I Had No Idea

This coming Sunday the Christian church will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a high point on the church calendar, but the date also holds a special place on my heart for another reason. Two years ago my local church called me to be their lead pastor. On Easter Sunday I stepped into the pulpit to preach my first sermon.

As I look back over the last two years, God has taught me many lessons and proved his grace sufficient in countless ways. But one lesson in particular I have a burden to share because it is fresh on my heart, and I believe it would be helpful for people to consider as they go to church this Easter. I certainly wish I had understood it better before now.

Simply put, I had no idea what lead pastors face on a consistent basis. Every Christian engages in spiritual warfare when serving Christ. What I did not expect was the sheer volume of heavy issues a pastor faces in a given week. These burdens are often too important to neglect, too overwhelming to describe, and too personal to share. And it is not that pastors need a pity party. What they need are heavy doses of grace. They need to be pointed to Jesus Christ, even as their people need it.

And I guess I could say, “I should have known.” I served as an assistant pastor for 8 years under two different pastors. This experience gave me the opportunity to see first-hand the challenges they faced and how they handled those burdens. It was invaluable to learn under other undershepherds by observation. But two years ago, when I stepped into the pulpit on that Easter Sunday, I started to learn by experience. And the experience made me realize how clueless I was.

It took me about three months into the process before I went to a pastor’s group on Facebook in July of 2022 and posted to tell them all about my newfound revelation. It made me express my gratitude to them for their faithful service, so far beyond the few months I had labored. I encouraged them to keep going for God’s glory. One of them commented, “Come see us at your 2 yr. Anniversary! :D”

Well here I am at the two year anniversary, and I just went back to that post to those men to underline it, bold it, and italicize it. Now when I go to visit a church, and I see the pastor step into the pulpit, I’m not thinking about how effective he is in his delivery or the size of his congregation. I’m not thinking about how impressive the ministry is or how nice the facilities may be. I’m thinking, “I wonder what he’s facing.” Because, truth be told, I honestly have no idea. And so I say a prayer for my fellow undershepherds and beg God to give them grace. This Easter Sunday, when your pastor steps into the pulpit, I hope you will say a prayer for him too. Because you may honestly have no idea what he is facing.

~CP