June 12, 2009
1,500 pastors leave their churches every month in the United States because of conflict, burnout, or moral failure. Help keep your pastor from becoming part of that statistic. Use every available resource to encourage, support, and partner with your pastor. This ezine and www.My-Pastor.com give you a good start toward effectively ministering to your minister.
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Date: June 12, 2009
Issue Number 014
Table of Contents:
- Pastor Appreciation Idea: Pastor Appreciation Excuses
- Gift Idea: Win a Gift Certificate for Your Pastor
- What's New at My-Pastor.com?
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Pastor Appreciation Idea: Pastor Appreciation Excuses
As an ambassador for pastor appreciation you will very likely face people who are less than enthusiastic about a pastor appreciation event. For whatever reason, they don't want to plan or sometimes even participate in any kind of special event for your pastor. When you talk to them about it they will probably have some pastor appreciation excuses ready to defend their position.Over the years, I have heard a number of excuses. But there are three that are the most common.
- We don't want him/her to think we appreciation him only one day a year. This pastor appreciation excuse would be funny if people weren't actually using it to defend their position. I find that the best response is this. Suggest to them that next Valentine's Day they use the same approach with their spouse. That is, don't celebrate Valentine's Day and just explain to your spouse that you don't want her to think you only love her one day a year.
- Our pastor doesn't want us to do anything special for pastor appreciation. I've actually heard a pastor himself say that he didn't want people to do anything special for him. After the service I reminded him that his congregation has a responsibility to honor him and that asking them to not do so was taking away from them the opportunity to do as God requires. But when people in the congregation use this as an excuse, I assure them that we won't do anything that will make the pastor feel uncomfortable, but the congregation has a responsibility to support and encourage their pastor.
- We can't think of anything creative to do. We don't want to just keep doing the same thing. When you hear this pastor appreciation excuse, simply invite the person to join the group planning the events. Then send them to My-Pastor.com!
All of these excuses can be overcome with some planning and diligent preparation. Don't let lazy people or complainers keep you from showing your pastor appreciation!
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A New Pastor Gift Idea: Win Your Pastor a Gift Certificate!
I am looking for new and creative pastor appreciation ideas and I'm willing to pay for them! I'm launching a contest that will run from June 10 to July 31, 2009. Submit your best pastor appreciation idea. If yours is the most creative, I will send your pastor a $25 gift certificate to Christianbook.com.While only one entry will win, all good and unique ideas will become part of my pastor appreciation ideas pages with the author's name included.
See the Pastor Appreciation Contest page for more information.
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What’s New at My-Pastor.com?
Many people ask me how I built My-pastor.com. What they really want to know is how I turned this little web site into a Christian business that supports my family. For a long time I've held off telling people about my home business. I didn't want them to think I was trying to sell them something.But after watching friends and family waste time and money chasing after the dream of a home business, I finally decided to write a page about how I did it.
Maybe my story will inspire you to start your own Christian Home Based Business.
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Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you. Just reply to this zine and tell me what you think!
Thank you for your ministry to your minister.
Dan Sherman
Michigan, USA
My-Pastor.com
If you have questions, ideas, or wish to be removed from my mailing list, please reply directly to this ezine email.
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