Day 45: Toughest Critic...Pastor

One of the difficult things about being a pastor is the public speaking aspect of it. If you are not into speaking publically…..you will find ministry to be a tough fit. The toughest critic in the ministry is you. Some pastors will say Mondays are the best day to take off, some would say Fridays. The reason some say Mondays are not good is that it is natural for a pastor to sit back and critique how the Sunday service went. This process usually begins Sunday afternoon and carries on through the next day. This can be a very uplifiting or depressing time for a pastor. A person should take no offense when their pastor will not answer the phone, emails, etc. on his/her day off. The Pastor is in one aspect running a business which is the hard truth about churches (which means thinking about funds, staff, etc.)….even bigger is the fact that we wonder how the message was received. What did that person think about it, what did that person think about it? Was everything clicking……what is God doing!?

Today after church I began to assess the morning service. The worship was awesome, the kids ministry was great and then there was the message. One of the most humbling thing a public speaker can do is listen to themselves on a recording and I just know when I listen to it….I left people wondering with the question “what?” Perhaps I am looking into things to far but I think it is healthy to strive for excellence in all areas of the church. This is probably not something you will hear from every pastor but occasionally there are Sundays in the life a church where you can point out the weak spot in a service. Today I feel my speaking was that link.

I praise God that despite who we are he still works through all things. I did get an email this afternoon from someone who really enjoyed the message. This served to prove a point to me. Even though as a pastor we can be our toughest critics…God still take the messages we give and uses them to touch the lives of people. I take Monday's off and it will be a time to renew and reflect.....onto a new day!