I’ve been a pastor now for a little over 4 months. It’s completely different than I expected it to be. The pressure is different, the workload is different, the challenges I face are different, the decisions that have to make are different and the prayers I’m praying are all different. This isn’t a bad thing. It’s just different than I thought it would be. I came across a blog post from a pastor named Shaun King that was very encouraging to me because I know that someone else is going through the same growth process that I am as a pastor. Here is a link to his post: http://www.shauninthecity.com/2009/06/10-things-that-are-harder-than-i-expected.html
It makes me laugh and frustrates me at the same time when people that have never been in ministry seem to think it’s easy to grow a church. Essentially at NorthBrook, we are starting a brand new church. It’s just a different situation. Most of the things in his list are the things that I think about daily. How can we help people connect spiritually and take the next step spiritually? How can we be creative with our worship and teaching? How can we help people to connect in community? How can we reach our community? How can we better serve our community? How can I raise up new leaders or any leaders at all for that matter? How can I get people there? How can I best lead our people??
God is teaching me that it’s all about leadership and leadership is all about him. My first thoughts in this journey were that I could just DO all of these things that I’ve seen other churches or other people do and the church would just explode with growth! It worked there, why not here? But, quickly, I knew that wasn’t going to work. Throughout a few experiences and a few wise people, God’s telling me that it’s about my heart. The local church’s mission is to change lives, and I’ve got to see that as my purpose.
This week, I’m continuing a series called Redemption Stories. We’ll be talking about David and Goliath. David was never given a chance because he’s facing a man who’s literally two of him. Goliath was the greatest champion in Philistine history. David was a shepherd boy with a slingshot and a rock. But this battle was won long before David had even heard of Goliath. In 1 Samuel 16:7, God says to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” This is the moment when David was anointed by God to be king of Israel. One day he would be the greatest king Israel had ever seen. God knew that he would soon face Goliath, the biggest giant of his life. But it wasn’t about how big the giant was. It was about how big David’s heart was.
It’s something that I’m growing to understand. I can look at numbers and get discouraged. I can listen to others and get discouraged. I can also look at the life change that is already occuring in the number of people that we have and be encouraged because that is what God’s called me to. I can understand by God’s Word that he is looking at my heart, not the size of my church, and be encouraged. It’s an idea that’s helping me to invest more in my relationship with the Father than the size of my church. The last I checked, Jesus said, “I will build my church….” Not Zane.


