What are the main things about pastoring you never learned in school or books that you have learned from experience?

With deep appreciation…

… to God for the church made possible by His Son, and for the grace and joy He gives to us in ministry.

… to you our readers and viewers for the encouraging responses you have given to each of us.

… to the churches we have served and are serving as pastors, for the grace and love that have characterized our relationships.

… to Momentum Ministry Partners (formerly CE National) for producing the Pastorpedia ministry with a purpose of serving and prodding church leaders. And for their continuing a parallel ministry for pastors and church leaders on their website—Momentum Pro. https://buildmomentum.org/momentum-pro/

The last one is this series tells some main habits or facts we have learned (and still are) from the beautiful highways and bumpy back roads we have traveled on while pastoring. Maybe some will help on your ride.

Each of us also invite you to our individual ministries for ideas or questions—Jeff at www.graceohio.org  and www.buildmomentum.org  … Jim at www.gracecommunity-church.com  … Knute at www.knutelarson.com.

Signing off for this product,

Knute, with Jeff and Jim

What are the main things about pastoring you never learned in school or books that you have learned from experience?

Jeff Bogue

• Leadership… organizational leadership
• Vision
• People skills… how to take a hit, how to read people
Jim Brown
• That your life is an open book to others and everything you do in the community shapes the view people form about you as a pastor.
• It was the first time in my life that someone hated me (well maybe a few times by my sisters). I had always been liked by everyone, but that changed when I began to make new decisions.
• You must find ways to refresh, refuel, and stay alive. You can’t give unless you are filled up. Find ways to keep emotionally, physically, and spiritually refueled.
• People who are with you will not always be with you.
• You lose sleep regularly over the concern and care you have for your church.
• There is a rich, deep satisfaction when all by yourself and God comforts you!
Knute Larson
• That love is the most important in serving the church. I don’t think much was said or written way back about relationships with people and kindness and things that God says are most important. People know if their pastor loves them by the way he speaks to them and mixes with them and serves them. I think somewhere in the Bible it says that love is the greatest!
• How to serve and work from a “Master Schedule,” an ideal way to proceed every day so that your goals are built into your clock. Contrary to what a few have said to me, it is freeing rather than binding. With 21 clear sections to a week, it helps you know what’s ahead—and of course you make changes for family needs or tragedy or “explosions.”
• How to preach not just to expose the Bible but to hit human hearts as best you can. Preaching of course is not just information or results of study, but a communication of the heart of God that goes through your own heart and tries to get into the heart of the listener.
• What true discipleship is—regular meetings with the same five or six men over a period of at least two years with paragraphs of the Scriptures that meet the heart of daily living. That was never modeled by the teaching that all of the ministries of the church are discipleship. That may have some truth to it, but is not where “iron sharpens iron”!
• How vital physical exercise is.
• How to work with and help to energize and appreciate board members and staff and key volunteers.
• Why the “soccer field model” is the best way to do the one main oversight board of the church.


What do you wish you would have done sooner in ministry?

Jeff Bogue
• Recognized when I was exhausted!
• Learned not to trust my emotions!
Jim Brown
• Taken a sabbatical.
• Recognized that the future of the church in not dependent on me, but on Jesus!
Knute Larson
• Put more family time into my master schedule.
• Colored my sermon notes with the key colors that have helped the last 30 years—Red for illustrations and personal notes (Knute the person, not just Knute the preacher/teacher) –Blue for related verses –Green for an explanation of the cross of Jesus and what it means for salvation (I must never take for granted the listener is there!) –Yellow for application all through the 33 minutes… “Is that you?” … “Do you do that?”… “Would God and your family say that is true in your life?”
Serious.
• Made my summary sentence of the text become my sermon outline in three parts.
• Used the “soccer field model.”

Who are the best people to learn from in ministry?

Jeff Bogue
• People who have led a ministry that precedes what you want to produce.
• People who have led a ministry that produces what you want to produce.
Jim Brown
• Knute Larson
• Other pastors further down the road than me.
• Your wife, children, and family
• Your staff
• Jesus!
Knute Larson
• Jesus and the ones He asked to write for Him. 😊
• Young pastors who have the nerve to change some things carefully.
• Veterans who did it well and were loved.

Pastorpedia is a resource provided to you by Momentum Ministry Partners. Please contact us at info@buildmomentum.org or 574.267.6622 if we may be of any help to you or your ministry!

Jeff Bogue, Lead Pastor of Grace Church, and also, President of Momentum Ministry Partners; Jim Brown, Lead Pastor of Grace Community Church in Goshen, Indiana; and Knute Larson, a coach of pastors, who previously led The Chapel in Akron for 26 years. Pastorpedia is brought to you by Momentum Ministry Partners. Visit our website for more resources and to learn more about how we aim to partner with the local church.