Faithful Saying-Paul is going to be giving his young preacher boys some topics that they should preach on, these topics had been and should be preached on time and time again, so much they had become sayings, just like we have sayings.
1 Tim 3:1-7-This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
How To Get Rid Of Your Pastor:
1-Look him straight in the eye and say "Amen" once in awhile. He'll preach himself to death within a few weeks.
2-Next Sunday, go forward to the altar and rededicate your life to Christ. Ask him to give you some job you could do in the church. He'll likely die of heart failure on the spot.
3-Pat him on the back and brag on all the things he does around the church. He'll work himself to death.
4-Get a whole bunch of the church members to unite in earnest intercessory prayer for the pastor, his ministry and his family. Organize prayer meetings in which you pray for the growth of the church and blessing on the pastor. The pastor may become so effective in ministry that some larger church will gladly take him off your hands.
One note of caution, however: if you try one of these methods, you may find that you don't want to get rid of your pastor after all.
2009 Statistics Of Why Pastors Leave the Ministry by Fuller Institute, George Barna and Pastoral Care Inc, Focus On The Family.
1,500 pastors leave the ministry permanently each month in America.
4,000 new churches start each year in America.
7,000 churches close each year in America.
25% of pastors’ marriages end in divorce, that rate has increased to 50%
70% of pastors continually battle depression.
75% of pastors will experience a significant personal crisis while serving in ministry
70% of pastors say they will not be in ministry 10 years from now.
80% of pastors and 85% of their spouses feel discouraged in their roles.
95% of pastors do not regularly pray with their spouses.
70% of pastors do not have a close friend, confidant, or mentor.
50% of pastors are so discouraged they would leave the ministry if they could.
80% of pastors spend under 15 minutes a day in prayer.
70% of pastors only study God’s Word when preparing a message.
40% of pastors have had an extra-marital affair since entering ministry.
80% of seminary graduates who enter ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
80% of pastors’ wives feel their husbands are overworked.
90% of pastors said their training was inadequate for ministry.
80% of pastors’ wives feel unappreciated by the congregation.
90% of pastors said ministry was completely different from what they thought it would be.
70% of pastors felt called of God into ministry when they began.
80% of pastors’ wives feel pressured to be someone they are not and do things they are not called to do in the church.
50% of pastors’ wives feel that their husbands entering ministry was the most destructive thing to ever happen to their families. Many pastor’s children do not attend church now because of what the church has done to their parents.
Only 1 out of every 10 ministers will actually retire as a minister in some form.
Many denominations report an "empty pulpit crisis". They cannot find ministers willing to fill positions.
Pastor is asked to do many things, some of which don’t have one thing to do with vocation of ministry.
Dr. Michael Bledsoe-He said, I wish someone would have told me that being a pastor of a church is like…Being shipped out for foreign service, a pastor enters a church like a foreign diplomat, there are political realities on the ground that he should be aware of as soon as possible, there are persons who should be accommodated and respected. There is usually a underground movement of dissatisfied person who question the leadership and question anyone who is chosen to lead them, there is a redirect to present a official version of who they are and then there are those candid confidential soundings where information is passed along to the pastor thru back channels, sometimes the information is correct, other times the information is passed in order to sabotage. A pastor should always remember that the church is not the foreigner but the pastor is the alien.
When I was 18 years old, I told my daddy that I was going to be a preacher and he said, “That’s a poor way to make a living!” and I said, “That’s ok, I’m going to do some poor preaching!” I have lived up to that!!!
I Say All Of That, To Say This: I wish today I could go back in time and stand before that 18 year old boy, and I would say to him, “There are going to be some things in your life that you are going to do wrong, but Jimmy that day you surrendered to preach, you made the right choice, you listen to the right voice, not only is that calling going to make you a better person, but you are going to affect peoples lives and God is going to use you in ways you can’t even fathom, way go Jimmy, way to get it right, not only for you but for your whole family!!!”
The times I have stood by a bedside and prayed for the sick and for the dying, what I said may or may not be remembered, words are seldom remembered at times like that, but having compassion and being there for them and the family, was and is remembered by the families I have ministered too.
The preacher who was fixing to take a vacation was told, “That Jesus didn’t take a vacation!” And so the preacher stated the obvious, “I ain’t Jesus!”
Because I ain’t Jesus, I can’t take away the grief, when someone’s love one passes away. Because I ain’t Jesus, I can’t take away the hurts that come into peoples lives.
Because I ain’t Jesus, I can’t take away the bad news they hear in a doctors office.
Because I ain’t Jesus, I can’t mend a marriage that’s broken apart.
Trust me, if you care anything about the people God has given you to pastor, it wears on you, it wears on you spiritually, emotionally and physically!
The great evangelist and preacher Dwight L. Moody came home one day and his family said to him, “Cancel your next meeting. You look so weary and we know you’re tired.” D.L. Moody gave this tremendous response - he said, “I am weary in the work, but I am not weary of the work.”
That is what I want my statement to be….I Am Weary In The Work, But I Am Not Weary Of The Work!
