Pastor or Leader or Both?
I hope I don’t get myself in to much trouble here but I wanted to ask you a question? If you are a Pastor, does that automatically make you a good leader?
I have met and worked for some incredible leaders and Pastors but I do not know why our culture automatically assumes that all Pastors are leaders. I think it is a major insult to Pastors. Seriously, please let me explain.
I am always amazed at how many Pastors I talk to that tell me what style of music they are going to have, what their website is going to look like, how many children programs they are starting, when the parking lot is getting resurfaced, how many volunteer meetings they are having, what’s being served at the BBQ this coming weekend, and on and on and on and oh BTW, here’s what the message is about this weekend. I wonder if any Pastors out there are reading this right now and feel like that?
It seems to me that once you find the right leader in each ministry, paid or volunteer, you should be out of the day to day and support your leader. Isn’t that what you are asking them to do for you? Support you.
Don’t get me wrong I think that communication and battles should be fought but when a Pastor starts telling me “we’re going to have a 3 piece band with a percussion dude that’s hitting all the downbeats, and an acoustic guitarist will be right here, and I don’t want a keyboardist but instead a DJ, etc. etc.” The first thing that comes to my mind is “So you did a poor job hiring a worship leader, huh?”
Pastors, Don’t get me wrong, I will never know your burden, and I deeply respect each and everyone of you, but that’s why I am writing this. I hope and pray that you hire leaders on your teams that you have full faith in and that you know there is some common thread between all of you. So, when we get a chance to have a cup of coffee or hang out and talk about church and our faith, you can talk to me about something I need more of, the Bible. Not about how to mic a Tom-Tom, I’m a worship leader and I should already know that.
thoughts?
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2 comments:
Chad...good post. Yes, leading is about delegating and empowering others to do what they do best, so that you can do what you do best...lead and be the visionary. Here's a similar post I wrote with more of a business bent: Hourly Rate
All the best...Ron McNutt
Dirty delegation from the pastorate and personnel committee is a major component of why I left my only vocational position as a youth director.
Not that I was free of fault. I did not adequately work within the culture (small town) that I was deployed to. In fact, I think I often thumbed my nose at the culture and those that held it dear.
God worked through me and in spite of me.
All of this is to say that I agree, pastors are pastors, leaders are leaders, and the two rarely inhabit the same body.
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