Pastor Roast

A pastor roast can be a perfect addition to a pastor appreciation or pastor anniversary banquet, party, or program. Or, you can just roast your pastor as a surprise for no particular reason at all.

Now, some people sit around their Sunday lunch table and roast their pastor. But that's not the kind of roast I’m talking about!

What Is A Pastor Roast?

A pastor roast is similar to a celebrity roast. According to Wikipedia, “A roast, in North American English, is an event in which an individual is subject to publicly bearing insults, praise, outlandish true and untrue stories, and heartwarming tributes. It is seen as a great honor to be roasted, as the individual is surrounded by friends, fans, and well wishers, who can receive some of the same treatment as well during the course of the evening. The party and presentation itself are both referred to as a roast. The host of the event is called the roastmaster.”

A pastor roast is similar to a celebrity roast. Select several people to give speeches about your pastor. The content of the speeches is funny, disrespectful, a bit sarcastic, but always in good fun. The key is that everything said is rooted in respect. When a speaker truly appreciates and respects your pastor, it will be obvious no matter how “disrespectful” the humor.

Who Should Make the Pastor Roast Speeches? The best speakers are those who know your pastor best and who have a good sense of humor.

How Many Speakers Should You Use? Have each speaker prepare about seven to ten minutes of material. Then choose enough speakers to fill about 40 to 45 minutes. If you plan this way, the speeches will last about an hour since few people realize just how short seven to ten minutes really is.

Should Our Pastor Be the Only Target? No. The speakers should focus on your pastor. But jokes and stories can be aimed at the pastor’s spouse and other pastor roast speakers as well.

Should the Roast Include Serious Content? Each pastor roast speech should include a short and sincere statement of the speaker’s appreciation of your pastor.

What Kind of Jokes Should the Speakers Use? Funny ones! Each speaker will have his or her own sense of humor. Give them the freedom to be themselves. But sarcasm, hyperbole (exaggerated truth), funny stories, impressions… almost anything will work… if it's funny.

How Should a Pastor Roast Speech Start? It probably should start at the beginning. However, here are a couple ways to get going.

• ”Pastor, before I begin my pastor roast speech, let me just say how thankful I am that no other church wanted you as their pastor and that the 12 other candidates before you turned our invitations down, and how grateful we are that you were willing to accept our call to be our pastor even though only 51% of us voted for you… and by the way, had I known then what I know now, I would have voted for you too.”
• ”I’m not saying his sermons are long, but, last Sunday we baptized my son at the beginning of the service and catechized him at the end.”
• You could also use some of these pastor jokes.

You could end your roast with something like this, “Pastor, I hope you know that tonight was all in good fun. We would never say these things about you if we didn’t love you … at least not where you could hear them.”

A pastor roast is a fun way of showing your pastor appreciation. Choose your speakers carefully and your time will be encouraging to everyone.

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