What does it mean for a pastor to “take heed” to his physical wellbeing? Is there any spiritual value in stewarding our physical bodies well? How might a pastor balance and practice well the three disciplines of eating, exercise, and sleep?
Listen as Brian and Jim address these and other questions from a biblical perspective.
Listen HERE
Yesterday marked the completion of 15 years as Senior Pastor of Auburndale Baptist Church in Louisville, KY (2003 – 2018). Many of you know my story. So then you can imagine I have spent a great deal of time reflecting in recent days on all God has done in me and our church for the last decade and a half.
My reflections are best summarized by breaking up my time at our church into 3 time periods: Surviving, Thriving, and Fixing.
The first 5 years were brutal. There were 3 different movements to get me fired. In the midst of all the hostility and adversity, God was still building his church. He was teaching me some of the most valuable lessons I would later learn about ministry. I preached waiting for the seeds of the word to find good soil. I pastored this flock with the intent to win their love and trust. I struggled. I tried to hold on to my family. I made mistakes. I almost left. But we survived.
For more info on the first 5 years at the church, watch this video HERE
After surviving the 3rd firing attempt that almost split the church and harm my health, the ship just seemed to turn after that. Some of the most significant leaders of our church who are still serving now came to the church that next year. My enemies in those early years began to soften towards me and we began to make peace with one another. We moved to a plurality of pastors. We finally achieved an accurate membership role. We saw some conversions and refugees joining the church. We found our budget in the black for the first time in many years. And we raised up and sent missionaries and pastors around the world. In these years, we thrived.
These last 5 years have brought new challenges. One of the reasons pastors often don’t stay 10 years in one church is that you can no longer blame the previous pastor for the problems. This season pressed me to take a long, honest, and painful look at how not just my strengths as a leader helped the church, but how my weaknesses harmed the church. This has been a humbling, but important season of self-reflection and evaluation of our church to then try to begin to fix what I broke. This was true for the church as well as for my family.
With God’s grace and strength, I feel I have been able to make some important progress in addressing issues in both my church and family, but it has been hard and painful. I have been reminded of the gift of close friendships and skilled counselors necessary to do hard, but essential personal soul work as a pastor to grow in grace and sanctification. As a result, I feel we sit at a better place of maturity and health now than ever before.
Thankfully, there are many unique and powerful evidences of grace in our church from the last 5 years. I intend to built on these encouragements as we move into the 4th round of what has become blocks of 5-year seasons of ministry for me. And I am also encouraged and very thankful by God’s work in my marriage and family throughout it.
Pastoring this church has been one of the greatest joys of my life. God has been so kind to me to allow me these years with a very special group of God’s sheep whom I believe I continue to grow in love for every day. Therefore, I move forward confident that our sovereign and good God will be at work these next 5 years in the same way he has undeniably been at work these past 15 years.
We are so grateful for Tim Challies who has been a faithful supporter of Practical Shepherding from the beginning. In this video, Tim mentions our newest book, The Pastor’s Soul by Brian Croft and Jim Savastio in his New and Notable Books segment.
Purchase The Pastor’s Soul here: KINDLE or PAPERBACK
