Faith Focus: Don't forget, pastors need prayers, too

I am a newspaper columnist, an author, an evangelist, but the main thing I am as far as ministry goes is a pastor. As such, I know what pastoring is like, and therefore I have a soft spot in my heart for other pastors.

There are so, so many great men out there, men who love the Lord and their people and spend way too many hours working and serving. Often, these men seem to be, shall we say, jittery and unstable. What they really are, most of the time, are men who either need vacations or therapy or both.

I am teasing about the therapy, of course. But I would like to do my part to help people understand just a little bit of what it is like to be a pastor. Most pastors will not tell you what goes on behind the scenes. Let me give you just a glimpse, by telling you some of the actual things that I have experienced as a pastor over the past 17 years.

There was the time that a gentleman desperately needed access to a vehicle. He had recently gotten out of jail and needed a way back and forth to work and church. He joined our church and, when I realized his dilemma, I loaned him my own vehicle. After a few weeks he simply disappeared.

When I finally found him, he explained that he had been going to another church. In my car. I told him "whether you choose to be in our church or not is entirely up to you. But I expect my vehicle to be at my church Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night."

There was the time that an individual talked me into writing a letter of recommendation, which is something I truly hate doing. Nonetheless, I did, emphasizing that the person would be faithful and dependable. I never saw him again. Irony, that.

There was the couple that joined on a Sunday morning, told us on the way out that day that it was the greatest moment of their lives, then never came back.

There was the time a missionary to the Northwest requested money from us for a pulpit -- $2,200 for a brand-new, acrylic, top-of-the-line model since "Jesus deserves the very best." Our church at the time was using one we made ourselves out of scrap lumber.

There was the time a young man was taking me to task for not listening to a "really godly person," and I had to bite my tongue because I did not want to tell him that the "really godly person," a married man, had recently fathered a baby by someone else's wife.

There was the time -- and this one really frosted me -- that a family that was giving $25 a month to missions told me I did not have enough faith. At the time they were easily making 10 times more than my wife and I, yet we were giving $250 a month to missions. You do the math.

Please do not misunderstand, 99.99 percent of my experiences as a pastor have been amazing, as have 99.99 percent of the people. I have absolutely no complaints.

My desire in this is to educate people on what kind of things the average pastor goes through. My hope in so doing is that people everywhere will be motivated to pray for their pastor every single day without fail, and that they will love and appreciate them as much as my folks openly do me.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 says "And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake." This is speaking of pastors, and it is an encouragement to you to be an encouragement to them. If anyone needs it, they do.

That banging sound you hear? It might just be your pastor beating his head against a wall, having just gotten a phone call saying, "Reverend, could you give me money for rent? I used my money for cigarettes."

No, I am not making that last part up, it happened, too...

Bo Wagner is pastor of the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Mooresboro, N.C., and the author of several books which are available at wordofhismouth.com. Contact him at 2knowhim@cbc-web.org.

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