Honest Thoughts from a Pastor

I’m always amused by the preachers that young pastors admire. It’s normally men like Billy Graham, Adrian Rogers, or Jerry Vines. There is nothing wrong with any of these guys. It is a little sickening, however, to watch young pastors follow these guys around at conferences and try to emulate their preaching. I’ve never been one to try to imitate or rub elbows with the “big shots”. I use the term “hero” very loosely, but the pastors I admire are those who probably matter very little to the general public, but they matter immensely to the Lord they serve.

Sunday night, after I took the long drive to take my oldest daughter back to her mother, I decided to drop in on one of my “heroes”. He is a bivocational, small church pastor. He planted a church a few years ago, and they found themselves without a place to meet. God is in the process of working something out for them.

This faithful brother in Christ was written off by some, but that didn’t stop him from fulfilling God’s call. He and his wife have served faithfully. He works a full-time job, leads a family, faithfully shepherds the church, and preaches 3 sermons per week. I struggled as a bivocational pastor to prepare 1 sermon per week, let alone 3. (My average sermon prep time was 4-8 hours per sermon.)

Bivocational and small church pastors are my “heroes”. Many will never give their churches a chance because they don’t have the resources of larger churches. They will probably be little known in this life, but God recognizes their faithfulness and labor of love.

If you are a bivocational or small church pastor, I appreciate you. Thank you for fulfilling many roles because there is no one else who will do it! Thank you for your faithful service to our Lord, even when things were tough! May God give you an extra measure of strength and endurance to serve well! God’s blessings be upon you!