A Weekly Furlough for Your Pastor
By Derrick G. Jeter
Church folk don’t always live in reality—especially those who are on committees searching for a new pastor. In a description for the perfect pastor, one church was looking for the following characteristics.1
The perfect pastor for our church must:
- Be married with two children—one boy and one girl
- Be on call 24/7, including holidays and vacations, for hospital and nursing home visitation
- Possess Solomon-like wisdom, Moses-like leadership ability, Daniel-like vision, Paul-like theological insight, and Christ-like compassion
- Be willing to preach what we want, and for only 15 minutes—12.5 of which must include jokes and stories
- Preach like Charles Haddon Spurgeon and Chuck Swindoll
Pay: $25,000/year
Benefits: The privilege of being our pastor
I don’t know who would want to pastor that church, but I suspect your pastor wouldn’t be hired—he is too imperfect. So is mine.
Being a pastor is difficult enough without a church committee’s expectations of perfection . . . or a congregation’s, for that matter. Every pastor, including yours, lives on the front lines of the spiritual battlefield (Ephesians 6:12). He doesn’t need comparisons to Spurgeon and Swindoll—neither of whom ever walked on water. He needs encouragement from one who has been in the trenches—from a mature and wise man who bears the scars of spiritual warfare. He can receive this weekly “furlough” through the Insight for Living Pastor’s Blog.
Every week, Chuck Swindoll offers hopeful words in the areas of a pastor’s life where imperfections reign and struggles persist: his soul, role, and home. Each area can be a source of great blessing, but each can also threaten to undo him and his ministry.
In his soul, your pastor’s holiness is the key to his ministry. Without it, his sermons are words without spiritual power and conviction; his service is merely activity. And how does one man, or even a team of pastors, juggle the roles of teacher, preacher, counselor, administrator, leader, and visionary, without occasionally dropping a few balls? How can he lead God’s church if his own home is in disarray (see 1 Timothy 3:5)?
No pastor, no matter how gifted and skilled, maintains his soul, his role, or his home perfectly. The Pastor’s Blog certainly won’t turn him into a perfect minister, but the penetrating, realistic, and sometimes humorous insights will encourage your pastor to continue the fight—even in his imperfect way. So give him a weekly furlough by sending him the link to the Pastor’s Blog and encourage him to sign up. He’ll thank you for it.
About the author
Derrick G. Jeter
Derrick G. Jeter holds a master of theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and served as a writer for the Creative Ministries Department of Insight for Living Ministries. He has authored or coauthored more than twenty-five books. Derrick's writing has appeared on influential Web sites, and he is a contributing writer for The Christian Post. He and his wife, Christy, have five children and live in the Dallas area. He blogs at www.DerrickJeter.com.
