Pastors Are People Too

What are your top twenty expectations for your pastor? Now multiply your list by the number of people who attend church with you. Is it any wonder pastors are overwhelmed and underappreciated? They’re expected to know every member by name, preach a “home run sermon” every Sunday, condemn sin without hurting anyone’s feelings, and be available to serve others 24/7 while not neglecting their own family. The intensity of these expectations and lack of appreciation can and does bring the majority of pastors to a place of despair and ultimately departure from pastoral ministry. This practical field guide offers tangible ways to better understand and care for the pastor who cares so deeply about you.

Every dynamic church has a strong partnership between the pastor and the active members of the congregation. A necessary ingredient for this partnership is a deep understanding and appreciation of pastoral ministry. What motivates your pastor? What are a pastor's responsibilities? What support does your pastor need? How does one discern a call to pastoral ministry and what does that mean? Pastors Are People Too addresses the topics of family, money, teamwork, responsibilities and authority,and more - all the while acknowledging and addressing a pastor's humanness - to provide a basis for building healthy, dynamic churches.

The life of a pastor is not much different than that of most people. They have the same joys, heartaches, difficulties and opportunities, making their life more meaningful, exciting and adventurous. We shop at the same markets, pay the same monthly bills and taxes, experience the same hurts and heartaches, eat the same kind of food, attend the same community activities as everyone else. The only difference is we strive to make the lives of those we minister to more meaningful, less stressful, even enjoyable at times, while helping them in their times of crisis. Our main objective is to get people ready and to prepare themsleves to enter the life after our earthly experience. There is Joy (great Joy) in serving Jesus Christ. There is much satisfaction meeting and working with people on their level of existance. We are all "workers together" in Christ.

Caring for your pastor and the difference it makes. Caring for your pastor and the difference it makes. What do you think about your pastor? Do you chew over his sermons and wonder if they are clear and helpful? Do you feel he spends enough time with you? In fact, do you ever catch yourself wondering what he does all day? The truth is, often we think, "What can my pastor do for me?" Far less often do we think, "What can I do for my pastor?" Seasoned former pastor, Christopher Ash, urges church members to think about pastors not just in terms of what they do €“ how they lead and pray and preach and teach and so on €“ but about who they are. He encourages us to remember that pastors are people and to pray for them as they serve us. Paradoxically, caring for our pastor will be a blessing to us as well as to them, and create a culture of true fellowship in our church family.

John Piper pleads with fellow pastors to abandon the professionalization of the pastorate and pursue the prophetic call of the Bible for radical ministry.

Follow God's process for growth and find hope in life's darkest moments with Bishop T.D. Jakes's uplifting stories and advice from his own faith journey. In this insightful book, #1 New York Times bestselling author T.D. Jakes wrestles with age-old questions: Why do the righteous suffer? Where is God in all the injustice? Bishop Jakes tells crushing personal stories from his own journey -- the painful experience of learning his young teenage daughter was pregnant, the agony of watching his mother succumb to Alzheimer's, and the shock and helplessness he felt when his son had a heart attack. Bishop Jakes wants to show you how God uses difficult, crushing experiences to prepare you for unexpected blessings. If you are faithful through suffering, you will be surprised by God's joy, comforted by His peace, and fulfilled with His purpose. Crushing will inspire you to have hope, even in your most difficult moments. If you trust in God and lean on Him during setbacks, He will lead you through.

A healthy church requires a healthy pastor. Discover proven ways to make a positive impact in your pastor's world and the life of your church.

Pastor and preaching coach, Dr. Yancey Arrington offers a new paradigm for message preparation - one that focuses on seeing sermons emotionally, where preachers will be trained on discovering a message's emotional center, charting sermon bandwidth, and leveraging one's God-given personality in the preaching event. This innovative approach to preaching can produce more effective seasons in the pulpit where congregants are carried `down the mountain' of messages in such a way they can't wait to do it again!