September 12, 2025 • 25 mins
Being a pastor is rewarding—but it’s also really hard.
In this podcast, I share 15 hard truths about pastoring that most people don’t talk about. From the hurt that comes from people leaving your church. Fighting depression, and doubt about your calling as a pastor.
💬 What’s one hard truth you’ve learned in ministry? Share it in the comments—I’d love to hear your story.
📌 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell so you don’t miss future videos on preaching, leadership, and growing your church.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now let's be honest.
Okay, I've been a pastor formany years and I'm going to tell
you this it's very difficult.
I'm not trying to be negativeor scare you, but I want to be
(00:20):
honest with you.
If you're in ministry, maybeyou're new to ministry, maybe
you've been pastoring for a longtime this is very difficult to
do and I think we need to saythat we need to prepare
ministers for what's to come thewar that's coming.
(00:42):
It's very important that yousee this not just a career call.
This is a calling.
This is something I had tolearn the hard way, because it
is all fun and joy and thingsare great and church can be
amazing, but it comes with somehard truths that I want to share
(01:06):
with you today.
Fifteen of those.
I want to just open my heartand let you see what's happened
to me, and my hope would be thatyou can take these and it will
encourage you that you can applywhatever you learn today to
(01:27):
what you're going through.
Hey, it's great to have youback to the Speak on Purpose
podcast.
I am your host, brian Cox, andour mission here is to help
pastors deliver better sermonsand lead great churches.
(01:51):
If you're new to our community.
Please go tospeakonpurposepodcastcom website
and you can download a freeSpeak on purpose guide today.
Just join our email list.
Now let's jump into our nextepisode.
15 things I wished I knew beforeI became a pastor.
(02:14):
Here we go.
Number one ministry is thehardest job you'll ever have.
No joke, for me, ministry wasvery difficult.
Take the hardest thing you'veever faced times 10, and for me,
that's ministry.
It's not something thatdiscourages me, it's just
(02:38):
something I didn't know when Istarted.
I was 33 when I jumped intoministry.
I had no idea.
It was all fun, we had a greattime, but as things got tough, I
learned something about myself.
I learned that God had calledme to ministry, not that this
(03:01):
was a career or a job anymore.
I had to realize that formyself.
Maybe you too are in that samesituation, where things are not
as good as they were.
You need to really take thetime with God and figure out is
this a calling or is this a job?
(03:21):
Number two overwork getscelebrated while it quietly
crushes your family.
This hit me pretty hard becauseit reminded me of a time that
this was so true.
I remember coming home and Iwas preaching that weekend and
(03:45):
that's all you think about.
You don't even see anyone elsein the room because you're
constantly thinking about whatyou're going to say.
I had to work at that.
I had to learn to balance thatwith my family, because it's
going to come down to a decisionyou have to make Do I sacrifice
(04:08):
the church or do I sacrifice myfamily?
You won't be the only one thatsuffers.
Your family will also suffer.
You need to remember that.
I would say this Get balancenow.
Find a way to have balance.
I would say this get balancenow.
Find a way to have balance.
Have a day off.
Spend some time with the family.
(04:31):
It's so important.
Number three people actdifferently around you.
I can't tell you how many timesthis has happened to me
Everywhere I go.
I'm at my kid's ball game.
Just the other day I'm playinggolf and we didn't have enough
(04:52):
players so they put us withsomebody.
We always hate that because wedon't know them.
We have to carry conversationsand we're talking about halfway
through the round.
This man looked at me and hesaid hey, that dreaded question.
Most pastors dread.
Okay, what do you do for aliving?
And you know you hesitate for amoment because you're not sure
(05:17):
how they're going to take thisand you say, well, I'm a pastor.
You could feel it in the air.
Everything changed.
They begin to talk differently,they apologize for the way
they've been talking and all thelanguage they've been using and
it's like all of a suddenyou're not a person, you're just
(05:38):
a job title, and that'sdifficult, but I've learned just
to accept it and smile and bewho God called me to be.
And that leads to number four.
You're expected to be on 24-7.
(05:58):
Midnight calls late night text.
I can remember the first timethis happened Early in ministry.
A friend of mine's mom hadpassed away and he had asked me
to come pray with him and Ididn't realize we were going
into the room where she passedaway and gather around her and
(06:22):
pray.
