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Pastors: You Must GET These 20 Truths


1. People do not like to follow; you have to show them why doing so is a good idea.

A pastor wrote, “You said preachers should be leaders. But what if the congregation does not want you to lead? What if they do not respond?”

I answered, “Then you have a bigger job of leadership to do. The people have to be taught. Lead them to want to do something for the Lord.”

2. You start pastoring small churches in difficult locations for good reason. It is good to bear the yoke in your youth. 

(That’s Lamentations 3:27.)

When I announced to the family that God had called me into the ministry—I was 21 and a senior in college—my coal-miner dad said, “Well, that’s fine. But son, start with smaller churches so you can learn how to do it before moving to larger ones.”

I type that and smile, “As though we had a choice about it, Pop.” That’s how life works. 

Faithful in small things, trusted with the larger (Luke 16:10).

3. If you are in the ministry as a career, get out now.

After 2006′s Hurricane Katrina brought so much destruction to our part of the world, a young pastor said to me, “I worry about what this setback will do to my career.” (Yep. He actually said that.) 

I said, “In the first place, as a minister of the gospel, you don’t have a career. You have a calling. And secondly, put your eyes on the Lord Jesus and He will take care of these matters.”

4. Church is not about you, whether it’s flourishing or dying all around you.

That is actually a half-truth, but the 50 percent that’s true is so dead-on accurate it needs saying. Preach Jesus, know the Word, obey Scripture, love the people. Get yourself out of the way. He must increase; you must decrease.

A preacher once said that—a few days before he was beheaded for preaching the gospel. (Apparently, the Lord took him at his word.)

5. The reason some people in church hate your guts rarely has anything to do with you.

Some people sitting in the congregation will be angry at God, angry at the church, angry at the former pastor or angry at themselves. So, try not to take everything personally. (Which is as difficult as anything you will ever do.)

Learn to “love your enemies; do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you” (Luke 6:27ff). Ignore the enmity as much as possible and love will overcome evil, given enough time.