There’s no playbook on how to be a pastor. I mean this in little ways; I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said or thought, “Seminary certainly didn’t prepare me for that!” But I also mean it in big ways, particularly about how to be a leader in this big thing that we call the church. Now, don’t get me wrong: we learn a bit about leadership in seminary, but it is one of those things that it sometimes seems like you get or you don’t, and even the lessons we learn can fade over time.
Here’s
where I’m going with this: I have a single greatest fear as a pastor. I have
plenty of small fears—mostly things that are personal quibbles—but I have one
big fear. It’s this: I’m afraid that I will lose my edge over time. That might
sound like a strange fear, but I think it’s a very real one. Part of what makes
a pastor effective (it seems to me) is that he or she is willing to go places
that you don’t often go in normal life. I don’t just mean talking about Jesus;
I also mean naming some of the realities that we know but that make us
uncomfortable. Part of my job is to talk about (in no particular order): death,
sin and the things that we put before God. I wouldn’t be a very good pastor if
I didn’t do that. I wouldn’t be a very good pastor if I didn’t talk about
things that we need to talk about but do not feel comfortable saying anywhere
else.