If one cannot stand the smell of sheep, one has no business being a shepherd.  The Pastoral ministry is a calling of God - not a vocation, nor something to be left.  Everyone who is considering the pastoral ministry must be made aware of this.  In Luke 9:62, Jesus said to a man who asked about following Him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” This should be a stern warning for anyone considering pastoral ministry. 

One of the things I desire is that in the western church we will stop thinking that the role of pastor is the only “official” role of the church, and that we would teach our people that everyone is to be a minister for Christ.  When we place ungodly reliance, favor and money at the feet of men, they (I) will always fail.

The gentleman who posted the blog, should also seriously evaluate his walk with God.  While men are beaten, imprisoned, and stoned to death for preaching the gospel in muslim and communist nations, we ought not to be quitting the ministry because people treated us badly.  We ought to be mature enought to expect that a world which hated God’s Son enough to torture and murder Him, isn’t going to welcome us with open arms. 

Any man who seeks a pastorate without a direct command of God is asking for trouble.  In America, we have turned the pastorate into a career, which it was never meant to be.

One of the incredible things that I have experienced in church life is the Pavlov’s Dog way of being trained.  We become accustomed to one set of behaviour and that is what we come to expect, what we come to accept, what we become used to.  When we are routinely treated poorly (read attacked spiritually) by people who do not understand
the nature of the battle and the demands of ministry, we grow used to it.  It breeds a victim mentallity that we need to overcome through what God has done for us in Jesus.  Here are a few hints:
1 God was doing just fine before you became a pastor.  He will do just fine when you are not.  You are not indespensible
2.  You need rest, refreshment, and filling of God’s spirit.  When you prepare sermons, that is work.  When you lead devotionals, that is work.  Get into the Bible when it is not work and get out and be with your family and friends.

There is a better way, there is greener pasture, there is light, life, and love in the church (and maybe even in your church) But through the broken times, it becomes hard to feel it.  You are not a victim in these situations unless you choose to be.  You are responsible for your own choices of how you interact and let others treat you.  Stand up.  As one who has been there, I know it can be costly, but it is worth it.
Love to share more but the dinner bell is ringing and I am starting to salivate…

Interesting comments from everyone.  I also have stepped out of ministry for a time because of sheer exhaustion.

During our walk in the wilderness dealing with misc. issues after leaving my church we came across a wonderful series, “Lord Change My Attitude, before it’s too late” done by James McDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel.  LIFE CHANGING!! 

I would highly recommend reading the book or listening to the CD’s to anyone, pastor or lay person.

While some may see stepping out of ministry as failure, it is so comforting to know that we are in His hands.  He has been so faithful to us: providing a small group, friends, a wonderful church to attend while resting, construction jobs, etc. 

It’s interesting, since not being in full-time paid pastoral ministry, God has brought more opportunities for witnessing to our neighbors and family than ever before.  It sure is exciting!!

Well, thanks for the honesty. I have been praying about re-entering the pastorate. This blog and the comments following have given me reason to pray some more about that decision. I remember all that stuff too well when I was a pastor.  The Lord will confirm His will in this one way or another.

Sometimes I think, even as Pastors we are not prepared to be open and candid with the Lord. When people act out in different ways towards us, this is yet another reminder to reach into our bag of tricks, i.e. life experiences, the old and the new and give what is pleasing to the Lord. What may be pleasing to the Lord, is simply to tell the truth, if you have not experienced this you have done yourself a disservice and the members of your congregation a greater disservice and the Lord is not please. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. You are an instrument choosen of the Lord, if you are feeling invalidated by others, perhaps you need to sit at the feet of the Only One who can validate you, JESUS CHRIST. We cannot afford to be dishonest with the Lord. All OF OUR HEARTS MUST BE PURE, BE YE HOLY, BECAUSE I AM HOLY, There is no other way and there is no other way into the heart of the God’s people. The Pastor has been dealing with some serious strongholds, within himself and his members. The only way to enter the strongman’s house, you must first bind up the strongman. If the strongman in our own lives have not been bound up by the Holy Spirit, how then can we bind up the strongman in others, then he was found sitting in his right mind. This is how the Lord prepares all who will serve him. GOD BLESS YOU.

