This series began in front of a wall at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, where a display titled “Six Jobs of the President” listed chief executive, commander in chief, head of foreign policy, political party leader, head of state, and legislative planner. One person. One office. Six very different responsibilities.
Over the past seven articles, we’ve looked at six jobs of a pastor: shepherd, preacher, leader, equipper, guardian, and example. Each is biblical, necessary, and demanding. If you’re a pastor, you may be feeling the weight of that list and asking the obvious question: how can one person possibly do all of that?
The honest answer is that he can’t, at least not alone. No president has ever carried his six jobs by himself. He has a Cabinet, advisors, and a staff who carry responsibilities he could never carry on his own. The pastorate is no different, and for a far better reason than efficiency. God designed it that way. It is one calling with many responsibilities, and it was never meant to be carried by one man.
Even Moses Needed Help
Scripture shows us this early. In Exodus 17, Israel is fighting Amalek, and as long as Moses holds up his hands, Israel prevails. But “Moses’ hands became heavy,” so Aaron and Hur placed a stone under him and “supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun” (Exodus 17:12). Even Moses needed help.
In the very next chapter, Jethro visits and finds Moses sitting as judge over the people “from morning until evening.” Moses wasn’t being careless. He was faithfully meeting real needs. But Jethro saw what Moses couldn’t: “The thing that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself” (Exodus 18:17–18).
Notice two things. First, the cost wasn’t only Moses’s. The people stood in line all day, and they wore out too. A pastor who tries to do everything doesn’t just exhaust himself. He can leave a church waiting on the one person who is supposed to help them. Second, Jethro didn’t tell Moses to do less ministry. He told him to share it, to teach the people and choose capable, trustworthy men who would “bear the burden with you.” And Moses listened, which is no small thing for a leader.
I Learned It the Hard Way
I wish I could say I learned this in a classroom. I learned it in Michigan. The first few years there were some of the most exhausting of my life. Not only were we starting a new church, but during that same season, my wife and I welcomed two of our children into the world, which is exciting and, as anyone with little ones knows, exhausting. I also completed two master’s degrees. Many of the principles from those classes went straight into our young church, which was a blessing, but it was a heavy load. And all of it happened during the recession of 2008, which was felt across the country but hit Michigan differently. It seemed like I was working twice as hard for half the results. Have you been there?
Somewhere in the middle of it, I realized I couldn’t do it all by myself. I was able to hire a great man from within the church as an associate pastor, and he served extremely well. He had a gift for taking a load off me without my even asking. His help didn’t make me less of a pastor. It made it possible for me to keep pastoring. And over several years, something bigger happened. The church embraced a culture in which everyone is a minister.
One Calling, Different Strengths
I’ve also had to be honest with myself about the six jobs. As I mentioned in the article on shepherding, I’m naturally task-oriented, and I’ve had to learn how to be a shepherd. Preaching, leading, and equipping come more naturally. Personality and strengths assessments tend to label me a builder, an architect, or an achiever. In other words, I’m driven, and I like moving forward. Some people are energized by counseling and hospital visits. I’m not. Those wear me out, and I have to remind myself to slow down and shepherd people where they are.
Learning that about myself was one of the best things that happened to me in ministry, because it allowed me to be intentional about staffing the church with people who complement both my strengths and my weaknesses. No pastor is equally gifted in all six jobs, and God never promised he would be.
In the first article, I said we can’t let our strengths become excuses for neglecting the rest of our calling, and I still believe that. Knowing my limits doesn’t excuse me from shepherding. It changes how I do it: I keep growing where I’m weak, and I surround myself with people who are strong where I’m not. A pastor is still accountable for all six jobs. He was just never meant to perform all six alone.
The Pastor Leads the Church. He Is Not the Church.
Paul describes the church as a body: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’” (1 Corinthians 12:21). The pastor is an important member of that body, but he is one member. When a church begins to believe that the pastor is the ministry, two things go wrong. The pastor wears down, and the members never discover what God has gifted them to do.