It was very awkward, but that'swhat I've learned in ministry.
Sometimes we have to beavailable, but we have to learn
to set boundaries.
We have to learn to know whento say no, and that can be
(06:43):
difficult.
One thing that's really helpedme over the years is that we set
up a care team at our churchand we would develop leaders
that had that gift of care andthey would help take care of
those who needed prayer when wecouldn't be there.
So that helped set boundaries,that helped create some balance,
(07:07):
I guess.
And that leads to number fivewhen people leave the church,
man, it hurts.
I poured into this family, latenight calls, hospital visits.
(07:29):
I helped them move into theirnew home and I felt like we were
in this for the long haul.
They helped me start the church.
We were good friends.
And then one Sunday they'rejust gone.
I had no idea, no conversation,just gone.
(07:53):
And here's the thing Deep down Ithought it wasn't me, but
people leave for all kinds ofreasons.
You know who knows who upsetthem, who knows what conflict is
going on.
And it may not be me, but itstill feels the same.
(08:15):
It still feels like rejection.
It's still hard, especiallywhen they don't tell you they're
leaving and you just hear itone day we don't know where they
are.
They just decided to leave andnobody wanted to tell me on the
staff because they didn't wantto hurt me.
(08:36):
But it hurt, it's personal andevery time it happens it still
hurts.
I don't guess I'll ever getgood at that.
Which leads to number six.
Expect to be betrayed from thepeople you least thought would
hurt you.
I always thought my greatestcriticism would come from those
(09:00):
outside the church Otherchurches not liking the music we
sing or not liking the way Ipreach, or the community, or
somebody that just hated church.
You know I could deal with that.
The biggest hurt I guess I evergot was not from strangers, it
(09:22):
was from those that I had prayedwith, those I had ate dinner
with, those I had served with.
These were my friends and thento find out they're saying
things about you, they'recriticizing you and they're not
(09:42):
telling you to your face.
I can take it.
If you need to give meconstructive criticism, I'm all
about that.
But this was gossip.
This was tearing down man.
I still today have to praythrough that.
It will lead you, if you're notcareful, down a road of
(10:03):
bitterness and that's not good.
Number seven people measuresuccess by the size of the crowd
.
I wish it wasn't true, but itis People that are with you and
(10:28):
celebrate you and celebrate thechurch when the crowd is growing
, when it's becoming bigger, andit's exciting.
I planted a church in 1997 withmy family and it grew into
thousands.
But as the years went by itdeclined and you start getting
(10:52):
questioned.
It can be very discouraging,but I still believe numbers
matter because numbers arepeople, and I think we need to
pay attention to numbers.
Give God the credit when thechurch grows, because it's not
you, it's God, it's His Spirit.
(11:14):
He's the one doing the changingand the saving.
We need to celebrate him.
Big or small, every lifematters.
Number eight you'll battlebitterness and even depression.
I've always wondered how peoplebecame depressed and then it
(11:41):
happened to me.
Somehow, the life of the church, the difficulties of the church
, began to weigh me down in away I've never experienced
before.
All the trauma of peopleleaving, the trauma of people
talking about you, the pain yourfamily's going through, about
(12:07):
you, the pain your family'sgoing through, and it really put
me in a place I'd never beenbefore, a dark, dark place.
And I won't share all of thatin this video, but I'll say this
with the help of really goodfriends and family, god brought
me through that.
I learned how to depend on Godmore than ever.
I dove into his word and prayerevery day because I really
(12:33):
wanted to know he was real andit was true.
Did I go through all of thisfor nothing?
And God showed me no, don'tlisten to the lie, listen to the
truth.
And I could go on and I couldpreach about this all day long,
but I just want you to know it'sreal and you need to stick
close to God.
(12:53):
You need to put Him in yourlife daily.
Okay, we'll move on to numbernine.
Your family will be profoundlyaffected.
This one was hard becauseministry didn't just affect me.
It affected my entire family mywife, my two girls, my brother,
(13:19):
everybody involved.
What you're going through, thatdepression we talked about the
church, people hurt.
All that stuff's real and yourfamily lives it with you and I
never saw it like that until thelast few years.
