Preach it Preacherman!

I thought this was a really interesting read from a blog i "stalked" out.

to keep it short: u know how on the front page of "blogspot.com" there's the constant scrolling list of blogs being updated? have you ever clicked on it before? well, i did, and this is the blog it took me to.

the following is a shocking/insightful/wise entry that this guy made on march 31st. i think many of us could take it to heart.

Already Tired

I used to wonder why so many pastors burned out and quit. It is not so difficult to see these days. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that ministry today is different than it used to be. I don't mean to minimize the difficulties of yesterday. I know they were real. Ministry today is simply different, and not necessarily in a good way.

I read today that 1,200 to 1,300 pastors are leaving the ministry (voluntarily and otherwise) every month. Of course that's 1,300 pastors across the board, but no matter how you slice it, that's a lot of pastors. A few years ago I read that pastors are being fired at a rate of one every six hours.

I don't know how accurate the numbers above really are, but I suspect there is much truth to them. In my own schedule, I wrestle with how to juggle an active family with young children and my duties as a pastor. Sunday School teachers complain about having to "get a lesson up," then complain because the pastor didn't deliver a Charles Swindoll or Joel Osteen message last Sunday. Never mind that he taught Sunday School, preached that morning, preached again that evening, taught on Wednesday night in an already crunched schedule.

For any pastors reading this, don't get all self-righteous on me and say you've never felt anger or even rage about the situation. Working 60 and 70 hour weeks is murder. Not that I'd trade it, my calling that is. I'd trade the work load in a minute. I don't think Jesus ever intended for His churches to set up such unrealistic ideas about church.

Whenever I read about Elijah falling so low after his great victory against the prophets of Baal, I think to myself that this man was so selfish. I know better now. The last three weeks have been some of the most difficult for me, not because the work is so hard, but because I finally see that Satan has been drowning me in busyness.

Funny thing is is that I hadn't thought much about it until recently, when the Lord slowed me down enough to see that in the midst of my activity and duty I had lost my heart. Now I long for those moments of solitude, like Jesus in a deserted place, so I might step out of the busyness and breathe again. Tonight is the first night my family has been together since we returned from vacation three weeks ago. Is that what the Lord had in mind? I think not.

I long to see the glory of God beating in the hearts of the people in my life. That's no easy battle - but in the end it will be worthwhile. In the midst of that battle the trick is to find balance in this high speed, intense world in which we live, learning what battles are really worth fighting, and remembering at the end of the day that it is not my church member's kids or wife that missed me. It will not be the PTO who wants a bedtime story or a game of Round-the-World after dinner. My biggest fans are right here under my roof.

http://higgypreacherman.blogspot.com/

makes you think, doesn't it?

DLu.