Passion of a pastor

One of the blogs I like to read is by a guy named Perry Noble. Perry is the pastor of Newspring Baptist Church in Anderson, SC. Newspring didn’t even exist when I pastored in Anderson about 20 years ago and now they have multiple campuses and gave an average attendance well up into the thousands. Today I read a post about “7 Things A Pastor Should Never Apologize For.” I think he nailed it!

1. Never apologize for dreaming big – How true this is. So often we pastors place in front of our congregations budgets and ministry plans that with a little work and faithfulness can be accomplished without divine intervention. We serve such a big and awesome God; a God that nothing is too difficult for. Should we not challenge our people to exercise a little faith and attempt great things for God; things that when done, only He can get the credit for? Too often we focus on our limitations rather his possibilities.

2. Never apologize for your passion – My passion is seeing people come to Christ. I get fired up seeing people go “on mission” with God. Whether that’s across the street or around the world, nothing fires me up more than seeing the church be the church outside the walls of 500 Eastwood Street or Plano Elementary.

3. Never apologize for wanting to lead – If a pastor is called of God to pastor than leading is simply part of the deal. I remember a lady at my last church saying after I left, “Well the dictator is gone.” Looking back, and also after asking some laymen I served with and trust about my leadership style there, I’m convinced I was not being a dictator but simply being the pastor God called me to be. If a pastor cannot lead than he might want to consider another profession.

4. Never apologize for not embracing someone else’s agenda – This is tricky because as a pastor I never want to squelch what God might be doing in someone else’s heart. But at the same time I can’t embrace an idea without God also birthing that in my own heart. And as pastor, for me there’s only one agenda that I want to embrace and follow and no it is not “Tom’s”. I want to discern what the Lord on His agenda for our church and embrace that.

5. Never apologize for expecting the best from others – I cannot get to the place where I expect perfection from anyone, even myself. But at the same time I don’t think it’s wrong to expect people to give their very best to the Lord.

6. Never apologize for wanting to reach more people – Occasionally people have accused me of only being concerned about “the numbers”. Know what? They are absolutely right! Because behind every “number” in Sunday bible study is a soul that is being taught the priceless perfect Word of God. Behind every baptism is a soul that has been snatched from hell and is now heaven bound.

7. Never apologize for saying “No” to what you need to say “No” to – Of the 7 things listed here, I confess this is the most difficult for me. I struggle to build in proper boundaries and saying “No” to people. I think I’m getting better at this, but honestly I wish I’d learned this lesson while my children were still young.

Just a glimpse today of what the Lord has said to my heart through a great man of God, Perry Noble.

Tom