(13:41):
How difficult it had been onthem growing up in church, and
I'm glad they did.
I'm glad they're serving inchurch.
I'm glad they believe in God.
I'm happy about those things.
But I wished I'd have paidattention a little more, gave a
little more care andunderstanding to my family, gave
a little more care andunderstanding to my family.
(14:03):
What I am proud of is that whatwe went through brought us
together.
It didn't separate us.
It made us even man.
It made us even a better family.
We're so tight now and it'sbeen so good for us.
Tight now and it's been so goodfor us.
(14:31):
Number 10, sometimes you'llnever feel like you're good
enough.
Most of the time I've foundwhen I get that way, when I get
discouraged about my ministry,my church, my speaking, I
usually fall into the comparisontrap where I'm comparing myself
, comparing my church to otherchurches, and sometimes that can
(14:54):
be good to get a perspective.
But what we tend to do, we tendto take that as a negative
thing.
We tend to get competitive, wetend to let it affect us in a
way.
We can't function properly, weget irritated, we get angry, we
get ill.
Why are we this way?
(15:15):
What's wrong with me?
I'm not good enough.
You know, I went to aconference.
Well, I've been to manyconferences.
I heard John Maxwell speak I'msure you've heard of him and it
was amazing, incrediblecommunicator.
And I remember thinking at theend man, I wish I could speak
(15:41):
like that.
And that's good, that's a goodgoal.
But what tends to happen?
We tend to compare ourselves andwe get in that trap of trying
to be someone we're not.
It's like running a race and asyou're running you keep looking
beside you to the person in thenext lane, and if you keep
doing that, you're going to slowdown.
Eventually you're going tostumble.
(16:01):
We need to stay in our lane.
We need to stay where God hasput us focused.
He's called you to do aspecific ministry not to be like
anyone else, because you aredesigned and you were made to be
you and be who God called youto be.
(16:22):
So step into that.
Believe that.
Don't compare so much.
Yes, we can improve, but don'tcompare so much.
You try to be somebody you'renot.
Be who God designed you to be.
Number 11, money will be tight.
(16:43):
Money will be tight.
I can't tell you how many timesI've experienced that in my
life, sitting down at thekitchen table and talking with
my wife and we're like how arewe going to make it?
Do I need to get another job?
(17:03):
Do I need to get another job?
Do I need to get a part-timejob?
And then I would get angry andirritated with God and I would
say I'm giving you my 10% andwhere are you when I need you?
And we can go down that road,and I went down that road many
(17:32):
times and God would alwaysremind me of the blessings I
have.
And I look back on it now andGod has taken care of us.
He really has, and he's notonly changed us financially over
the years.
He's changed our perspective ofwhat money is and what it's
meant for, and I won't get intoa big old sermon about it, but I
(17:56):
know it's difficult as aminister, as a pastor,
especially if you're new inministry, that money can be
challenging.
So pray through that, be wise,get counsel, live on a budget.
That's my advice.
Number 12, spiritual warfare isreal.
(18:17):
The enemy will attack you inways you could never imagine and
usually you as a minister orpastor, you or your family, will
face the attacks first.
And that seemed to happen whenGod was up to something, when
(18:43):
something big was about tohappen, you could see warfare
ramp up towards you and yourfamily and maybe your staff.
So I encourage you to prayconsistently, keep God in front,
keep the Word of God and Histruth in front of you, say it,
(19:05):
live it, breathe it every day,so you are prepared for what
warfare is coming, because it iscoming.
Number 13, leaving a church canbe painful, and I know this
because I've lived it.
I was with a church that Ihelped plant for almost 28 years
(19:31):
and when it came time to leaveit was the most difficult thing.
It broke my heart, becauseyou're not just leaving a church
building.
You're leaving friends, you'releaving family.
You're leaving a congregationyou love and you helped build.
(19:51):
You shared some of life'sgreatest moments with them
Salvation, baptism, so manygreat fellowships that we had
together with so many greatpeople, and it was very
difficult to leave for me and myfamily.
It doesn't mean you have failed.
(20:12):
When you move on God.
Sometimes he asks us to stayand sometimes he asks us to move
on to something new.
And that's what it's like whenyou follow him, because it's a
calling.
We never really settle.
