Have you ever tried to pick a favorite hymn or Scripture passage? Impossible! At least it is for me. I had similar feelings when my pastoral interns asked me to pick my top books every pastor should read. Nevertheless, they demanded this of me and I conceded.

Marriage is hard enough, but add ministry into the mix and you have a recipe for a potential mess.  My work with pastors and their families cause me to see a lot of the messiness that exists in pastors’ homes.  There’s plenty of the same mess in my own home.  The combined stress of marriage in ministry is a unique situation that demands an intentionality to keep a marriage or ministry from imploding.

“Daddy, why does our church hate us” it takes it to an entirely different level of concern.  What is a pastor to do?  I have several ideas, but I will start with this one:

Since the nursing home is commonly viewed as the transition point between hospital and home, it is good to be considerate of both taking an interest in their living space as well as any health concerns that may be present.

When we stand before God to give an account of the souls entrusted to our care (Heb. 13:17) awkwardness and uncomfortable silence will be an unwise excuse to use before our Chief Shepherd.

“Great job…good sermon…that really spoke to me.”  The list of phrases a pastor may hear as church members exit the church goes on.  Inevitably, whether the sermon was good or not, these quick comments will be spoken to us with varying levels of sincerity and it is important that we know how to respond in a God-honoring way. Here are 4 suggestions.

The rigors of tri-vocational ministry had left me deeply weary with a fatigue that I realized would not be remedied by a few days off. I needed to step away completely for the purpose of rest and a needed “gut check” in several areas of my life. I took the entire month of July off.  Unplugged from all ministry, including all social media.

One of the most helpful assets to a pastor in the local church in regard to caring for elderly widows is a stay-at-home mom. Here are five practical ways a pastor can train young moms in his church to take their children and visit elderly widows.

A pastor needs to be trained not to be reactionary regarding the dysfunction and turmoil he finds, but to have a clear plan on how his time should be spent during his first few years, regardless of what problems he inherits. The best approach for a pastor, especially when entering a dysfunctional, dying congregation is to simply be a pastor to those people.

Pastors, seize every opportunity to go to the hospital on these occasions to see new born babies.  It is some of the only times you go to the hospital to celebrate.

I get it. It is hard to invest and train leaders, then send them out. It is hard to deeply love others only to let them go. But I am reminded in encouraging notes like this that despite the real personal loss pastors and churches feel, it is still worth sending them. Pastors, pour yourself into young men and women. Train them. Raise them up. Send them out.

What made this particular funeral the most difficult I have ever done? As the funeral approached, nothing I tried lifted the burden. No matter how much I prayed or meditated on Scripture, the weight remained and it was an intensity I cannot recall ever feeling.  As I reflected afterwards, here are 5 factors that seemed to create this “perfect storm” of struggle that peaked at an unbearable level just a few minutes before the funeral began.

Through cleaning the bathrooms at my church the Lord, in His grace, taught me some of the most valuable lessons about humility, faithful pastoral ministry, and what it truly means to serve Christ and His church while cleaning toilets.  These are two of the more important lessons.

As we celebrated the births of these little ones, I began to get excited about the privilege it is of going to the hospital, being one of the first to see and hold the baby, and care for the parents in what is always one of the most significant moments in their lives.  Here are a few things to think about as you seize these wonderful opportunities to minister to the new parents in your church.