But what about the title, “Pastor”? What does it suggest?

A pastor is likely to be a healer, protector, teacher, counselor, plumber, car mechanic and much more, all in the same day. A pastor might find himself unplugging a toilet, repairing the church van, counseling a married couple, teaching a Bible study and conducting a funeral while consoling a family for their loss, all inside a 24-hour period. Within 60 seconds this same pastor may console a church member, who just got the news of terminal cancer and seconds later be the first to congratulate a young couple for the pregnancy of their first child. I’ve lived many days where circumstances whipped my emotions in different directions. I’ve led a soul to Jesus Christ with great joy, turned around to confront a cheating husband, filling my heart with sorrow.

Such diversity necessitates absolute emotional stability; instantaneous flexibility; ever-present availability; a skill set beyond academia; expertise that is never fully attained; responsibilities too enormous to carry alone; demands too numerous to count and leadership too public to hide. And herein lies the greatest truth I could ever pass on:

Without God, being a pastor is impossible.

And unless you have stood in a pastor’s shoes, it’s difficult to understand how arduous the ministry can be. Ironically, it’s also the most glorious position any human being can hold. The ministry is both joyous and painful; wonderful and grievous, honorable and humbling, and only by the grace of God could you ever be successful.

Like parenting, being a successful pastor takes on-the-job training, and it’s only after kids are grown and gone, that parents can confidently tell you what works and what doesn’t. The purpose of this book is to share with you a lifetime of experience of what worked for me in the hopes of making you a better pastor.

From seminaries to seminars, I’ve attended many gatherings on the finer points of pastoring. Some were more helpful than others, but I often left these conferences feeling overwhelmed and terribly inadequate after listening to successful pastors talk about their churches and demonstrate skills I could never acquire. It took me more than a couple decades to learn that successful ministry takes being yourself and being more comfortable within your own skillset than trying to fabricate what someone else does successfully. In reality, successful ministry takes more than technique, programs and a honed skillset. Ministry takes God Himself.

That’s what makes pastoring different.

Doctors, firemen, soldiers, teachers, and other notable professionals rigorously train and earn their titles with years of training and grueling education. Candidates spend time and money to make the grade, pass exams, and compete for privilege, while subjecting themselves to personal sacrifice and scrutiny, background checks and exhausting interviews. Prestigious positions and coveted titles are almost always awarded to the chosen few; the cream; the first fruits; the best and brightest among their peers. And at the end of all their labors, they can confidently proclaim they have earned it!

Pastors earn nothing. Their ministries are given by God. The Apostles were deemed, “untrained and uneducated men” but were chosen to begin the greatest enterprise in human history. Imagine that! The Church has steered the course of Western Civilization and changed more lives than all other institutions combined, and ironically, its architects were ordinary men.

The leaders of the Early Church were handpicked. And so are you, not for your talents, brilliance or diversity of performance, but for the condition of your heart. Like fine furniture in the hands of a Master Craftsman, the disciples of Jesus attained their full potential because of God; working with God and for the glory of God alone. They were never known for their achievements.

They were known for their God.

Compared to the highly successful pastors or founders of ministries and mega-churches, you may feel unqualified, uneducated, and incapable. You might be the last to finish the race for position, prominence and popularity. You may feel intimidated when asked to carry out cleverly calculated plans for success. The demons of your past may still call you names like, Loser, Dummy, Ugly or Fat. But in the deepest chambers of your soul, you long for God; you are driven to your knees in prayer; you hunger to take your place with that “great cloud of witnesses” and do your part to change the world.

Indeed, you are likely to be known as a husband, father, grandfather, neighbor, homeowner, preacher, servant, carpenter, fisherman, yard keeper, diaper changer, dishwasher, plumber, writer, teacher, administrator, friend, pest controller, office manager, team builder and peacemaker. These responsibilities are a part of who you are, but none of them individually defines you.

You are defined by the name that only God can give. “Pastor”.