When you're called to serve,when you're called to speak,
(20:32):
called to lead, called to preach, you never really settle in
because God's always moving,he's always doing something new.
It took me a little bit tofigure that out, because I was
so settled that God had to shakeme and move me in the direction
he had for me.
(20:52):
So pray that God will show youyour next step.
Number 14, you'll think oftenabout quitting ministry.
I can remember Mondays beingthe hardest day of the week for
me.
I would preach on Sunday andthen be so tired on Monday, and
(21:18):
then I would get a comment onFacebook and it wasn't a good
comment.
Someone didn't like something Isaid, something the church did
they didn't like, and that wouldstick with me the rest of the
week.
I had to push through that allthe time and it took me many
(21:40):
years and still to this day, Ihave to really pray and work
through that to understand thatI'm not there to be a people
pleaser, that I'm there to givethe gospel of Jesus and I'm not
speaking to be praised.
God called me.
(22:01):
Regardless of what people thinkof you, god has called you to
ministry.
I may not, you may not be thebest communicator compared to
those on TV or those online, butthat doesn't matter, because
you are called to communicate tothose in front of you, those in
(22:25):
your life.
You have been called to reachand to love and you are more
than capable because God putthat in your heart.
That calling you have has gotto be grounded, and when you
know that those comments aren'tnear as difficult because you
know your purpose and whatyou're meant to do.
(22:49):
So I want to end with thisnumber 15.
It will be worth it in the endPeople coming back together,
families reunited, marriages putback together, someone lost
(23:09):
that had been away from God camehome.
My favorite Sunday is when wehave Baptism Sunday.
Seeing that life change rightin front of you is worth every
comment, every negative thingthat's ever happened.
It's worth it when you see Godchanging people and you know
(23:33):
it's not just today, it'sgenerations.
It's kids I've seen grow up inour church and now they're
leading people to Christ,generation after generation.
Once you step into your calling,god takes care of the rest.
Since my time in ministry I'vetried to change my attitude and
(23:54):
understand that when things gotdifficult, god taught me to be
humble.
He taught me to depend on Himand to understand that he works
all things out for my good andhe knows what I need and he
knows what needs to happen.
He's in control of the future.
(24:15):
Our job is to keep on going,speaking the truth and loving
those, because people needChrist more than anything in
today's world.
So I challenge you don't giveup in today's world.
So I challenge you, don't giveup.
(24:35):
You're going to run into one ofthese 15 things in your life,
but don't give up.
Keep pushing through.
God has a plan and God hascalled you to that plan.
Now let's be honest.
Okay, I've been a pastor formany years and I'm going to tell
you this it's very difficult.
I'm not trying to be negativeor scare you, but I want to be
(00:20):
honest with you.
If you're in ministry, maybeyou're new to ministry, maybe
you've been pastoring for a longtime this is very difficult to
do and I think we need to saythat we need to prepare
ministers for what's to come thewar that's coming.
(00:42):
It's very important that yousee this not just a career call.
This is a calling.
This is something I had tolearn the hard way, because it
is all fun and joy and thingsare great and church can be
amazing, but it comes with somehard truths that I want to share
(01:06):
with you today.
Fifteen of those.
I want to just open my heartand let you see what's happened
to me, and my hope would be thatyou can take these and it will
encourage you that you can applywhatever you learn today to
(01:27):
what you're going through.
Hey, it's great to have youback to the Speak on Purpose
podcast.
I am your host, brian Cox, andour mission here is to help
pastors deliver better sermonsand lead great churches.
(01:51):
If you're new to our community.
Please go tospeakonpurposepodcastcom website
and you can download a freeSpeak on purpose guide today.
Just join our email list.
Now let's jump into our nextepisode.
15 things I wished I knew beforeI became a pastor.
(02:14):
Here we go.
Number one ministry is thehardest job you'll ever have.
No joke, for me, ministry wasvery difficult.
Take the hardest thing you'veever faced times 10, and for me,
that's ministry.
It's not something thatdiscourages me, it's just
(02:38):
something I didn't know when Istarted.
I was 33 when I jumped intoministry.
I had no idea.
It was all fun, we had a greattime, but as things got tough, I
learned something about myself.
I learned that God had calledme to ministry, not that this
(03:01):
was a career or a job anymore.
