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Confessions of a Happy Pastor: It’s Monday Morning, so somebody please remind me Why I Do This?!

Orginally published on Monday, September 10, 2007 at 5:01 AM
by David Foster

Being a pastor/church leader does not make me immune to the Monday Morning Blues, especially after a weekend of intense and focused engagement where I’ve loved, led, helped, created, pulled people together, taught, preached, led small groups and managed crises. Like everyone else, I need to be reminded why I do what I do. So here are the reasons why I love being a pastor:

1. It’s my calling. It’s what God called me to do. I know deep down in my bones this is what I was made for. If you don’t have a calling, you may never understand why we often say we can’t walk away from the ministry. That would be to live in open defiance to God. And that’s not something we can do.

2. I love the gospel. It’s changed my life. I’ve lived it many decades and it’s still as powerful, still as sweet as it ever has been. Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so still moves me as much as it did 35 years ago when I met Jesus Christ.

3. I love people. I love being around people who come together with the same purpose, same heart, organized around a great mission to accomplish something really great for God and good for people.

4. I’m a leader. I was born that way. I’ve also been working hard to be made that way. I love leading people, influencing people to become more together than we ever could become separately.

5. I love pastors. I love being around them. The majority are loving, good, committed people; smart, fully-engaged, learners, leaders who love God and want to make a difference in the world.

6. I love what happens when a person is converted as a follower of Jesus Christ. I love seeing life change. I love seeing marriages being put back together. I love seeing people be set free from addictions and sinful habits that are destroying their lives, into a lifestyle of love, freedom, and joy.

7. I love being part of something that redeems culture in the world in which I live. I love being a part of a movement that knows no geographic or cultural barrier; that like water, finds its way into every crease and crevice of humanity.

8. I love being a pastor in leadership and ministry because it forces me to engage the Scripture in a way that transforms my life. I’ve never had a problem in the false dichotomy between reading and studying the Scripture for my own personal improvement, or reading and studying to teach. I can’t divide the two. I have to teach out of the overflow of what’s going on in my life as I engage the full scope of Scripture.

9. I love the Bible: not the pages, not the ink, not the leather; but the words, the ideas, the concepts that teach me that I serve a great God.

10. I do this because I believe that the gospel is the only hope of the world, that when church is done right, it is absolutely amazing.

11. I continue to do this because I accept the fact that the church of Jesus Christ can at one moment be an amazing and healthy, loving, growing environment, and in another can be a very toxic, destructive place. How could we expect anything different when we get broken people coming together confessing the reality of their own sin and brokenness? There are bound to be sharp edges among us.

12. I do this because I believe in advancing the good. The best way I can do that is promoting the redemptive mission of the gospel.

13. I do this because it is the best way I can spend my life. I’ve got to do something. I might as well be doing something that matters for eternity.

14. I love pushing myself to greater understanding and innovative ways of redeeming culture.

15. I love being around people who don’t get it, who struggle, who have questions, but are hungry and are open. I love presenting the gospel to them knowing it’s not my job to convert them.

16. I am in this work because I’m a seeker of truth. I love the truth. I embrace both mystery and certainty all at the same time. I do believe that Jesus is the answer, but not all the answers are available to me right now in the state I’m in.

17. I do this because I love being a part of a worldwide movement that has indeed changed the world and it continues to change it. It is not bound by lines on a map, or by race, creed, or color.

These are some of the reasons I do what I do and why I’m a happy pastor. How about you? What motivates you?

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About the author:  David Foster’s passion for communicating the authentic is obvious in his books. The latest - “A Renegade’s Guide To God” follows his “Accept No Mediocre Life” and “The Power To Prevail: Turning Adversities Into Advantages..” Filled with firsthand discoveries that often put Foster at odds with his peers, this book exposes myths and half-truths found in organized religion today.  You can find out more at DavidFoster.tv.


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  There are 13 Comments:

  • Posted by

    Came to church this morning prepared to just go through the motions.  Looking forward to MMI among other emails.  Really not expecting much.  Had a great Sunday, lots of “great sermon, preacher.” Still, felt hollow.  Then I read this post and began to be reminded of why I’m in this in the first place.  Needed this one to kick start my Monday morning faith.  Thanks… great sermon pastor!

  • Posted by

    They’re great, I loved 15 especially.

  • Posted by Tye Male

    This was great! I especially identified with #11. I am now in a healthy church where I have grown exponentially over the past two years. Unhealthy churches are damaging to everyone, not just the pastors, and especially their families.

    #15 - I love people who don’t get it! I love sharing with them, demonstrating the love of Christ and seeing their hearts soften toward God.

  • Posted by Derek Vreeland

    I am motivated by the large paycheck, late night phone calls and nit-picking criticism regarding my sermons [insert sarcastic smirk here].

    Seriously...I loved the list...good to read on a monday morning.

    I am motivated by the calling (#1). This is ministry as liturgy...ministry as worship. The last five years has really been a time when I have redefined “success in ministry” from numeric growth to obedience to God’s call. I lead a growing church in a rural town. We are continuallying adding new Chrisitans to our church and bringing the unchurched to Christ, but poor economic conditions cause many of our church members to move due to job transfers or better jobs some where else. We are the poorest county in Georgia. Population is decreasing. The brightest and better educated are moving to urban areas.

    So we are seeing GROSS growth (both conversion & transfer), but we are not seeing NET growth. It is frustrating, but I still feel satisfied (most days) because I know I am in the place where God has called me.

    g&p;Derek

  • Posted by Kevin

    I am motivated by two things; the money and the respect. 

