To Young Pastors: Preach The Truth, Set The Example, But Don't try to Force Feed The Sheep

Common Sense Commentary: They may strangle, throw up on you or bite you.

My advice, as an 83 & 3/4 year old, 36 year former pastor:

I graduated seminary and started pastoring my first of only two churches in 1957. I was 27. For the next 36 years I made many mistakes, and adjusted my pastoral methods many times ... but not my message. Over those years I learned many new and better methods, but never changed my faith in the fundamentals of God's word. In my final few years as a pastor, my methods of dealing with people had settled on these seven things; which I recommend to you ...

1. Seek always to preach and teach God's truth, as you understood it, to everyone, every service: counsel it to seekers and witness it to the lost.

2. Set the example for the flock ... Work hard, give above the tithe, serve as faithfully as you possibly can, and don't spend too much time on hobbies, conventions, fellowship meetings or vacations.

3. Resist the temptation to enforce your own level of commitment and sacrifice on your wife or other members of the congregation. You are the pastor. Your level of service should always be greater than that of laymen or theirs will diminish rather than increase. Just be thankful they are even there ... and pray for them.

4. Appreciate each member for whatever small or great, positive part they give of themselves to the Lord, his church, and to you, as pastor. They have jobs to work, bills to pay, survival to seek, children to raise, difficulties you know nothing about and responsibilities they have not shared with you.

5. Treat the lowliest person with equal respect. Love all of the flock as equally as possible. Love them with compassionate love, appreciative love or tough love ... whichever is needed by each.

6. Single out no one publicly except in extreme and rare cases of accomplishment or detriment.

7. Maintain a steady, consistent, balanced and dependable course of action and in dealing with each individual person. You are the Pastor, but your calling is not one whit above or better than their calling if they are as faithful with theirs as you are yours. There are no big shots in God's service ...
including you and me.

That is my bottom line, in dealing with people, after 36 years as a pastor. I didn't always succeed but failures and mistakes and the hand of God brought me back on course. If you feel that, as a pastor, your calling to greater than other Christian callings, the hand of God awaits you. Nobody can do more than fulfill their own calling. Psm.115:1,  Rayburn Blair