynical about pastoral ministry for years, I have to say, my years as a pastor were one of the best things that ever happened to me.

I consider it all to be a giant blessing and honor.

Before I get too uncharacteristically carried away in positivity, let me say that I did not feel this way during most of my years in ministry! There were brutal days. I was swallowed up in deep depression for years.

The struggles were real. The lack of money was real. The pressure to please people was real. The humiliation and disrespect were real. It was all real and felt horrible.

But over time, especially now that I’m out, the clarity of hindsight has shown me what a great thing all the misery was. Tribulation works patience, experience, and hope, and hope does not make ashamed.

It’s through those tough times that I lost confidence in myself and was driven to God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and the comfort of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

If those terrible things had never happened, if everything had gone well instead, I fear to think of what my spiritual state would be today.

I was not equipped to handle success as a young man. I know I would have become a massively arrogant jerk. I would have been one of those fallen pastors we enjoy posting about on Twitter. I needed to be cut down. Being a pastor in the church I was in cut me down very well.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:12-14:

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

I don’t claim to be appointed like Paul was. I had no Damascus Road experience with my ministry spelled out for me. Nor can I claim my past life was the result of ignorance in unbelief.

I grew up in a pastor’s family. We had Bibles everywhere. My ignorance was entirely due to laziness and self-righteousness. It wasn’t until that was beaten out of me and I was driven to the Word for lack of other options, did I start to become less ignorant.

Now I can give thanks to the Lord for the opportunity I had to serve Him, as flawed and pathetic as it seemed to be. It was an honor to teach God’s people from God’s Word. I should have been more grateful during it.

The Lord is the ultimate judge of our ministry. Endeavor to please Him, never forgetting that we do the job to serve Him. It’s not for the pay, the prestige, the respect, the power, the influence, or any number of other possible candidates that drive people into pastoral ministry.

It’s to serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What an honor and privilege it is.

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How To Preach Better Sermons

1 Timothy 1:5-7

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

The point of ministry within the church is love. Love, in fact, is the point of the life of any believer, not just those in church leadership. The only way to truly love others is to have a pure heart, good conscience, and a sincere faith.

The opposite direction of a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith is “vain discussion.” People not sincerely following the Lord can’t speak truth. People don’t talk about what they aren’t doing.

Guilt is funny that way. I preached several times a week for 21 years. I know the stuff I skipped, the verses I didn’t go into too much detail right then.

When I listen to other pastors preach I’m fascinated to note what verses they skip, or what theological ideas they circumvent and explain away.

“Vain discussion” is translated as “vain jangling” in the King James. I like that better. It sounds more accurate! It’s just empty words signifying nothing. Noise. Pomp.

Pastors who skip the plain meaning of verses and instead pontificate about their own ideas, their verbal gymnastics to explain away clear commands, are revealing for anyone who is interested that their conscience is not good. That there’s something wrong in them. They know what it is. I don’t, nor do I want to speculate, but something is off.

This is Paul’s word, not mine. If you don’t live sincerely and honestly before God, you will use confusing, empty, misleading language, most of it leading to nothing in the end. Oh, it took up time, it sure sounded like you were saying something, but in the end no truth was conveyed.

I’ve listened to many of these sermons.

Many of these guys, according to Paul, want to be teachers of the law even though they have no idea what they are talking about.

Perhaps he’s going after legalists in particular, but I think we do a disservice if we limit it to that group. Guys who relish telling other people what to do are often covering their own rebellion.

The preachers who rail on sin the most vocally and outrageously, are often making up for their own guilty conscience. I know guys who were staunch defenders of law commands who later were disqualified from ministry for doing the vary things they railed against, or sometimes the one part of the law they never brought up!

Paul says they don’t understand their own confident assertions.

There’s a pastor I know, I’ve heard many of his sermons, who whenever he departs from Scripture to pontificate about his own theories, his volume rises and his finger wags at the congregation. It’s almost a guarantee, the louder and more exuberant a preacher gets, the more seemingly confident they act, that’s when they’ve veered from Scripture the most.

The best way to preach good sermons, to uphold Scripture in word and deed, is to actually live by it. Having a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith is the best way to have right doctrine and sound preaching.