    Just kidding, there is little of either.  As I was reading the list I appreciated it as a pastor, but was also thinking how the list was pertinent to every Christ Follower.  Sometimes I forget that most people in the congregation are the same as me, the only difference is my desire to lead, my call to ministry. 

    Great stuff.

    Kevin

  • Posted by

    I am motivated by the look in someone’s eyes when they really truly relaize how much God loves them.

  • Posted by David Sheffield

    Man God is awesome. Today is my first Monday coming into the office. Up until today Monday was my day off and for the next few weeks I am trying new schedule of working on Monday and taking another day for family day because it never really was a family day with Sunday still on my mind and a new one coming.
    This is a great article and I am not sure I could add anything to what has already been said. It is just great to be exactly where God wants me. Already today I have had the opportunity to talk with, help, and pray with someone who is in a very desperate situation in life, which is an answer to prayer that God would send people to us and send us to people who need Him desperately.  I guess that brings up another reason to love being a pastor, having a front row seat to answered prayers!

  • Posted by

    Yesterday morning was a struggle.

    All of our ladies, (Except our faithful piano player), were gone to a three day retreat, and were not going to be back till Sunday afternoon. No Sunday School teachers, no Children’s Church teachers, no wife (To poor baby me), just me and two deacons and all those kids.

    Most of our kids are very un-churched. We are located in a very rough side of town and the kids are coming in, but with all that street stuff too. They really don’t have the background to understand what a worship service is, and why they need to be acting differently during worship. (Poor me, gloom and despair).

    God did a really good bit of planning though. As it turns out we are preaching through 1 timothy, and had gotten to the point of Chapter 4 verse 12, where Paul admonishes his friend to “Let no man despise thy youth”.

    Believe it or not some of them started to listen. I told them that this verse was a double edged sword, in that they could keep others from despising them as kids by not acting stupid. If they wanted respect, blowing someone away was not going to do it. I told them that being afraid of them is not the same as respecting them.

    Well they left at the end. And I was exhausted, (As well as were my two poor deacons), however our wonderful ladies returned, and last night prepared a repast for us from the leftovers from the retreat food.

    they were bubbly, they were animated, (They even poor babied us), and I remembered why I love this job that I also hate so much.

    Long story? Yes, but I can relate to all 17.
    I am going to print these off, and frame them, and hang them over my desk.

    Bless you.

  • Posted by

    It was a great post I am just starting a new endeavor as a Caucasion youth pastor in a Chinese Church. It is exciting after 25 years of youth ministry to see such a ripe vineyard. I too identify with this list esp number 1 my bones are on fire to share the love of my MASTER and SAVOIR I am so excited to be called to ministry.
    pk+

  • Posted by

    What is good...to see restoration after even months or years of prayer, and to see faces ‘relax’ with worship and the Word!
    And to you Kevin - continue to be encouraged.  I am the Pastor of the English Service at a local Brazilian church. The wife and I attend the totally Portuguese language service as well.  Remember especially when the language appears to “get in the way” - we are comissioned to go to all the nations, and as Jesus told His disciples—I will give you what you are to speak - and an ear to hear.  Love in Christ to all

  • Posted by

    I have been criticized, slandered, libeled, attacked, called a con man and a detriment to the ministry.  I have had my salary reduced, been the subject of gossip without any end.  I have seen my family criticised and my children attacked.  I have left one pastorate and been run out of another.  I have been stabbed in the back (not literally) and have been undermined by “Christians” in the church.  I am currently out of the ministry, but passionately pursuing another opportunity.  Tell me again why I want to do this?
    Because of lives that have been changed, people that have come to know Christ as Lord and Savior.  Because of those individuals who I have seen the light bulb go off in their head when they finally understand what the church is all about. 
    My passion lies in Christ and His Church, because I believe God wants to use the church to bring the gospel to people and bring people into a right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. 
    It is in the midst of the struggle and the battle that I feel the closest to God and sense I am in the center of His will.  God has given me this passion and the desire in my heart.  Even with all the garbage that goes on within the church, I still believe in the church and love the pastorate.  I look forward to the day when I will be attacked, persecuted and criticized because I know that I will be in good company.
    These are just a few of my thoughts on the issue.  You never really know how much you love something until you are not doing it any more.

  • Posted by SteveS

    The points in David’s article are great indeed but they bear little likeness to the real Microsoft culture based - not the one I have known according to many employees I know who work or who have worked there long term. 
    I read and glean more from the mainstream corporate scene as much as any leader / pastor I know, but in this case David is barking up the wrong tree. 
    After dealing with Microsoft’s customer care for years,
    ...after seeing my first five books disappear due to Windows blue one huge blue screen explosion…
    ...and after talking turkey with numerous Microsoft employees off the record about what it’s really like to work there (both current and ones who left of their own accord)
    ...there is a tremendous amount of smoke and mirrors in Microsoft world.  Take a trip to Redmond and hang out for a month and you’ll see for yourself. 
    Bill Gates’ culture is broken in so many ways - I cannot begin to count the ways, even without bringing any aspects of biblical mores into the picture.  Ask yourself “Why are there tens of thousands (an understatement) of viruses that hackers continue to write specifically for / against Windows?” Answer:  It has everything to do with the real story behind Microsoft. 
    Idea:  Hey, Dave, How about an article about what Google can teach us… Now that would be a keeper.

  • Loved the article.  It was a blessing to me and I agree with every point.  I am going to file that article away for a rainy day.

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