I just had an amazing conversation with a courageous young pastor. He said
said that after this summer he is no longer going to try and “endear”
himself to the people by entertaining them or coming up with some new
“gadget” to get their attention. Instead he wanted to teach God’s Word with
excellence and honesty.

Wow, now that is what I call courage and growth. I don’t know if there is
any more difficult role than that of the pastor, the expectation to be
perfect, then finding that the “Real You” falls short of that standard
causes guilt, shame and feelings of hypocrisy.

I have learned over the years after working with very large ministries and
small ones, that every time a pastor opens his mouth he becomes a target, a
bulls-eye. He is inviting people to either say “‘you are the greatest and
you are changing my life’, or ‘I hate you, I can’t believe you believe or
taught this, I can’t stand the music here, I can’t believe you drive that
car, why weren’t you at the hospital for my procedure” – the list is never
ending, the arrows never stop flying.

Generally each and every pastor picks a side to listen to and the results of
that become “I am the greatest” or “I am worthless.”
Neither is a good or correct result.

So, pastors out there, what say you? How have you learned to deal with this
“bar-bell” approach of praise and criticism? Lay person and church member,
how can we stop basing our response to God and His Word on the messenger and
make it about our own journey and our relationship with Him and His Word?
Doug