I had to realize that formyself.
Maybe you too are in that samesituation, where things are not
as good as they were.
You need to really take thetime with God and figure out is
this a calling or is this a job?
(03:21):
Number two overwork getscelebrated while it quietly
crushes your family.
This hit me pretty hard becauseit reminded me of a time that
this was so true.
I remember coming home and Iwas preaching that weekend and
(03:45):
that's all you think about.
You don't even see anyone elsein the room because you're
constantly thinking about whatyou're going to say.
I had to work at that.
I had to learn to balance thatwith my family, because it's
going to come down to a decisionyou have to make Do I sacrifice
(04:08):
the church or do I sacrifice myfamily?
You won't be the only one thatsuffers.
Your family will also suffer.
You need to remember that.
I would say this Get balancenow.
Find a way to have balance.
I would say this get balancenow.
Find a way to have balance.
Have a day off.
Spend some time with the family.
(04:31):
It's so important.
Number three people actdifferently around you.
I can't tell you how many timesthis has happened to me
Everywhere I go.
I'm at my kid's ball game.
Just the other day I'm playinggolf and we didn't have enough
(04:52):
players so they put us withsomebody.
We always hate that because wedon't know them.
We have to carry conversationsand we're talking about halfway
through the round.
This man looked at me and hesaid hey, that dreaded question.
Most pastors dread.
Okay, what do you do for aliving?
And you know you hesitate for amoment because you're not sure
(05:17):
how they're going to take thisand you say, well, I'm a pastor.
You could feel it in the air.
Everything changed.
They begin to talk differently,they apologize for the way
they've been talking and all thelanguage they've been using and
it's like all of a suddenyou're not a person, you're just
(05:38):
a job title, and that'sdifficult, but I've learned just
to accept it and smile and bewho God called me to be.
And that leads to number four.
You're expected to be on 24-7.
(05:58):
Midnight calls late night text.
I can remember the first timethis happened Early in ministry.
A friend of mine's mom hadpassed away and he had asked me
to come pray with him and Ididn't realize we were going
into the room where she passedaway and gather around her and
(06:22):
pray.
It was very awkward, but that'swhat I've learned in ministry.
Sometimes we have to beavailable, but we have to learn
to set boundaries.
We have to learn to know whento say no, and that can be
(06:43):
difficult.
One thing that's really helpedme over the years is that we set
up a care team at our churchand we would develop leaders
that had that gift of care andthey would help take care of
those who needed prayer when wecouldn't be there.
So that helped set boundaries,that helped create some balance,
(07:07):
I guess.
And that leads to number fivewhen people leave the church,
man, it hurts.
I poured into this family, latenight calls, hospital visits.
(07:29):
I helped them move into theirnew home and I felt like we were
in this for the long haul.
They helped me start the church.
We were good friends.
And then one Sunday they'rejust gone.
I had no idea, no conversation,just gone.
(07:53):
And here's the thing Deep down Ithought it wasn't me, but
people leave for all kinds ofreasons.
You know who knows who upsetthem, who knows what conflict is
going on.
And it may not be me, but itstill feels the same.
(08:15):
It still feels like rejection.
It's still hard, especiallywhen they don't tell you they're
leaving and you just hear itone day we don't know where they
are.
They just decided to leave andnobody wanted to tell me on the
staff because they didn't wantto hurt me.
(08:36):
But it hurt, it's personal andevery time it happens it still
hurts.
I don't guess I'll ever getgood at that.
Which leads to number six.
Expect to be betrayed from thepeople you least thought would
hurt you.
I always thought my greatestcriticism would come from those
(09:00):
outside the church Otherchurches not liking the music we
sing or not liking the way Ipreach, or the community, or
somebody that just hated church.
You know I could deal with that.
The biggest hurt I guess I evergot was not from strangers, it
(09:22):
was from those that I had prayedwith, those I had ate dinner
with, those I had served with.
These were my friends and thento find out they're saying
things about you, they'recriticizing you and they're not
(09:42):
telling you to your face.
I can take it.
If you need to give meconstructive criticism, I'm all
about that.
But this was gossip.
This was tearing down man.
I still today have to praythrough that.
It will lead you, if you're notcareful, down a road of
(10:03):
bitterness and that's not good.
