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i have a message to give to pastors…senior pastors…youth pastors…children’s pastors…music pastors…whoever.
to you that aren’t church pastor-types, you get to listen in today, because this is about you, too.
you pastor-types have this tendency to get really frustrated with non-pastor-types, when the non-pastor-types don’t get as excited about our programs and our ministries and our agendas as we do.
you pastor-types make demands on non-pastor-types that require time and energy and money and sacrifice and re-prioritizing of personal lives. you pastor-types call meetings and work days and classes and studies and then demand that people submit themselves to these requirements. and show up and show their support.
you pastor-types work during the week to prepare programs for people to come to. you pastor-types will try to tell the non-pastor-types that the program is good for their spiritual growth…or for the good of the kingdom. and pastor-types sit around with each other and whine that their precious programs are not well-attended.
well…to you pastor-types, i have this to say to you: you need to get over yourself and get a clue.
tonight, there were a bunch of us that worked on our holiday at the hall float. good-hearted people who had already put in 10-hour work days…ate fast food dinners…said “no” to recliners and peaceful nights at home. i’m humbled by their sacrifice.
i’m not saying this to guilt others into doing the same. far from it.
what i want to say goes out to the pastor-types.
we pastor-types have the luxury of planning our days…our 10-hour workdays…plus the additional three hours of our program or work project…around our own schedule. we have flexibility to adjust our schedules the day before or the day after, to accommodate program demands. non-pastor types don’t. they just need to get up the next morning and go to work at 7:00am…like they do every day.
we pastor-types need to better understand the lives that our people live…and stop being put out or frustrated that people struggle to make it to our programs. we need to put ourselves in the shoes of people who work all day and just need to get home to be with their families. we need to put ourselves in the shoes of people who can’t see ways to live up to our expectations of them.
we pastor-types need to have way more patience and sympathy and compassion on our folks who have bills to pay and children to raise and houses to fix and cars that break down and dinners to cook and lawns to mow and conversations to have and sleep to catch up on…
…and we need to deeply, deeply appreciate it when people are able to carve out time to join our programs and work on our projects.
to all who have had the time to help…you are great examples to me.
to all who have had schedule demands that required your attention in other places…grace to you!
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