Inside The Mind Of A Pastor
We live in a day and time that each of us can be easily misunderstood. In fact, I find myself feeling that way as a pastor. Sadly, only the negative stuff makes the news headlines. It doesn’t matter if you’re a pastor or the president. People believe what they hear and only know what they see. I thought I might give you a front seat view into the mind of the average pastor. Of course, I can only speak for myself and the many pastors I actually know well.
One, most of us feel called to pastor. Meaning it’s not just some job we thought we might be good at doing. We genuinely feel it’s a God given responsibility. While most people feel they can choose any job we feel our job has been chosen for us. To do anything besides pastoring would make us feel like a fish out of water.
Two, most of us never feel like our work is done. In today’s complicated world so many are going through so much. There are clearly not enough hours in each day to help everyone. You really have to choose wisely how you spend your time. Because one thing is for sure: there will always be one more person who could use encouragement.
Three, most of us are very aware of our human imperfections. Just because we’re preaching things to you doesn’t mean we aren’t working through things ourselves. Apart from God’s grace we know we couldn’t stand in front of you. We’re not trying to be God we’re just seeking to be His messenger. There are many times that a pastor feels inadequate and overwhelmed. It’s in those times we must remember God’s grace and God’s call.
Four, most of us struggle to stay focused on our own families. Trust me, I know this one very well. Through the years I’ve had to learn how to be stern in protecting time for my marriage and family. It’s hard when you always hear the cries of many desperate people begging for divine intervention. Its only the pastors who invest in their family that later have the support needed to keep investing in other families.
Lastly, most of us really do try to live with great integrity. Meaning the bar we set for ourselves is really high. We believe God wants us to live by example the message we proclaim. This doesn’t mean we don’t stumble and miss the mark daily. However, most of us don’t take lightly the platform God has given us. It hurts us deeply to feel we’ve misrepresented Christ in anyway. Most of us want nothing less than God’s will to be done in our lives and in His church.
“Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.” (1 Timothy 3:1)
Pastor Craig Crosby 
Glad to have you and your thoughts back! Insightful and inspiring insights! God bless you! There are quite a number of things I “would like to do again”, but life and ministry doesn’t work this way! “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5. Grace always, Preacher (retired).
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