Mob Boss Minister

Driving by the front door of the church building, we saw the senior pastor walking in from the parking lot. He looked back at us, so I gave him a friendly wave. His stern expression revealed that he had no interest in being friendly. Unmoved by my warm gesture, he continued walking as my teenage son commented from the seat beside me, “Pastor Frank looks scary. He looks like he could be in a movie for the Mafia.”

He was right. Frank looked like he was about to order a hit on someone. Truth is, Frank looks like that all the time. His intimidating nature can really put you off your game. Even when he’s less aggressive, his serious and dour demeanor casts a pall on everyone around him. He smiles and it looks like it hurts.  Poor man.

I chuckled even as I considered how true my son’s observation was of Frank. Everyone has a bad day now and then, but some people look like a Mob boss with indigestion. So, to all the Franks in the ministry, skip the “fra diavilo” sauce and pass the cannolis! Cheer up! If the weight you carry is too heavy it isn’t the one Jesus gave you. Wasn’t it Jesus who said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”? (Matthew 11:29-30)

Maybe it’s time to offload some of that weight. Maybe there are tasks that someone else can do, or that don’t need to be done at all. Maybe you’ve been confusing activity with ministry. Filling up your schedule doesn’t mean you’re effective, only that you’re living at the mercy of other people’s demands. You know, the “tail wagging the dog” thing. Maybe you need to rediscover that spiritually anointed ministry flows from your relationship with Jesus Christ and from a balanced and unhurried life. You’ll probably have to retrain some of your key leaders that less activity in your life will mean more fruit in your ministry. But that’s OK. It’s a Kingdom principle. Even the apostles had to pass off some of their tasks to other people so that they could focus on prayer and teaching/preaching. You can read about it in Acts 6:1-7.

The Apostle Paul recognized our common human tendency to stray from tending to our soul. So he reminded us to do three things that are essential for spiritual health—and that together comprise the foundation of spiritually authentic ministry:

• Prayer: Rather than stressing about life, God wants us to talk to him about it. He wants to hear our heart’s honest desire. (Philippians 4:6)
• Meditation: God wants us to reflect on his Word for our personal benefit. Paul also includes anything that is consistent with the noble character, right standard, pure quality, and lovely nature of God’s Word. (Philippians 4:8a)
• Application: Whatever we learn or receive from God’s Spirit through prayer or meditation will be lost if we don’t apply it to our lives. Conversely, whatever God reveals to us will be formed in us if we put it to use. (Philippians 4:8b)

Prayer, meditation, and application are your primary activities as a pastor (remember Acts 6:1-7!). Why? First, because they are the means to your experience of pervasive joy, evident gentleness, and protective peace (Philippians 4:4-6). I could keep adding to this list of benefits. But you get the idea. You can find more by reading Galatians 5:22-23. Really. This stuff is in the Bible. Who knew that this would apply to pastors?

Second, prayer, meditation and application are your primary activities because people reproduce what they are. When you exude genuine spiritual fruit from a life that includes substantial time with God in prayer and mediating on his Word, the people who follow you will eventually do the same. Isn’t that what you’re really working for, anyway? We—and our children—look to you as our spiritual leader to be an example to us of these things. If the principles in God’s Word don’t work for you, how can they possibly work for us?

So, if you’re finding it hard being joyful, gentle, and peaceful—maybe you need some time off. Seriously, your spiritual retreat would do us all a world of good. You might just reconnect with God in a way that fills your spiritual cup to overflowing with something that you haven’t experienced in a long time. Please. I’d like nothing more than to hear my son say, “Pastor Frank doesn’t look like he’s in the Mafia anymore!” Why not? Because, instead, you will be radiating the joyful, gentle, and peaceful heart that our Heavenly Father has formed in you. Who knows? You might even feel like waving back.