Departing from your own personal virtue before the Lord will lead you to preach empty sermons, riling people up about vain commands, and misleading people to follow your own proud assertions.

Souls are on the line. Get yours right before preaching to others.

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Pastors Should Be Poor

Let me begin by saying that I was a pastor for 21 years and for most of those years I was poor. And, just so we’re clear, my family and I were in the 0% tax bracket. And that’s not because we were playing games with taxes; that’s because we were poor.

And let me also say that the “richest” I was, the time when I was paid the most, was in the first couple years of my ministry. My salary shrunk over time and that was mostly due to my voluntary pay cuts.

The reason I mention this is because I am fully aware of the common assumption that what I personally did is the best and only way to do things. Since I was a poor pastor, therefore, any pastor who wants to be spiritual like me should also be poor.

That probably plays into my opinion some, but I like to think Scripture plays into it more.

The time in my career when I was paid the most was also the time when I was preaching what people wanted to hear. I mostly did this because I didn’t know what else to say. I was preaching the party line, which is pretty much the only line I knew. People were happy and the church grew and I got paid more.

I began to feel terrible about this. The fact I was getting paid a lot, while honestly having no idea what I was talking about, ate at my soul.

To remedy this I began reading the Bible consistently. Over my 21 years of pastoral ministry I read the Bible over 40 times, again, not saying this to sound uber-spiritual, just pointing out what I did to remedy my lack of knowledge.

As I began reading the Bible I began to see that the party line I was taught was not biblical. Being a person with the Holy Spirit, an awareness of my responsibility and accountability before God, and a measure of self-respect, I had to preach what I was learning.

People did not like this. People want their pastors to be sure of themselves, not shifting or changing beliefs. In other words: people don’t want their pastors to grow.

I also noticed how often money was an issue in the Bible. 1 Timothy 6 is pretty much the only passage you’d need to see how dangerous money is to spiritual health, but there are many more.

1 Timothy 6 is in what we call “the Pastoral Epistles.” I imagine there’s a reason for this. Money is dangerous to spiritual health. Going after and getting money leads to spiritual shipwreck. That’s not me; read 1 Timothy 6.

Pastors should be poor for several reasons:

1) The Bible

The Book is pretty clear. You can’t serve two masters, you cannot serve God and mammon (money and all it can get you). This idea was not taught in a corner; it’s all over the place in the Bible once you see it.

2) The Church

The pastor will affect the church. A pastor who is rich, or desires to be rich, will teach false doctrine. To attract people, which is how you get paid more, you will teach what keeps people coming, and you primarily need rich people coming. One of the miraculous signs of the Messiah is not only healing people and raising the dead, but that He would preach to the poor (Matthew 11:5). It’s that astounding and acted as a unique sign. Preaching to the poor doesn’t pay well. Rich pastors don’t bother with such wastes of time.

3) The Judgment

Pastors will give an account for what they said and did in front of a church. You lead by example, whether you want to or not. People will follow. If the pastor has money, people will assume it’s ok. The rich pastor will not preach on the multitude of Scriptures that say money is dangerous. Having money will make your stand before the Lord potentially terrible. Ezekiel 34 is a huge warning to the spiritual leaders of Israel who did their shepherding for their own gain. There is a warning here for New Testament shepherds as well. OT shepherds have already gotten judgment dropped on them, what do you think similar shepherds in the NT will get?

4) The Pastoral Office

Pastoral ministry has an eternal component to it, a spiritual burden if you will. If pastoral jobs pay well, it will attract people who want money rather than those with a spiritual burden to serve. It will be harder to tell who really has spiritual priorities if the pay is good. Benefit packages should not be why a pastor wants a job.

5) The Pastor

The Bible is clear that money has the potential to destroy your soul. It will choke out fruitfulness. As a pastor gets paid more, spiritual vigor will decline and focus on material things will increase. Good soldiers of Jesus Christ endure hardness. Rich people get soft. You’ll lose more battles. Your soul is at stake.

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I’m not saying churches should slash pastoral salaries tomorrow. I’m not praising churches that underpay their pastors out of their own stinginess, or to “teach him a lesson in trusting God.”

What I’d prefer, what I’d recommend, is that all pastors consider this very carefully. Decide between you and the Lord how much money you actually need. If necessary, take a pay cut. Not out of arrogance or to be seen, but out of a faithful accountability to God. Pastors should be people who don’t mind being poor and prefer it to be so. That’s the point.

