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    Perry Noble:  Five Healthy Questions I Must Ask As A Pastor

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    #2 - How’s My Family? 

    I recently read in the April 9th issue of Time magazine that 80% of pastors wives said that they wish their husbands would choose another profession!  DANG!!!

    One of the realities that a pastor must face is that the church is the only mistress that he can commit adultery with and not be looked down upon.  The church will cheer the hard working pastor, the one who is at every meeting and does it all…and then that same church will throw stones at the one they hailed as a hero when his marriage falls apart OR his kids become hellions.

    Pastors, you are the ONLY ONE who can love YOUR wife like CHRIST loves church!!!  AND you are the one GOD has called to raise your kids.

    #3 - Am I Taking Risks? 

    Pastors, we are NOT called to play it safe!  One of the things we are called to do is ADVANCE God’s kingdom…and that means we will always be heading into unknown territory.

    Two weeks ago our senior management team had a meeting in which we began to discuss what we think NewSpring will look like in 2010.  This was one of the most exciting and frightening meetings I have ever been in.  We have some HUGE dreams…but in order for them to be accomplished it is going to take us making some DIVES of faith.

    #4 - Am I Letting Anyone (or Anything) Rob Me Of My Joy? 

    The Bible says in Nehemiah 8:10 that the joy of the Lord is our strength…so many of us pastors lack strength NOT because God isn’t good–but because we have allowed circumstances or people to rob us of our joy.

    I am in the process of learning how to deal with this because up until about a month ago I was GUILTY.  However, I have taken some steps recently that have set me free in this area.

    Pastors, we OFTEN let critics drive us…and we will have hundreds and thousands who love us…three who hate us…and we will yell at the ones who love us because of the ones who hate us.  I know…I did it!!!

    #5 - Am I Faithful? 

    I am discovering more and more than I have one goal in life–to stand before God one day and be found faithful.  To have loved one woman all my life…faithful.  To have taught my children how to fear Him…faithful.  AND…to have led NewSpring the way He led me to lead it.

    I will not stand before God and answer, “Were you traditional or contemporary, emergent or emerging, missional or attractional?” I personally think that God could care less about the STUPID labels that we desire to place on everyone and everything.

    The question that we must ask as a pastor is, “Am I being completely faithful to who God has called me to be and what He has called me to do?”

    (This is just a excerpt… read the whole post here at Perry’s blog...)

    FOR DISCUSSION: How are YOU doing with these five areas?

    Here's a great post by Perry Noble yesterday on the topic of five questions each church pastor and staff member should be constantly asking themselves. The first question is: How’s My Walk With God? Perry writes: "There is a danger in what a pastor does…and I have seen too many pastors get so focused on growing the church that they neglect seeking Jesus..."

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    1. Wayne Field on Wed, May 30, 2007

      We MUST add one more question - “Am I being fruitful?” The Lord calls us to be responsible stewards of all he has given us, and this includes being fruitful (Matt 25:15ff). If we don’t regularly ask this question we end up like the pastors Blackaby describes in your post on plateaued churches.

    2. myPond on Fri, June 01, 2007

      These are great and important not only for pastors, but for any who serve on church staffs to frequently ask themselves. Staff health is not always given much press, but it is critical to church health.

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