Sep 20, 2011

Happy Pastors

1 Min Read

"As the star of the television series Dirty Jobs, Mike Rowe suits up and labors in some of the most dirty and dangerous work environments possible. To date, he hasn’t tried pastoring. But pastoring qualifies as a dirty job, which is reflected in the most common biblical metaphor for the job: shepherd. Being a shepherd is difficult, demanding, and — if done well — exhausting. Pastors with any experience in the field will know exactly what I mean."

This is how C.J. Mahaney introduces the subject of his article in the current issue of Tabletalk: Happy Pastors.

"Take sermon preparation," he says. "The work is hard, repetitive, and impossible to avoid, outgrow, or expedite. You spend hours of hard work over the text, and at some point you review your sermon manuscript and are embarrassed by what you see. Maybe you find yourself tired, confused, and a bit fearful. And you’ll do it all again next week."

Read further encouragement for pastors in Happy Pastors.