Number seven people measuresuccess by the size of the crowd
.
I wish it wasn't true, but itis People that are with you and
(10:28):
celebrate you and celebrate thechurch when the crowd is growing
, when it's becoming bigger, andit's exciting.
I planted a church in 1997 withmy family and it grew into
thousands.
But as the years went by itdeclined and you start getting
(10:52):
questioned.
It can be very discouraging,but I still believe numbers
matter because numbers arepeople, and I think we need to
pay attention to numbers.
Give God the credit when thechurch grows, because it's not
you, it's God, it's His Spirit.
(11:14):
He's the one doing the changingand the saving.
We need to celebrate him.
Big or small, every lifematters.
Number eight you'll battlebitterness and even depression.
I've always wondered how peoplebecame depressed and then it
(11:41):
happened to me.
Somehow, the life of the church, the difficulties of the church
, began to weigh me down in away I've never experienced
before.
All the trauma of peopleleaving, the trauma of people
talking about you, the pain yourfamily's going through, about
(12:07):
you, the pain your family'sgoing through, and it really put
me in a place I'd never beenbefore, a dark, dark place.
And I won't share all of thatin this video, but I'll say this
with the help of really goodfriends and family, god brought
me through that.
I learned how to depend on Godmore than ever.
I dove into his word and prayerevery day because I really
(12:33):
wanted to know he was real andit was true.
Did I go through all of thisfor nothing?
And God showed me no, don'tlisten to the lie, listen to the
truth.
And I could go on and I couldpreach about this all day long,
but I just want you to know it'sreal and you need to stick
close to God.
(12:53):
You need to put Him in yourlife daily.
Okay, we'll move on to numbernine.
Your family will be profoundlyaffected.
This one was hard becauseministry didn't just affect me.
It affected my entire family mywife, my two girls, my brother,
(13:19):
everybody involved.
What you're going through, thatdepression we talked about the
church, people hurt.
All that stuff's real and yourfamily lives it with you and I
never saw it like that until thelast few years.
(13:41):
How difficult it had been onthem growing up in church, and
I'm glad they did.
I'm glad they're serving inchurch.
I'm glad they believe in God.
I'm happy about those things.
But I wished I'd have paidattention a little more, gave a
little more care andunderstanding to my family, gave
a little more care andunderstanding to my family.
(14:03):
What I am proud of is that whatwe went through brought us
together.
It didn't separate us.
It made us even man.
It made us even a better family.
We're so tight now and it'sbeen so good for us.
Tight now and it's been so goodfor us.
(14:31):
Number 10, sometimes you'llnever feel like you're good
enough.
Most of the time I've foundwhen I get that way, when I get
discouraged about my ministry,my church, my speaking, I
usually fall into the comparisontrap where I'm comparing myself
, comparing my church to otherchurches, and sometimes that can
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be good to get a perspective.
But what we tend to do, we tendto take that as a negative
thing.
We tend to get competitive, wetend to let it affect us in a
way.
We can't function properly, weget irritated, we get angry, we
get ill.
Why are we this way?
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What's wrong with me?
I'm not good enough.
You know, I went to aconference.
Well, I've been to manyconferences.
I heard John Maxwell speak I'msure you've heard of him and it
was amazing, incrediblecommunicator.
And I remember thinking at theend man, I wish I could speak
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like that.
And that's good, that's a goodgoal.
But what tends to happen?
We tend to compare ourselves andwe get in that trap of trying
to be someone we're not.
It's like running a race and asyou're running you keep looking
beside you to the person in thenext lane, and if you keep
doing that, you're going to slowdown.
Eventually you're going tostumble.
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We need to stay in our lane.
We need to stay where God hasput us focused.
He's called you to do aspecific ministry not to be like
anyone else, because you aredesigned and you were made to be
you and be who God called youto be.
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So step into that.
Believe that.
Don't compare so much.
Yes, we can improve, but don'tcompare so much.
You try to be somebody you'renot.
Be who God designed you to be.
Number 11, money will be tight.
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Money will be tight.
I can't tell you how many timesI've experienced that in my
life, sitting down at thekitchen table and talking with
my wife and we're like how arewe going to make it?
Do I need to get another job?
