Following are common characteristics (critical wellbeing factors) that typify pastors who are leading out of their old nature, and who by definition are not running or walking well:
- I have to do it because no one else will or I can’t trust others to do it like I want it to be done (sign of poor leadership development and delegation skills).
- My opinions and priorities are more trustworthy than the opinions of others on the leadership team (sign of pride or narcissistic tendencies, sign of poor team building skills).
- I can’t afford to take a regular weekly rest break because too many people need me (sign of disobedience and low regard for God’s explicit Sabbath teachings and behaviors—more people needed Jesus than will even need you, yet he took regular rest and renewal breaks).
- There are regular aspects of my behaviors I would never want others to discover (sign that I’m living with unconfessed sin and that I might need to confess, repent, and seek help from other trustworthy people).
- God expects me to put the congregation’s needs above my own family’s needs (sign that the opinions and expectations of people are more important to me than the needs of my own spouse and children and sign that the need for boundaries and priorities is not properly understood and practiced).
- I quickly make decisions and move to action without “counting the cost” as a regular leadership style (sign of impulsive behavior and insensitivity to the frustration that impulsive behaviors produce in the people needed to do the work).
Scripture instructs us to put to death the deeds of the flesh (stop living out of the old carnal nature, which serves only self) and to put on the new man or woman (start living consistently out of the new nature where all the resources of God are available to us to serve God and others). As these deep-water biblical truths are understood and applied in your life, then will you discover the sheer joy of thriving and flourishing as a pastor. These thriving truths will help you know the answer to the question, “Why do I want to be a pastor?”
If you’d like to see Ted Kennedy’s response to Roger Mudd’s question, “Why do you want to be president?,” go here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5TkhNWPspM.
