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This post may seem self-serving, but it is not meant to be. There are people in the church where I pastor that want to encourage me. And occasionally they ask me, “How can I encourage you?” Well, here is my answer.

Pray for me.

This may seem obvious, but it is true. Every pastor needs your prayers. But even deeper than that, how specifically, in what way or ways, should you pray for your pastor? Here are just a few off the top of my head:

Pray for faithfulness to my calling.

Pray for diligence in my own spiritual life.

Pray for patience as I deal with difficult, unruly people.

Pray for a willingness to seek consistent accountability.

Pray for my leadership in my home.

Pray for my response when I am discouraged and lonely.

Thank me for my preparation in preaching.

I feel slightly uncomfortable saying it this way, but let me explain. Most often, people come up and tell me when they appreciate something specific about my sermon and how it challenged them. Don’t get me wrong—I love that. I love hearing that you are listening to the prompting of the Spirit in your life. But I also just appreciate you saying, “Thank you for all your hard work, week in and week out. It shows you care that God’s word is handled carefully, passionately and accurately.”

Now many of you have done this or do this regularly. Again, I thank you for that. But I bring this up, because I realize that some sermons just aren’t going to hit home runs every time. You are distracted. I am preaching on a text that you have heard before or you just heard it preached from a much better preacher. You didn’t sleep much the night before. I am too technical or not technical enough. The humor did not hit well. Or any of the other thousand reasons. And that is fine. I get it. But even so, the mature hearer can typically tell when effort/study has been given to proper exegesis/application of the text. Tell me that. Affirm my diligence. It encourages me to keep going, to obey God’s word which tells me to be ready “in and out of season to preach His word”.

Pray for my wife.

Being a pastor’s wife is hard. I am not the easiest human to deal with. Furthermore, I tend to protect my wife from certain parts of pastoral ministry, which is necessary, but hard for her to watch me carry the heaviness of ministry. Maybe I should share more with my wife, maybe I should share less. Where I land on this issue, is not the point. The point is this: She needs your prayers also. Prayers for her daily walk with Jesus. Prayers that she would be gospel-centering in her parenting. Prayers that she would be the best helper/companion to me, which can be difficult, since as already stated above, I am not perfect by any means.

Don’t put me on a pedestal.

As I write this, I can almost hear the voices of some people at ACC saying, “Don’t worry Pastor—I don’t.” And with this realization, I chuckle to myself and respond back, “Good. You shouldn’t.” That being said, this is not always the case. Some people do. Now the reason why this is not encouraging to me is NOT because I plan on failing. Oh, I am sure I have and will likely make many more mistakes during my time as the pastor of ACC. The reason this doesn’t encourage me is because I want people to see Jesus as the head of ACC. He is the Chief Shepherd. The leadership of ACC are just undershepherds serving at the feet of Jesus. In other words, Jesus is the only One who won’t disappoint you. Look to Him. He will never fail you. He will never leave you or forsake you.

Pray for my children.

It is not easy to be a pastor’s kid. Under the microscope most of the time. Expected to be there all the time. Furthermore, the kids are the main evidence to observe to see if a pastor is leading his family well. Bad kids, hypocritical pastor—generally speaking. Now though I think this is unfair, to be honest, sometimes it is true, sometimes it is not. That being said, please pray for my kids. Pray they will continue to have their own faith. Pray that they will look to Jesus and show their parents grace and forgiveness when we fail them. Pray that they will value God’s word higher than the wisdom of men.

Be faithful and enjoy time away.

I often hear people apologize when they are not at church. Sickness, vacations, a rough week, etc. Believe me, I get it. And though I know why people tell me this, I guess I want you to know that I care and I don’t care. Let me explain.

I care that you are WITH the church (remember we don’t "go to church", we "go to be WITH the church") consistently. I care that you are making corporate worship a priority. I care that you are hungry to sit under biblical preaching. I care about you, in general.

That being said, I don’t care if you are gone. I am glad you are visiting family, enjoying a vacation, caring for your families. What I don’t like is you carry around guilt about not being with the church. This either means you know you are not making being with the church a priority or you need to be reminded that the church is not a building, but a people. In other words, go and enjoy this life! Be faithful to God and your spiritual family. And when you are gone, continue to keep God the center of your life. This is what God desires of you.

Use your spiritual gift/s.

Every Christian is given at least one spiritual gift to be used to edify the body of Christ. This means the church will only be as healthy to the degree that every person is using their gift/s. So use them. Get off the sidelines and get into the game. I am excited to serve alongside you, encouraging you to use these gifts for the glory of God.

Conclusion

Now will I accept a gift card? Of course. I have learned to accept wholeheartedly the generosity of others. And don't get me wrong, I love gift cards (especially if they are from places/restaurants that I am excited about)! But honestly, I don’t care about that. I care about your spiritual journey. I care about who God has made you to be. Go serve God and pray for me and my family when you think about it. I appreciate it!