Money is a huge issue in the Bible. It doesn’t get taken seriously in our affluent age. Luckily for us, our affluent age is about to take a hit, whether you choose it or not! This will work out just fine for everyone who already knows money is a sham anyway. Lead the way, pastors!

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If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom” that shrunk my church, I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it. There are 9 tips for how to not grow your church for only $3.50! And, in a consistent effort to remain poor even while not a pastor anymore, I only get $1 of profit from each book sold!

7 Ways for Pastors to “Love the People”

When I was preparing to be a pastor, an older pastor told me, “Love the people. That’s the biggest thing. You’ve gotta love the people.”

As a young, idealistic pastor-in-training I had no idea what that really meant. If you asked me to nail that down, I suppose I would have said something along the lines of, “Be nice and talk to them. Shake their hands. Something like that?”

After 21-years of being a pastor, and now being out of pastoral ministry and observing pastors from the “layman’s” perspective, here are the top things I think it means for a pastor to “love the people.”

1. Love rejoices in the truth.

Love doesn’t mean tolerating sin or downplaying scriptural standards of Christian conduct for fear of offending and losing attenders. The pastor who told me to “love the people” frequently told people their sin was ok, that they didn’t have to worry about it because of grace. His idea of love meant “be inoffensive” to people. If you are not pointing out truth and error you are not loving people.

2. Love feeds the people.

The idea of preaching and teaching the Word is repeated in the Pastoral Epistles something like 12 times. It’s a big deal. People in your church have been put under your charge. You are the one primarily responsible for feeding them. If your people are starving, it’s hard to see how you are being a good shepherd that loves his sheep. Give them solid meat to chew on!

3. Love protects the people.

Shepherds feed and protect the sheep. There are plenty of wolves out there, some in sheep’s clothing and some very plainly walking around looking like wolves. Be on guard. Warn the people. Protect the people. Call out sin and false teaching. Don’t be afraid to enact biblical church discipline for the purpose of restoring people into paths of righteousness.

4. Love shows up.

Be there for people. Don’t get so sucked into your schedule that you can’t take time out to make a hospital visit or be available in crisis moments. Also, don’t just wait for crisis moments! Be with your people. Know them. Set up times to visit their work place or homes. This used to be common, but with texting it is less so. Some people are uncomfortable with the idea so check first. But be available. There are always healthy limits, but there are probably other duties you do that can be put off or delegated so you can be with the people.

5. Love knows how to listen.

Some think “love the people” means to be an extroverted schmoozer. That’s not it at all. Shut up and listen! It’s awful hard to know what to say to edify people if you’re never hearing what they are saying. Shut off the auto-responses, the pastor voice, and trite answers. Drop the knee-jerk defensiveness that keeps you from being corrected. Shut off the part of your brain that formulates responses before the other person has stopped talking. Listen. Listen to the extent that you remember stuff. Bring up that stuff later. Ask follow-up questions next time you see them. People in our world are not used to being listened to. Be an exception.

6. Love serves.

Be available for menial tasks. Clean the toilets in your church every once in a whole. Don’t be above others. Not saying you do everything, just saying be careful not to get uppity, feeling like you are above others or above certain jobs. Be humble. Look for opportunities to humbly serve. Wash some feet out there!

7. Love is strong.

Make sure you’re growing. If you’re not advancing in your faith, how will you help others advance in theirs? Bear burdens. If someone in the church has to sacrifice, let it be you. Again, there are healthy boundaries, but lead in sacrificing. Take a pay cut instead of cutting support for struggling but faithful missionaries. As the KJV says, “Quit ye like men.” Be strong. Set your face like flint, armor up, take up your cross, and bear one another’s burdens.

There are probably more things to add. Love is a gigantic topic in the New Testament, kind of the whole deal. Pastors, you gotta love the people. I hope this helps you think through better how you can do that.

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A Warning About “Practice What You Preach”

“Practice what you preach” is an old phrase and conveys a solid point. Preachers who don’t do what they preach are hypocrites and do the church no favors.

But the flip side of the phrase also conveys a warning. There are preachers out there who only “preach what they practice.”

