One of the things you have to prepare yourself for when you are contemplating moving from being a Youth Pastor to a Senior Pastor is the difference in the weight that you will carry. Being a Youth Pastor, sitting in the second chair, and overseeing one part of the church body has a certain amount of pressure to it for sure. However, when you scoot over to the first chair and begin to oversee all the aspects of the church, making sure it is healthy and growing, you will feel a major shift in the load that you carry.
Before building a new house we have to prepare the foundation, before we take a new position in building the body of Christ we have to do the same.
Today I want to take a look at four things you need to get in order in your personal life, before you add the extra weight of leading a church body.
1. Your Marriage.
The reason you need to work on your marriage, is not so that you can become a great Pastor. The reason you need to work on your marriage is because the greatest call on your life is to love and lead you wife as Christ does his church.
2. Your Family.
How is your family doing? How are your children? How much time do you spend with them? Do they know you love them? How do you show them your love? Do they have a personal walk with Jesus? How are you helping them cultivate their personal pursuit of Christ?
These are questions you cannot wait to ask until after you have taking the on the role of Senior Pastor. These are questions that must be answered and lived out before you take the position.
3. Your Finances.
If you are currently carrying the weight of debt and financial strain, when you add the weight of leading a church to your life; you will get crushed!
Let me say that again.
The weight of Senior Leadership added to personal financial strain will crush you.
Get your financial house in order. I am not saying you have to be loaded. However, I am saying, that you need to be stewarding what God has already given to you, before you add more things to your stewardship portfolio.
4. Your Health.
Begin taking time now, to create margin in your schedule to make sure you are healthy. What is your diet like? What is your workout schedule? What hobbies do you have? I have found out personally that when I became a Senior Pastor, it became harder and harder to find time to take care of myself, because I was so busy trying to take care of others.
The fourth piece of advice I would give Youth Pastor, considering taking that next step on the ministry ladder, is begin to work on yourself. Create time in your schedule everyday to stay healthy spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Because, we can't lead others well, if we are not leading ourself.
These are just a few thoughts. In part three of this series we will be talking about "Four things you must focus on once you become a Senior Pastor".
I would love to connect with you. If you have any comments or questions, you can email me at growmoore@gmail.com.