I think that the reply from “Daniel Zepeda” misses the whole point—and, in doing such, expresses the same “game playing” kind of power/control/manipulation/judgment dynamics of many (perhaps most!) congregations.
It is not about “ego” or “dependancy”. It is not about being within “this denomination or that one”, nor about a “pentecostal” experience or some “other” experience. Such thinking and suggestion are seemingly little more than rationalization and unrealistic hype.
Jesus was murdered. Stephen was murdered. Peter was murdered. Paul was murdered. People who try to do the right thing, for the right reason, with the right volition are beat up, chewed upon, and spit out in our culture. Unfortunately, our culture—it would appear—shapes the life and behavior of people than a pastor’s proclamation of the Gospel, and her/his living by example the reality of love, mercy, kindess, compassion, humbleness, and trust. Such things, I would suggest, go so deeply against the grain of many people “occupying” the pews on Sunday morning. The result becomes the reality that our culture breeds “clergy killers” who are hellbent on making the life of the clergy challenged from many sides.
As stated by theologian/ethicist Stanley Hauerwas, “God is killing the church and we goddman deserve it!” Within this statement, the “church” is the people, the context, the arena, the institution, the politics, the pretending, the being anything and/or everything other than what Jesus had in mind, and the covenants that God has made with God’s people.
The “church” of God is real, it exists, it will overcome. In the meantime, however, what we call “church” and find “church” to be will become extinct for it is already a dinosaur in an ice age!
My heart and mind and soul resonnate with the original post (from Scott) and those who find their heart and mind and soul in a like place. Still, to drop a “platitude” of equation that one need follow to be “real” is but something to which I must reply, “Get Real!”

I love these comments:

“Get a tough Skin� Ok – but I thought we were suppose to be sensitive to peoples needs?

“Your suppose to suffer� – true – but even Jesus wept didn’t he?

“Only hirelings complain� – but I thought Paul said – “don’t judge my faithfulness?�

“You’re a Target� – I didn’t know the “body of Christ� was commanded to target practice on the Pastor?

“Pray More� – (as if we don’t) is that before or after I spend hours counseling your kids, because you won’t?

“You just need to Love more� – Ok, but am I still allowed to spend time with my family?

“Be Honestâ€? – Sure, could you spend a few moments with me? Oh, your busy tonight.  How about tomorrow? Oh, you are going on a family outing.  How about next week?  Ok, I’ll call you, no, ok, well I will wait for your call.  Thanks.  “No problem pastor, you know I am here for you.â€?

I am not pastoring any longer because I would rather not pastor at all than do it some new age way that is far from being biblical.  I’ve pastored/youth pastored/asst. pastored the last eleven years of my life up to this past July.  I would love to be in the ministry again but I can’t find a group of people that care more about what the bible says than what they’ve become stuck in.  I’m not some flake.  I’ve gone to bible college and achieved a bachelors degree, which is of no need.  If it is a requirement, they miss the whole point.  Much more to say, but wont unless there is someone who would like to here.

I know this is going to be a long blog but, I was looking over a web-site where a church was looking for a Pastor and the following is what is posted. As I read the standards the Pastor must meet, I was wondering if Jesus could live up to their requirements. If this is what is required of the Pastor in his church role, what will they expect from his family. As I have looked over the other comments listed, it saddens my heart to see so many hurting Pastors and families. And the sad reality is that we will keep on doing the work of the ministry even when we are expected to do the impossible. As you read this, say a prayer for the many good Pastors that are already under the critical eye and not allowed to feel the freedom of love.

The Senior Pastor will provide leadership to ------- Baptist Church
2. Qualifications:
a. strong emphasis on Bible teaching with evangelistic goals
b. heart for children
c. vision for growth
d. missions minded
e. democratic leadership style (not autocratic)
f. broad appeal across all age groups
g. fiscally responsible as evidenced by a credit investigation
h. good character
i. deeply cares for his congregation
j. strong leadership skills
k. strong family man who leads his own family effectively
l. warm, professional appearance and demeanor
m. energetic and outgoing personality]
n. captivating speaking ability
o. has a passion for winning souls
p. absolutely no criminal activity or poor conduct to be revealed in background check
q. passion for outreach programs
r. excellent people/diplomacy skills
s. excellent organizational skills
t. sense of humor
u. familiar with facility building projects
v. extensive knowledge of the Bible as evidenced, preferably, by a seminary degree
3. Responsibilities:
a. Worship:
1. be in charge of worship services
2. preach the Word of God regularly
3. administer the ordinances
b. Leadership:
1. join with the Deacons in exercising spiritual oversight
2. work with the leadership to organize and develop the possibilities for service available in the church
c. Administration: be an ex-officio voting member of all committees and organizations of the church
d. Training: ensure the discipleship and training of nimistry staff members and current and future Deacons of the church
4. Accountability
a. The Senior Pastor will report to the Deacon Board
b. This position will be evaluated annually

I have read through the blog and the responses to see the points that you ministers are making in your replies. The calling to serve God is a noble calling and there is no higher calling than that. The calling of God’s servants has been perverted to satisfy the wants of the carnal church and the ministers are being persecuted through these things. It should come as no surprise to any of us as the Lord Jesus Himself spoke of these things happening. Sadly enought some 1400 ministrs in North America alone are deserting their calls for periods of time to take a break. It is to those ministers and those that will follow suit that my wife and I have been led to reach out to in a ministry called Job’s Place Ministries International. It is moving with the vision to help hurting pastors and their families to be restored into a healthy spiritual walk with God through Christ once again. God loves His called along with His people. The time is come that we, the called ministers of God, should take a prayerful styance towards what is happening to our fellow ministers and lift them to God in prayer.
God loves us all and will heal the hurt and pain. My wife and daughter and I have experianced enough of this that we have written a book and our daughter has written a book about such treatment but give God the glory for the experiences.

