March 28, 2007
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Date: March 28, 2007
Issue Number 004
Table of Contents:
- Pastor Appreciation Idea: Pizza Anyone?
- Gift Idea: Popcorn Anyone?
- Article: How Hard Can It Be?
- Whats New at My-Pastor.com: Not Much
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Pizza Anyone?
Showing your pastor appreciation doesn’t have to take a lot of time or effort. A woman in one of the churches I pastored found a very helpful and fairly simple way to show she appreciated my family.She worked full time outside her home, so she really didn’t have a lot of extra time. But every few weeks she would call my wife during the day and ask if she could drop off pizza for supper that night. We have three kids so we never turned her down.
Just before this woman got out of work she called the restaurant and made her order. After work she picked up the pizza, some breadsticks, and a two-liter of soda (“pop” if you live where I live). Then she dropped it off at our house on her way home.
She never expected anything in return and wasn’t looking to be invited in for conversation or dinner. She just wanted to minister to my family and found a very practical and effective way to do just that.
Could you show your pastor appreciation by delivering a pizza tonight?
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A New Pastor Gift Idea: Popcorn Anyone?
He probably shouldn’t, but did you know your pastor has a snack droor in his desk at church? I kept files and papers in the same droor so I could cover up my candy and pretzels. But about two o’clock every afternoon the “munchies” would hit me and I’d have to dig under those files to find that hidden treasure.Tell you pastor that it’s OK to have a snack once in a while. Send him some gourmet popcorn.
This stuff is not your regular popcorn – not even to be compared with the popcorn customers or salespeople send to your workplace at Christmas time. This is melt in-your-mouth eyes-pop-open gourmet popcorn. Let him savor the fantastic flavors of Dale & Thomas Popcorn.
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How Hard Can It Be?
In 2 Corinthians 11:23-29 the Apostle Paul describes some of the hardships he experienced as a pastor-missionary. They include multiple trips to jail, numerous whippings, confronted with death many times, whipped to near death five times, beaten with sticks three times, stoned once, three shipwrecks, traveling problems that included flooded rivers and robbers, conflict from Jews and Gentiles, danger in cities and the countryside, and he lived with pain, tiredness, hunger, thirst, cold, and lack of adequate clothing.On top of all this he adds one more hardship: the constant weight of responsibility for the churches he started. He writes, “besides all this, I have the daily burden of how the churches are getting along. Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger?”
Most people are sympathetic, which means that we feel bad for other people even though we don’t actually experience their pain. But Paul tells us that Pastors actually experience the pain, sorrow, joys, and suffering that the people in their congregations experience.
If you have children you probably understand this. You feel their joys and their sorrows…you actually experience those emotions right along with your children.
Though your pastor doesn’t think of you as his child, he does experience your emotions as though you were his son or daughter. He is joyful when you are full of joy. He is sad when you are sad. He feels weak when you are weak.
You may have up to four or five children. Sometimes one is sad, another is angry, a third is happy and you feel all those emotions.
How many people are in your church congregation? Your pastor feels all their emotions all at once all the time. All at the same time he is happy, sad, confused, frustrated, scared – all because those he loves and cares for are experiencing those emotions.
How hard can it be to be a pastor?
Well, sometimes your pastor feels like a schizophrenic because his emotions are pulled in so many different directions all at once.
How hard can it be?
Paul put being a pastor in a list of hardships along side being beaten, shipwrecked, and starved. Though your pastor probably wouldn’t describe it that way, you have to believe that it’s not easy living day to day with the burden of responsibility for your church congregation.
Would you pray for your pastor right now?
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What’s New at My-Pastor.com?
I wish I could tell you that I’ve added page after page of valuable information since my last newsletter. Unfortunately, I haven’t done much of anything to the site. My mother had open-heart surgery and my mother-in-law has been in and out of the hospital twice since my last update. However, I currently have the following in the building phase:
- A new and improved gift page so you can order gifts right from my site.
- A series of pages on pastor burnout. Burnout is in my opinion the number one killer of pastoral ministry effectiveness. I’ll discuss the causes, effects, preventions, and cures. In addition I’ll recommend a resource or two that you can purchase to help you pastor avoid or recover from burnout.
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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
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