Because I wanted to be one since I was thirteen.
I had all the experiences of being "called" at a very young age, I went to the right schools and was mentored by the right people.
Now I have a new respect and perspective on the role of the pastor.
I think it is one of the toughest jobs out there.
I think they have become a joke to most of the Western world.
I think they are set up for failure in most institutional church structures. (at times the "lead" Pastor looks like a CEO who's congregation see as a superhero.)
In this past week i have had lunch, taken walks, had coffee or drank a beer with five pastors in four days and i can honestly say I enjoyed it. But sitting hear now I can not help but think, why?
Here is what I hear: You know what it is like, you do not judge me, you enjoy me as a human being and you respect what i am trying to do.
Maybe we could all treat pastors more like human beings and less like super heros and we might see a change in the church in America.
I do not know, but i think it would be a grand experiment.
1 comments:
Scott -
Treating them like everyday folk would be lovely. It's awkward when I'm looked to in small group settings as the answerman or the person who lives a sheltered life because I work inside the walls of a church building (although not nearly 40 hours in the building!).
I've talked to a number of young pastors and we've all empathized with the pressures that are...invisible...some placed on us by us but some placed on us by the church as well.
It's a spot where you're continually in a hard place...damned if you do, damned if you don't sort of thing.
But there is always reprieve...when you see the gospel living and active IN SPITE OF YOURSELF! The church built around one man won't work, and I don't know if it should. In the end, God does what God does and it's bigger than one person...thankfully.
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