I am thankful for pastors.

You see great care-taking pastors...

You see great discipling pastors...

You see great administrative pastors...

You see great evangelist pastors...

You see great preaching pastors...

You see great missions pastors...

You see great worship pastors...

You see great counseling pastors...

You see great praying pastors...

Other things, of course...

You see some pastors who are great at two or three, maybe five of these things; you rarely see a pastor good at it all. However, we expect every pastor to be great at everything (yet we most often only pick them because of education level and / or by their preaching).

It’s almost like several small churches should band together, have a multiplicity of humble pastors who each serve in their primary gifting, and give greater instruction, service, undershepherding, etc., and have less times of transitional turmoil, and greater times of fully equipping the Body for the work of the ministry.

Forget almost. It’s just biblical and wise. I wonder if we will ever be humble and courageous enough to do things God’s way?

For the record, I was reading this: “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.” (1 Timothy 5:17 ESV)

See it? By pointing out “especially” they clearly indicate there is a field of elders with varying gifts working together. Good stuff.

I am thankful for the excellent core leaders / elders I serve with in our local church, for sure!