Working One Day a Week: Part 1 - Introduction

If I had a dollar for every time I have heard it said as a joke I would be able to pay cash for my children’s college education. I am talking about the phrase that goes something like, “It sure must be nice to have a job where you only have to work one day a week!” Now I know that 9 times of out 10 people are kidding, but I have to be honest, every once in a great while a little twinge of, “I sure would like to slap you right upside the head right now” does tend to form inside of me when this happens. I remember one pastor saying how after church one Sunday a lady shook his hand and said, “Oh, pastor. What soft hands you have. I bet you haven’t seen a hard day’s work in your entire life.”

Again, I realize that the vast majority of time, these types of comment are purely innocent and simply meant to be funny – and in many cases they really are. But I also realize that in almost all of these cases the statements come from a bit of ignorance. What I mean is that the average person who sits in church on Sunday really has no clue as to what the pastor or other church staff members for that matter, do all week. A Worship Arts Director told me one time of the person who said to him, “After you pick out the 5 songs we are going to sing on Sunday, what else do you do all week?” A former Director of Children’s Ministry told me of the time that someone asked him, “Other than picking out and ordering the curriculum for Sundays, what else do you do?”

So I thought I would take an entire week (7 days total) to do a series of blog posts on what I do all week. I realize that this may make some people uncomfortable because they don’t like it when I get too transparent. Others might say, “There he goes again just talking about himself.” But please understand that my purpose in writing this series of blogs is to allow you to see more inside the life and the mind of your pastor. Obviously I will not even be able to come close to mentionting everything I do but I can give you a quick snapshot of my typical week.

One note before I start this day by day journey of one of my average weeks. One thing I won’t mention in the coming postings is that most days there is time set aside in my schedule for appointments. I really don’t call this counseling because I am not a counselor. I started my college career as a counseling minor and was bored to tears in my first counseling class so I switched to a Greek minor. I don’t provide “professional counseling” but I do meet with people often to talk about what the Bible has to say about issues they are facing and to to pray with them.

I try to remain available when people in the church have an issue they want to talk through with their pastor. These times are often very draining as in most cases they center around real hurts, pains and failures that people are facing. In recent weeks I have met with people whose marriages are breaking up, who are facing abuse-oriented issues, who are dealing with serious physical adversities like cancer, and other heart-wrenching issues. But these times can also include meeting newer people to our church who have questions about our church, the Bible, or Jesus. There are also the couples I meet with for pre-marital counseling. I love those times!

So – what does your pastor do all week? If you’re interested in knowing check back tomorrow.