I know that not everyone in ministry has the same experiences in life, but I think this principle is pretty transferable to most pastors. You should know, by the way, that my use of the phrase, “teaching pastors” doesn’t refer to the modern title held by many in our churches today. I’m simply referring to anyone (especially pastors who speak every week) who speaks to a group of people on a periodic basis about Scripture.
We teaching pastors do our best each week to communicate God’s truth to people. Between Sundays (or whenever you meet), we prep. We have differing methods, but at some point, you take time out to get ready for what you’re going to say.
We’re always thinking about what to say next (Obvious, right? Follow me. I’m going somewhere with this).
I had to make a two-hour drive the other day, so I decided I’d listen to one of my favorite pastors/authors’ audiobooks. As he taught, I kept thinking, “That’s so good. I need to teach that some time.”
We’re always thinking about what to say next.
One morning this week, I stopped in to Starbucks to read through a passage in the Gospel of Matthew before my day started. I hit an incredible portion of Scripture and was so excited about teaching our students through it.
We’re always thinking about what to say next.
The pitfall of the teaching pastor is that we’re always thinking about what to say next. Sometimes, God tees up a huge lesson that’s meant for US to digest for OUR OWN personal growth. But we start framing it in the context of a sermon series. Maybe our first thought is what the graphic could look like, or the concept of a cool promo video.
Pastors, let’s remember to be Christ-followers before we’re pastors who get up to say stuff every week.
Challenging Thought: How many layers does God have to peel back before we start applying Scripture to our own life rather than a creative board for our next teaching series?