Your Pastor Needs You

I'd like to share a secret with you ...

A pastor's effectiveness is largely determined by how people in their congregation treat them.

That's why I created this web site. Here you'll find an expanding number of resources, ideas, and tools that will help you better choose, compensate, appreciate, partner with, and minister to your spiritual leader.

Whether you are looking for appreciation poems, search committee guidelines, clergy tax information, or help planning your next anniversary celebration, you'll find it here.

But My-Pastor is more than a list of resources and poetry. Throughout the site I've tried to give you a little insight into the mind, heart, and life of your shepherd. My hope is that you will then be able to minister more effectively to your shepherd…

…because you understand him or her a little better.

To quickly locate what you’re looking for, use the buttons in the left column of this page or the links in the table of contents at the bottom of the page.

Being a pastor is the best thing I’ve ever hated
and the worst thing I’ve ever loved.

I’ve never heard a pastor use those exact words … but I have heard many say exactly that.

Most ministers I talk to enjoy being pastors. They don’t want to do anything else … anywhere else. But they are also a little frustrated, sometimes disheartened, often lonely, occasionally uncertain, and frequently dissatisfied with their own efforts and abilities.

We live in an age of entertainment: movies, television, radio, and sports. The entertainers in each of those arenas know that they either produce success or they will be fired: create a TV hit or lose your job; put together a winning team or coach somewhere else.

The business world functions the same way: increase profits or look for a different job.

In fact, one of our fundamental values as "modern" humans is, "Contribute to success or someone else will take your place."

We also take that value to church with us. It is ingrained in your heart and mine. It is also ingrained in the heart of your Christian pastor.

As a result, congregations – often without knowing it or intending to – pressure their ministers to produce success … a success generally measured by attendance numbers.

The pressure from the congregation, however, is minor compared to the pressure he puts on himself.

At times he feels like a hypocrite when he preaches against sin because he knows that sin is still a dominating influence in his own life.

He frequently compares his “success” with that of the church across town, and feels he does not measure up.

Some Sundays he looks into your eyes and imagines what you think about him. And his conclusions aren't usually very positive.

It is for these, and many other, reasons that your Christian pastor needs you. He needs your encouragement, your appreciation, your partnership, and your prayer.

Your ministry does not have to be big and full of fanfare to be effective. When it comes to ministering to your pastor the only effort that is too small is no effort at all.

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