What About Your Pastor?

I still haven't decided if I'd like my boys to grow up and be pastors or not. There are still enough difficult days for me that I don't know if that'd be a good dream for me to have for them or not. But then there are "the moments." You know, those times when all the work, effort, tears, bruises and hurts count for something. When the seeds you planted bear fruit. When the story finds a happy ending.

The last two days have had a couple of those moments. Yesterday I had one of our church families invite the staff (Claude, Davey, myself and our wives/fiance's) to their house for dinner. They're providing childcare for my five kids, and they're doing it just to show appreciation to their pastors/ministry leaders. Then today Claude and I sit down with someone who totally blessed us both with a nice little check, again, telling us how much they appreciated us and what we do. They also happened to mention that it's October which is Pastor Appreciation Month. (I don't know if it's a coordinated effort or not, but that's one act of kindness for each day of October so far....and there's 29 days left this month)

Now that I've been doing this pastor thing for a little while, I don't care what you personally think of your pastor - I just know he needs to see that he's appreciated. I felt so honored these past two days. Now, I have people tell me all the time how much they appreciate myself, our staff or Discovery. Still there's something special about making the extra effort to communicate that. So if you're at a church and it has a pastor, take him to lunch, offer to watch his kids so he can have a date-night with his wife, do his yard work, send him on vacation somewhere or maybe even buy him a car. Somehow though, make the extra effort to let him know how much you appreciate what he does.

We don't do it for the accolades, recognition or six-figure income - we do it because we care, we're called and that's all there is to it. So how are you going to honor your pastor?