10 Secrets of Many Senior Pastors

I get to hang out and know many senior pastors. I have a great heart for them and understand, firsthand, some of the pressures, frustrations and joys, which are unique to the role of a senior pastor. In my recent blog survey, over half my readers are in ministry and half that number are senior leaders.

I previously shared this post over a year ago after sharing these points at a conference for executive pastors. I was asked to give my perspective as a senior pastor, since each of them report to one. I have revised some of them again and added a couple, so I decided to share it again.

Here are 10 “secrets” about many senior pastors:

• Leading from this position is overwhelming at times. We know Christ is ultimately in charge, but we also know it often seems everyone looks to us to have all the answers.
• People tell the senior pastor all kinds of things about what is happening in their life or in the lives of others…many we would rather not know sometimes…and sometimes the weight of others problems we carry is enormous.
• Most pastors walk with a degree of uncertainty, which keeps us in prayer, but also makes us question our abilities at times. It makes depression common for many senior pastors. (see 1 Kings 19)
• Many senior pastors fear the possibility of failing in their role, so they thrive on the encouragement and prayers of others.
• Sometimes we allow insecurity to cause us to become overprotective of our reputation and our position.  Keep Reading >>>