In an interview last year, Eugene Peterson was asked what is at the heart of being a pastor – and what advice he would offer to a student pursuing a career in pastoral ministry. This is what he said…
I’d tell them that pastoring is not a very glamorous job.
It’s a very taking-out-the-laundry and changing-the-diapers kind of job.
And I think I would try to disabuse them of any romantic ideas of what… Read More
A few days ago, I was asked this question online: “How would you define success as a pastor?”
Before I could respond with a positive answer, my brain first went to all the things I would NOT define as success for a pastor (like celebrity status, number of church campuses, number of attendees, book on the NY Times Bestseller list, having a conferences for other pastors so I can tell them what they should be doing and how they should be doing it, building mega-campuses, being on TV, getting invited to preach around the world, driving a Bentley, etc.).
When I was done eliminating what success is NOT, I started thinking about the essence of what it IS to me.
What I came up with isn’t exhaustive – but it is the core of who I want to be and what I want to be known for as a pastor.
Here’s my reply… Read More
