This august marked my 10 year anniversary in "full-time pastoral ministry". I've learned so much by watching others - I've watched my father pastor churches the first 20 years of my life and learned what works and doesn't work by his good example. I've been blessed to be ministered to by another great man of God who has since gone to be with the Lord, Paul Snyder. Paul was our pastor at the Riverton Friends church when Tammy and I were first married and I rededicated my life to Christ. I got great, practical, instruction at Barclay College. The professors made sure that I was sufficiently challenged and equipped to be the best minister I could be. And then there is the experience of being "in the trenches" for 10 years.
I'm begining a series of posts of some random leadership lessons that I've learned...
When entering the ministry make sure your spouse is on board. When I first told Pastor Paul that I thought God was calling me to be a minister, the first thing he did was turn to Tammy and ask, "Are you okay with this?" He said, "The two of you need to be on the same page. Ministry is challenging and you will need each other." So true. If I had a wife fighting my call and the demands and occasional time pressures that go with the position then I don't think I would have ever made it this long in the ministry.
Send thank you notes as often as possible. I've sent thank you notes to people who have told me, "I've never gotten a thank you note from a pastor in my life." It means so much to people to be reminded that they matter. I don't do this near as often as I should. It seems that I hit periods where I do this great and then slack off but when I remember I make sure to let people know how much I appreciate them.
When someone is laid on your mind/heart make contact with them quickly. I can't tell you the number of times that God will bring someone to my mind that I need to make contact with. Many times they just need a word of encouragement or a prayer.
More to come...
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