Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
—1 Peter 5:3
* * * * *
The day you start serving as a pastor is the day everyone starts watching you. Members of your church will search your face for cues, especially when something awkward happens. They’ll notice where you sit and who you sit with. They’ll comment when you get a haircut or new shoes. If part of your shirt comes untucked during a service, they might discover that before you do. To be a pastor is to be watched.
What are people looking for? That depends on the person and the occasion. What many of them are—and all of them should be—looking for is an example. The impulse to follow a pastor’s example can be unhealthy, as when a pastor exceeds his mandate and abuses his authority by turning his preferences into laws. The impulse to follow a pastor’s example can be gently amusing, as when members of his church, and especially young men who aspire to pastor, start to wear what he wears and talk like he talks. No pastor’s personal preferences should rule others’ lives. And a man’s quirks of dress
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