The church is not an audience watching one man minister. It’s a body in which every member has a role. A pastor is called to lead the church, not to be the church.
Every Pastor Needs Pastors
There is one more kind of help every pastor needs, and it may be the kind pastors are least likely to seek: friends who are pastors. Aaron and Hur didn’t fight the battle for Moses. They held up his arms. Every pastor needs a band of brothers, men who understand the calling from the inside and with whom he can let down his guard and be real.
Being a pastor is the most incredible calling and “job” I know. It is also unique in its emotional toll. We walk with people through grief, conflict, failure, and crisis, sometimes on the same day we’re preparing to preach. In my opinion, this is one reason so many pastors are leaving the ministry. They are trying to carry it alone. “Two are better than one,” Solomon wrote, “but woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10).
Why is it so hard to find that kind of friend? Pastors feel the pressure to always be strong. People look to us for answers, comfort, and stability, and it is hard to admit when we’re running on empty. Vulnerability can also carry real consequences. There are things a pastor can’t always say to the people he serves, and one who isn’t careful about where he opens up may find that honesty costs more than he expected. That doesn’t mean the answer is to share everything with everyone. A pastor doesn’t need to tell everyone everything, but he needs to be able to tell someone the truth.
I’m thankful that I can’t recall a season of ministry when I didn’t have someone. I have friends who would get on an airplane and be at my house tomorrow if I needed them. Friends from my home church are now serving as pastors in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and California, and we talk often. In my current role, I’ve had the privilege of preaching in all three of their churches. I have friends from my Bible college days scattered from coast to coast and around the world, and I’ve met other pastors and ministry leaders along the way over these past thirty years.
Those friendships mattered most during the hardest season of my life. When my wife and I lost our first child to a miscarriage, I didn’t know how to respond, and I probably didn’t respond very well. I hit a low point I had never been at before. Don Elmore was there for me. He listened, and then he connected my wife and me to a resource in another state that could help us. I’m also grateful for the church where I was serving in Orlando, which gave us the time we needed to grieve and begin to heal.
Friendships like that rarely happen by accident. Pastors have to be intentional about putting themselves in places where other pastors will be, which is one reason pastors’ conferences are so important. You can listen to the best preachers in the world online, and you can take online seminars to improve your church’s programs. But nothing beats surrounding yourself with a band of brothers, men who are fighting in the trenches with you, who will pray with you and share both your joys and your burdens. Pastor, if you don’t have that, don’t wait for a crisis to find it.
A Word to the Church
This series has been written mainly for pastors, but I want to say a word to church members. If you’ve read this far, you know more about what your pastor is called to do, and perhaps something about what he carries. Here are a few ways you can help him and his family:
- Pray for him. Pray for his marriage, his children, and his private walk with Christ.
- Take your place. Discover your spiritual gifts and use them.
- Encourage him specifically. Tell him when God used a sermon, a visit, or a conversation in your life.
- Give him grace. He is not equally gifted in all six jobs. Appreciate his strengths and be patient with his weaknesses.
- Give his family room to be human. Don’t hold his spouse and children to a different standard than other families.
- Be his friend. Sometimes a pastor simply needs a friend.
Faithful, Not Indispensable
Paul wrote, “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2). He didn’t say found indispensable, or gifted in everything, or tireless. He said faithful. A pastor’s success isn’t measured by how much ministry he personally performs, but by how faithfully he helps the church fulfill the mission God has given it.
So let me say to every pastor what I would say if we were sitting across the table from each other. Remember, God called you to shepherd His church, not to carry it on your shoulders. Be faithful to your calling, recognize your limitations, surround yourself with people who will share both the work and the burdens of ministry, and never forget that the church belongs to Jesus Christ, not you.
That display at the Truman Library listed six jobs for one office. The pastorate has at least six jobs too. But the man who holds that office was never meant to fill it alone. Six jobs. One calling. And one Chief Shepherd who carries the church far better than any of us ever could.
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