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Do I need to get another job?
Do I need to get a part-timejob?
And then I would get angry andirritated with God and I would
say I'm giving you my 10% andwhere are you when I need you?
And we can go down that road,and I went down that road many
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times and God would alwaysremind me of the blessings I
have.
And I look back on it now andGod has taken care of us.
He really has, and he's notonly changed us financially over
the years.
He's changed our perspective ofwhat money is and what it's
meant for, and I won't get intoa big old sermon about it, but I
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know it's difficult as aminister, as a pastor,
especially if you're new inministry, that money can be
challenging.
So pray through that, be wise,get counsel, live on a budget.
That's my advice.
Number 12, spiritual warfare isreal.
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The enemy will attack you inways you could never imagine and
usually you as a minister orpastor, you or your family, will
face the attacks first.
And that seemed to happen whenGod was up to something, when
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something big was about tohappen, you could see warfare
ramp up towards you and yourfamily and maybe your staff.
So I encourage you to prayconsistently, keep God in front,
keep the Word of God and Histruth in front of you, say it,
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live it, breathe it every day,so you are prepared for what
warfare is coming, because it iscoming.
Number 13, leaving a church canbe painful, and I know this
because I've lived it.
I was with a church that Ihelped plant for almost 28 years
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and when it came time to leaveit was the most difficult thing.
It broke my heart, becauseyou're not just leaving a church
building.
You're leaving friends, you'releaving family.
You're leaving a congregationyou love and you helped build.
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You shared some of life'sgreatest moments with them
Salvation, baptism, so manygreat fellowships that we had
together with so many greatpeople, and it was very
difficult to leave for me and myfamily.
It doesn't mean you have failed.
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When you move on God.
Sometimes he asks us to stayand sometimes he asks us to move
on to something new.
And that's what it's like whenyou follow him, because it's a
calling.
We never really settle.
When you're called to serve,when you're called to speak,
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called to lead, called to preach, you never really settle in
because God's always moving,he's always doing something new.
It took me a little bit tofigure that out, because I was
so settled that God had to shakeme and move me in the direction
he had for me.
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So pray that God will show youyour next step.
Number 14, you'll think oftenabout quitting ministry.
I can remember Mondays beingthe hardest day of the week for
me.
I would preach on Sunday andthen be so tired on Monday, and
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then I would get a comment onFacebook and it wasn't a good
comment.
Someone didn't like something Isaid, something the church did
they didn't like, and that wouldstick with me the rest of the
week.
I had to push through that allthe time and it took me many
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years and still to this day, Ihave to really pray and work
through that to understand thatI'm not there to be a people
pleaser, that I'm there to givethe gospel of Jesus and I'm not
speaking to be praised.
God called me.
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Regardless of what people thinkof you, god has called you to
ministry.
I may not, you may not be thebest communicator compared to
those on TV or those online, butthat doesn't matter, because
you are called to communicate tothose in front of you, those in
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your life.
You have been called to reachand to love and you are more
than capable because God putthat in your heart.
That calling you have has gotto be grounded, and when you
know that those comments aren'tnear as difficult because you
know your purpose and whatyou're meant to do.
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So I want to end with thisnumber 15.
It will be worth it in the endPeople coming back together,
families reunited, marriages putback together, someone lost
(23:09):
that had been away from God camehome.
My favorite Sunday is when wehave Baptism Sunday.
Seeing that life change rightin front of you is worth every
comment, every negative thingthat's ever happened.
It's worth it when you see Godchanging people and you know
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it's not just today, it'sgenerations.
It's kids I've seen grow up inour church and now they're
leading people to Christ,generation after generation.
Once you step into your calling,god takes care of the rest.
Since my time in ministry I'vetried to change my attitude and
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understand that when things gotdifficult, god taught me to be
humble.
He taught me to depend on Himand to understand that he works
all things out for my good andhe knows what I need and he
knows what needs to happen.
He's in control of the future.
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Our job is to keep on going,speaking the truth and loving
those, because people needChrist more than anything in
today's world.
So I challenge you don't giveup in today's world.
So I challenge you, don't giveup.
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You're going to run into one ofthese 15 things in your life,
but don't give up.
Keep pushing through.
God has a plan and God hascalled you to that plan.
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