Husband. Dad to 5. Student Ministry Pastor. Follower of Jesus. Yatta yatta.

PRESSURE

Today I was stewing on some of the pressures I feel pretty regularly as a pastor- in purely a random list I started typing….

  • be funny
  • be young at heart
  • be athletic and physically fit
  • be a great communicator
  • be organized
  • be on facebook
  • be on myspace
  • be a pop-culture wiz
  • be aware of all things youtube
  • be a travel agent
  • be a graphic artist
  • be a web designer
  • be a great writer
  • be photographic memory man with student’s faces and names
  • be a janitor
  • be ultimately responsible for the ministry
  • be caring
  • be loving
  • be available to those in need
  • be trustworthy
  • be a visionary
  • be a corrector
  • be devoted to prayer
  • be memorizing scripture
  • be reading my Bible
  • be fasting
  • be a videographer
  • be a seminary student
  • be a learner
  • be a booking agent
  • be great with money
  • be creative
  • be informed about politics
  • be aware of the big news in the world
  • be a blog updater
  • be a listener
  • be healthy
  • be ready to eat pizza and junk food so I can hang out with students
  • be on campus
  • be relational and know the lives of my leaders
  • be a small group leader
  • be connected with my students
  • be involved in our network
  • be willing to say yes
  • be willing to say no
  • be a friend
  • be a mentor
  • be raising up lots of other mentors
  • be a dad to the dadless
  • be wise
  • be a pastor
  • be a forgiver
  • be thinking about the future
  • be reading lots and lots of current books
  • be writing blog posts about what I’m reading
  • be at every youth conference in the country
  • be up on what the “emerging church” says
  • be up on what Luther and Ignatius and Spurgeon and Calvin and….
  • be up on what such and such a church is doing
  • be watching survivor, american idol, and the office
  • be aware of the latest and greatest on mtv
  • be a surfer
  • be mad skilled at all things xbox and such
  • be a movie goer
  • be texting my students
  • be e-mailing
  • be sending snail mail encouragement notes
  • be thinking of others
  • be a listener of podcast teaching
  • be a member of a pastor team
  • be a counselor for pastoral drop in needs in the office
  • be caring for creation
  • be playing some band on my ipod no one else has ever heard of but makes me cool
  • be a family man
  • be a manager
  • be a leader
  • be a pleaser of God
  • be a pleaser of people
  • be…….

Um… yeah. Obviously some of this is healthy and some not so much. Some comes naturally. Some I suck at quite naturally too. On a good day this list makes me give up and lean on Jesus and just be me and rest in God alone. On a bad day, it beats me up, makes me feel like a loser, and makes me want to quit under the weight of feeling like an utter failure.

Comments

  1. Isn’t it amazing what the hat we wear and even try to wear. Great list, no wonder there is so much stress and burnout among youth workers!

  2. That’s crazy.
    Well, scratch The Office off your list, you’ve already announced you don’t like it, so no worries on that one.
    The group on the iPod should be Sigor Ros, at least that’s what Daniel listens to.

  3. ur list stresses me out! I can so relate.

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