For ten years of my life I was a preaching pastor at a church I helped plant with my good buddy Rick Long (Grace Church of Arvada.) This weekend I’ve been preaching all three services at my old stomping grounds and it’s got me reminiscing. With this in mind here are 10 things I miss about being a pastor:
1. Working the foyer before and after the services (I worked that foyer like a politician running for office!)
2. The thrill and nervousness of having to come up with fresh sermons every week.
3. Awkward side hugs (actually I don’t miss those!)
4. Delegating the tough counseling situations to the elder who was giving me the hardest time 😉
5. My mom yelling answers to my rhetorical questions right in the middle of my sermons.
6. Seeing people put their faith in Jesus every week during the services.
7. Working on staff with life-long friends.
8. The people: watching them go from new convert to disciple to disciple multiplier over the course of time.
9. Being a pastor that FULLY supports the youth ministry.
10. Sunday afternoon naps (it was my ritual after preaching 3 services!)
Would I ever go back to being a preaching pastor? No. To be honest I was way better at the preaching part than the pastoring part. But, preaching at Grace Church this weekend brought back some good memories of helping to lay the foundation for what is a great church today. I’m thrilled that Rick is doing such a great job as preaching pastor at Grace. He’s good at both parts (preaching and pastoring.)
As for me? I’ll stick to energizing a generation to evangelizing their world through Dare 2 Share. Unfortunately that still comes with awkward side hugs!
Viva LA Cause!
