A friend of mine and fellow pastor, Sean McMasters, made an interesting post on his blog recently that I would like to share with you. Here's a brief quote. (*If you would like to read more, click-on the link below.)
"Pastors are caught within a wonderful dynamic: On the one hand I need
to be an example of what it means to be a successful follower of Christ;
on the other hand I am not, & never will be totally successful.
What makes this more interesting is the never-ending appeal of religion;
Those who do good are--gooder & I am the gooderest of them all.
Right? However, I'm not good.
What is the role of a pastor? To
create the "That's it" image? I need to teach Saints & non-saints
how to be: Broken, angry, forgive, sexually appropriate, depressed,
frustrated, etc. However, do I teach them from the position of: "When I
used to..." or "Last week when I..." Don't I have a pious image to
uphold, since no one wants to follow a loser? Especially a pastor who
wrestles with sin. No doubt there are limits to my involvement with any
sin & it's ability to control me vs. my ability to yield to the
Spirit. However, we can so easily create a theology of leadership,
which says, "Follow me as I follow Christ" because, "I've arrived," vs.
"I've been working on this for years, & I'm still walking."
To read more, please go to:
http://offthewahl.blogspot.com/2009/09/pastors-are-caught-within-wonderful.html