Picture Week: Pastors

I love pastors. I am grateful for my pastor friends. I enjoy encouraging them and am grateful for the encouragement they give to me.

Picture Week: Pastors

"Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."

(Acts 20:28)

The next pictures I will share with you are of two pastors I have recently spent some time with. These are good men of God. One is in his 30s and the other is in his 40s. I enjoy encouraging them and am grateful for the encouragement they give to me. Pictured here with me is Pastor BJ McCurdy of New Shores Church in Sweeny, TX. The next picture is Dr. Joshua Herbert, pastor of FBC Bastrop, TX.

I love pastors. I heard one time the three toughest jobs in America are the president of the nation, the president or CEO of a business, and a pastor of a local church. I believe it. It is the highest calling God can place on a mortal human being. Charles Spurgeon said, "Do not stoop to be a king when God has called you to be a pastor." I am 61 years old and I have served as a pastor and interim pastor of six churches for a total of 27 years. What a blessing and high honor God has given me to do what Paul said: "to shepherd the church of God."

In Acts 20, the Apostle Paul spoke boldly to the Ephesian elders who met him in Miletus. Paul spoke with authority because he lived what he preached. They knew the quality of life he lived and the kind of sermons he taught. Now he casts vision for them and gives them instructions on how they are to carry on without him.

Note his words of instruction: he told them to take heed (imperative command) to themselves. He challenged these spiritual leaders to be attentive and be careful in how they live. The word was used of a sailor bringing a ship from sea into the shore and how careful he must be.

Pastors, then as today, are to take care of the flock of God and be attentive to them. Note Paul calls them episkopos, overseers, those who lead, who make sure things are done rightly. (See Blueletterbible.org for definitions of the Greek words.) Note also it is the Holy Spirit who calls, not churches. Instead of saying, "We called our pastor." It is better to say, "God called him, and we affirmed that call."

Pastors are to poimaino the church, to shepherd the church of God. This means to feed and to tend as a shepherd would his sheep. What a sacred trust granted to pastors to literally care for and feed the very ones God purchased with His own blood. This is a clear reference to Jesus Christ and His death on the cross and a statement of the deity of Jesus.

Take a moment to pray for your pastor, and consider sending him a word of encouragement. What if he does not need any encouragement? If that is the case, then the sun will have ceased to be in the sky!