I read the comments of the hurting Pastor. I too left the Pastorate after thirty years. I miss the people, greatly love every minute of study, prayer and preaching counseling and serving. What I don’t miss is how alone one feels, expectation of perfection, and antagonists that complain about everything like if they were being served as customers in a bakery.
I hope to get back into the Pastorate soon but at 55 there are not many places that want someone at that age anymore. Most of the job rejection comments say, “you don’t fit our profile” nice words to say, you are too old.
God will open up new doors soon and we will walk by faith .. for now we are healing and taking some rest from the verbal unkindness. Only by Grace.. Larry

Like many others, when I read Scott’s blog, I was wondering if he had been looking over my shoulder 15 years when I was asked to leave my last congregation.  I was too negative, and there were people who were threatening to withhold their giving if I stayed.  (It didn’t matter that I was investigating one of the elders who was involved in very un-christian activities.)

In almost all of the churches I served, I was always nothing more than a hired servant.  I was expected to be in the office certain hours, but also to be available for anyone and everyone who needed me (except for my family).  If I didn’t tell them that they were all good people and going to heaven, I was being too negative.  It got to the point where when we had a board meeting, I was a mess, because I never what I was doing rightor wrong, or who was going to attack me this time.

I know that I became paranoid, but like many of the others I have read here, I was literally drove out of the ministry, and the state office was no help, because they were more concerned with keeping the church happy.

I admist that I made mistakes, but I was not allowed to.  When my daughter went to a Christian school, I was chided that I didn’t consider the local schools good enough.  When I would sweat on a Sunday morning, I was told to wear dress shields, because I was not supposed to sweat.  They didn’t like my dog, because it occasionally barked.  I simply never could do right.  Because my situation changed for Thanksgiving (my wife found out she was pregnant and we decided to go home to tell our parents).  Earlier in the day, I had met with the board chairman, and had not told him what was going on (since I didn’t know at the time).  WHen he found out that I had asked for vacation time for Thanksgiving, he resigned stating that I was not respectful enough to him.  But he did not have the guts to bring the letter to me, to the office, he sent it with the chairman of the elders, who then ripped into me for not being thoughtful enough.

Yes, I know that there has been a lot of hurt, but at the time I was in the full-time ministry, there was a lot of prayer, time spent in the Word, seeking God’s will.  But you know what?  He has called me back into ministry.  I am not looking for a church for the first time in 15 years.  What will happen, I don’t know, but I know this: I am better off for the time off.

WOW! is all I can say.  My wife and I have been in the ministry for almost 14 years.  We have been youth, children’s and interim pastors.  We have had great times and then we have had times of PURE HELL! (don’t read this with any shock that I said this)
We have experienced much hurt, some of which was directed to us some directed to our children.  This is the truly wrong part. It seems to be somewhat expected from church people, but it realy hurts when you’re a staff pastor and the hurt comes from the pastor and his WIFE.  There is absolutely NO relationships between the staff regarding my family.  Now the other staff pastor is of course, the son-in-law.  We have had several problems with this situation and have talked with the pastor and were told that he knows he shows favortism to his son-in-law and if we didn’t like it and couldn’t get over it maybe we needed to leave.  Since the family has been a great issue in the church we have had MANY leave the church, and many have tried to talk with the pastor and they have ended up leaving as well. (this stinks and hurts even worse when it comes from the ones your are being faithful to serve)

This ministry is a great call in our lives and we love it.  It has caused joy and sorrow, but I would like to say God is faithful.
Now to some of these other bloggers.....  GET REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Some of you above have said and tried to lay blame on the pastors that are HURTING and being abused.  But look at it with some of the same councel you would give a women or man that has been abused(physically or mentally), you would most likely tell them that they need to ensure their safety above all. 
Just how can a pastor ensure their safety without taking different measures in their lives.

It is very true, we need to have more honesty and truthfullness and I believe it needs to start with us pastors being honest with our boards and holding them accountable to protect us as we lead the flock.  (this is war and in war the general is always protected unto death!)

God bless and hold on as tight as you can, Jesus is coming back soon!