These preachers, often unwittingly, avoid preaching on subjects that they are guilty of violating. Or preach to justify their guilt.

Doctrinal shifts sometimes arise out of a preacher’s guilt.

Some pastors will never mention pornography because their own guilt on the issue keeps them from preaching against it. There is at least some nobility to this; they have a desire to practice what they preach! If they can’t practice it; they don’t preach it.

The better option is to do battle with pornography, however.

Some preach to justify the sin of others they value. Sometimes the preaching changes to accommodate changing societal views of certain sins, or to quiet the squeaky wheels in the congregation.

I know pastors who had kids walk away from the faith and very soon after become strident proponents of “Easy Believism.” One gets the impression they preach to justify their kids into heaven.

Paul’s qualifications for church leadership are all moral/character issues. A preacher’s guilt will influence what is preached. Do battle with sin. In fact, a preacher should have a consistent track record of battling and getting victory over sin.

Most false doctrine arises out of sinful conduct. A guilty conscience will warp your understanding of Scripture and what you say about Scripture.

Doing God’s will is the first step to knowing and preaching sound doctrine. If you skip that step, you and your hearers will be led astray.

Yes, practice what you preach, but also improve your practice, so you can preach what you practice.

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Should Pastors Have Mentors?

When I started as a pastor the closest thing I had to a mentor was my father. My dad was a pastor for 30 some years. I’d call him for questions about certain Scripture passages, how to handle weird church people, what you’re supposed to say at weddings, and all sorts of stuff.

He usually answered. Sometimes without sarcasm. It was cool. We bonded quite a bit doing that.

Then he died.

Not only was this a shock to my system as a son, and also because it happened so quickly and soon, but I now had no one to answer my questions.

I asked the Lord that some older man would be available to help me out, give me counsel, and answer some questions. I prayed for years.

There were several men I felt would be good mentors. I approached them. It didn’t go well. One even used what I said in private as a reason to leave the church. I thought I could trust him, that he wanted to help me. I opened up. Guess I shouldn’t have. This does not help a guy seek a mentor.

I prayed for a mentor for years and nothing happened. I was bummed about it, but at the same time, something very cool happened.

Since I had no one to go to for answers to my questions, I figured I might as well go to the Lord! I began reading the Bible voraciously. In the 20 years of being a pastor I read the Bible over 40 times. I’m not saying this to brag (mostly), but as proof that I really began to read the Bible.

I didn’t just do it as a checklist effort either. I had questions and I sought answers. I studied and read and wrote and preached and counseled with what I saw in the Bible. Granted, my church shrunk because few others seemed to have interest in what the Bible said, but I got answers.

Is it good for a pastor to have a mentor? Probably. I’m certainly not against it. But there are two things to watch out for if you do have one:

1. You might not go to the Lord and His Word for answers as much and

2. You may tend to just listen to what they say.

Any good mentor will be aware of such things and will hopefully encourage you to go to the Word and not take their opinion as Gospel. But some who desire to be mentors often seek power or control.

I know some in ministry who have fairly standard doctrine, yet where they veer is where a mentor they respected steered them. Mentors, especially if they are respectable people and have gone through tough times with you, can have an oversized impact on your beliefs. This is something to watch out for.

There are also dangers of not having a mentor:

1. You have a lack of wise counsel and

2. You have no one for true support.

These can be terrible things, I know from experience. I felt very lonely and would have loved to talk to someone who knew the issues I was dealing with, who I was, and who I was trying to help.

Whether a pastor needs a mentor is often stated very affirmatively. I’m not convinced it’s necessary, but I do think it would help.

As in all things: it depends! Who is your mentor? Should they be? Why do you want one? Are you insecure so you need someone to make decisions for you? Do you just want a little help and insight? Is it a shortcut or laziness?

Either way, be careful out there. Jesus Christ is the ultimate mentor and His Word is indispensable. Never rely on any person more than Christ and His Word.

In the end, for me, I wish I had had a mentor, but I have also seen how the Lord helped me when I did not have one. As always, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and He’ll take care of you.

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If you’d like to hear more of my accumulated pastoral “wisdom,” I wrote a book. CLICK HERE to get a copy of it, perhaps it’s the mentoral guidance you’ve always wanted!