Editors note:  In my observation, pastors face more than their fair share of giants in life.  It’s a privilege to have Max Lucado, a seasoned veteran of the pulpit and the pastorate, share insights with the SermonCentral.com audience on how to face and overcome those giants.  This week he’s got a wonderful new book out called Facing Your Giants.  Here he shares about Facing Your Giants in the Pastorate.  We’d also like to invite you to join Max on a conference call on the same topic. Click here  if you’d like to register for the free February event exclusively for church leaders.

 

Facing Your Giants in the Pastorate

A Q&A with Max Lucado

 

Max, what advice do you have for pastors who are facing giants in leading their church?

 

Well, first of all I would remind pastors that they are not alone.  Church leadership is in-and-of-itself a Goliath-sized challenge.  It’s a challenge, number one, because Satan doesn’t want us to do it.  And then number two, because we deal with the largest volunteer organizations.  It’s one thing to lead an organization where everyone gets paid to do what they do, but you have to have a special heart for motivation and a special call.  So, it is tough to lead a church at some points and times.

 

Leading a church is the highest calling.  If God has called you to this responsibility and privilege, it is the highest call.  And the One who called is always faithful and He will always provide.  Remember this from when David battled Goliath.  David had a God-saturated mind.  When David speaks of his battle with Goliath, he refers to God nine times and only refers to Goliath twice.  So, he gives God 4-to-1 odds and his mind is really on God.  It’s easy in life, and especially easy in ministry, to get our mind on the budgets, to get our mind on the cranky member, to get our mind on the job filling or dismissal, to get our mind off of God.  I think David reminds us that in his best hours he kept his mind on God.  So, if we can let our minds be marinated in God’s kindness and goodness, then I think we will be stronger.

 

As a leader, what were the giants that David faced?

 

David faced giants that we face still today.  He started off with such a humble heart and then he went to such a time of testing in the wilderness.  And during the time in the wilderness he faced unique temptations.  Then when he sat on the throne he faced temptations.  Just about everything that we face, David faced.  For example, in the wilderness he sold out for a time, he became like the people that were enemies of God.  While in the wilderness he was bloodthirsty at times, and he would resort to the flesh instead of faith for solutions.  While on the throne he became intoxicated with his own power.  Never was he so high, yet never did he fall so low, as when he seduced Bathsheba and murdered Uriah, and then covered up both.  Then he neglected his family and put them on the backburner.  It’s interesting to me that there were no Psalms written about his wonderful wife probably because he had too many wives.  There were no Psalms dedicated to his children.  He wrote stories about Saul and Jonathan, but nothing about his children.  So, he had trouble keeping his priorities straight, and these are exactly the things we face.  We tend to sell out, we tend to rely on flesh instead of faith, get too high for our own good, and neglect the very ones we love.  And that’s why we love David’s story because it is so much like ours.  But, in the end David was still called a man after God’s own heart, and I think that’s because he knew how to come back to God.  He knew how to come back.  There was something in his heart that kept calling him back to God.  He endured the consequences of his mistakes, but God always surrounded him with grace.

 

How can churches be more involved, effective and supportive of people in their congregation who are facing their own giants?

 

Revealing to the church the stories of people like David can be so powerful because they are a living testimony of God’s goodness and faithfulness.  We do the church a great favor when we acquaint the church, from cradle all the way up to grave, with the stories of some of these men.  Secondly, by just practically equipping people to learn from both the successes and mistakes of someone like David.  For example, David can teach us much by writing out his prayers and living in harmony with God, and the importance of worship.  Here was a man who was mighty of valor, maybe one of the greatest military leaders in all of history. He expanded the boundaries of Israel many times over through his military conquests.  At the same time he was so tender-hearted that he could write prayers and songs that we still sing today.  And so here’s an example of how God defines a man.  Not just muscular, but also tender.  And so helping people see that in the church is such a discovery for them.

 

What are the giants that you, Max, have struggled with in your life as a pastor?

 

Everything that David struggled with, I’ve struggled with.  I’ve struggled with selling out, I’ve struggled with hiding in Gath a few times, I’ve struggled with long seasons of prayerlessness as David did, I’ve seen my share of Bathshebas. I’ve not committed a murder of the body, but I sure have slandered some people in my thoughts and my mind.  I’ve not quite always known, like David, how to handle followers and team members who seem to have a spirit of insurrection.  David teaches me a whole lot.  By God’s grace my family hasn’t turned against me and I only have one wife.  So, we’re not exactly alike.

 

When David went into battle with Goliath, he took five stones.  Of the five stones, is there one that is most important?

 

When we take a look at the five stones David took into the battle with Goliath, it’s possible that they were selected as reminders for the five things we need to do to face down our Goliaths, and this can be applied to your life as a pastor.  They are:

1.      The Stone of the Past – Always look at the Past.  Remembering the lion and the bear gives us strength to face the future. 

2.      The Stone of Prayer - We need to be reminded to Pray.  David went to the lowest part of the valley of Elam.  That’s were he found his strength. 

3.      The Stone of Priority – Make God’s reputation your highest Priority.  The reputation of God was of the utmost importance to David.  We need to remember, David probably had no expectation that he would leave the valley alive, and surely never thought that we’d still be talking about him 3,000 years later.  He was willing to give his life to at least put a dent in Goliath’s armor.

4.      The Stone of Passion – Emphasize the Lord with Passion.  David didn’t just walk toward Goliath, he ran toward him with passion. 

5.      The Stone of Persistence – Never give up; be Persistent.  David took five stones into battle with Goliath, and in my thinking, he took five in case one didn’t work. 

 

So, David had these five tools.  Is there one that’s more important than the others?  I really think it has to be prayer.  I really do.  David was never stronger than when he was praying.  He was never weaker than when he was forgetting to pray.