This really helped me today. I take my self too seriously, too often. I struggle with worrying about whether I've made people happy and whether I've met their expectations. This brought me back to earth and up to heaven at the same time. So for today... I'm more encouraged to long for hearing Jesus say "Well done, good and faithful servant" at the end of my life than I am hearing someone from my church family say "Well done, your sermon was good today...not to mention not too long" at the end of a service.
The Perfect Preacher
After hundreds of years, a model preacher has been found to suit everyone. He preaches exactly 20 minutes and then sits down. He condemns sin, but never hurts anyone's feelings.
He works from 8 am to 10 pm in every type of work from preaching to custodial service. He makes $400 a week, wears good clothes, buys good books regularly, has a nice family, drives a good car and gives $60 a week to the church. He also stands ready to contribute to every good cause that comes along.
He is 26 years old and has been preaching for 30 years. He is short and tall, thin and heavy set, handsome. He has one brown eye and a blue one; hair parted down the middle, left side dark and straight and right side brown and wavy
He has a burning desire to work with teenagers and spends all his time with the older folks.
He smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his work.
He makes 15 calls a day on church members, spends all his time evangelizing the unchurched and is never out of his office.
(How To Survive in the Ministry, Leslie Flynn, p. 16)
2 comments:
Hey Josh,
Eye opening isn't it?
Did someone really say "Well done, your sermon was good today...not to mention not too long" to you????
Well... I think you're doing well :) and I'm really proud of you! Imagine how much more so God appreciates your faithfulness!!!
Keep doing your best to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul and love your neighbor as yourself and take care of your wonderful wife and child!
Love you!
No, no one has ever said that to my face, but it's not too uncommon for pastors to hear that people think they preach too long. Of course many of us do!!! I think I preached for almost 50 minutes the other day. But thankfully my church family is very gracious to me. My point is that I sometimes worry about what people do say or what I think they might say or feel. Crazy, but I do it anyway.
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