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Are You Really Qualified to Be a Pastor?!
Orginally published on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at 2:23 PM
by Todd Rhoades
Contemporary pastors are expected to have "the entrepreneurial skills of Bill Gates, the counseling skills of Dr. Phil, the organizational abilities of Stephen Covey, the authenticity of Oprah, the compassion of Mother Teresa, the courage of William Wallace, and the humor of Jon Stewart. (Kara Powell, quoted in The Church in Transition)
HT to DashHouse for the Quote
Do you find this quote to be true? How do you let people down (gently) that you’re not “all that”?!
Todd
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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.
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Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at 2:53 PM
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Post Your Comments:Start with authenticity, honesty, and humility. Continue with authenticity, honesty, and humility. Finish with with authenticity, honesty, and humility. If people get used to you being human and frail from the beginning, they will understand better. If you’ve been super-pastor for a while, of course, this might be more of a challenge.
I CELEBRATE my failings (I use them as talking points all the time) so people know I LIKE to be human and don’t want to be Superman.
No I am not qualified, but I am “called.”
Al,
That qualifies you, doesn’t it… In God’s eyes anyway.
Your pal,
Superman.
Unreal expects are always a problem in any relationship. Who thought Oprah was authentic? May be we would better off if we were more like Mr. Rogers
Would you be my neighbor?
Believe it or not, Mr. Rogers was one of my models for ministry. I loved his song, “What a wonderful day in the neighborhood....would you be my neighbor...” I usually start my day with that song as I drive to my office. It puts things in perspective. I have tried and failed to meet the unrealistic expectations for a pastor. I just be me. God called me and must have a sense of humor ... and He hasn’t removed me yet....sooooo.....hmmmm...I guess He knows what He is looking for.
Oprah is authentic? Yikes.
Where I am, I don’t experience that. And I don’t know if the author’s statement is based on what pewsitters think or what “successful” pastors think. For my own part, I think pastors are expected to own up to mistakes, to sit with the depressed, grieving and lonely, to love their people, to love God, to maybe be open to spending time with youth, and to take a few risks now and again. That’s not as colorful or poetic a statement as Powell’s, but I think it’s a more realistic rendering of what churches want in a pastor.
Again, this comes from a pastor of a small-to-medium sized small town church, not a megachurch CEO superpastor. Again, who is Powell representing when she says what she says?
Peter Hamm - you got us off to a great start today! I’d like to throw in another term that qualifies and could even disqualify a pastor. How about servant leader. If you are a pastor and you are a self-serving leader rather than a servant leader you are disqualified. Jesus himself calls us to be servant leaders:
Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mt 20:25-28NIV25
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