What I Would Do Differently
QUESTION 1: What are the most important abilities you look for in a pastor?
MRP 4: His calling to the ministry, doctrinal integrity, devotional relationship with the Lord, people skills
MRP 5: Ability to lead, feed, guide
MRP 1: Demonstrate common sense, wisdom, peacemaker, ability to implement change, ability to handle right relations with women, ability to handle loneliness, handle criticism, visionary with ability to instill confidence in others without prideful ambition, management and administrative skills, natural abilities are disciplined, not out of control, time management skills
MRP 2: Ability to preach the Word; able to study; able to divide the Word accurately;
able to emotionally connect with his people; know them and interact with them;
care about their life, good listener, love the same things they do, know their life personally
MRP 3: Know the names of the people in your congregation
MRP 1: Apt to teach; hungry to learn, impart to others what you know
FRP 2: Understand him as he preaches and learn from him, he challenges me from the Word; loves the Word, teaches flock; serious teacher
FRP 1: Ability to balance church life with home life; his solid marriage speaks volumes to flock; self-confidence in what you are capable of doing; not prideful or
threatened when he delegates to others if they do things better than he does;
ability to delegate
MRP 4: Balance in partnership with wife
MRP 1: Confidence when criticized; sets own direction not simply to please people MRP 4: Freedom from intimidation, free from the fear of man
MRP 5 “I’d like to but I can’t” – practice saying no and set limits MRP 1: Resist the tyranny of the urgent
FRP 2: Protect family / wife from doing everything in church MRP 4: Wife needs to have calling, too
FRP 1: Young pastor’s wives seem to be feeling only the husband is called and they do not totally support her husband’s ministry as a team
MRP 5: I know wife of pastor who attends a church other than the one pastored by husband
MRP 3: Mandatory skill is to teach and preach; ability to prioritize in ministry and family, ability to prioritize all the requests and ideas offered from the church people; ability to delegate and trust those to whom delegated; ability to show discretion and keep appropriate confidences – not unloading everything you know on spouse
MRP 2: Don’t tell all to spouse.
QUESTION 2/3 What do you think your pastor would say are the most important abilities? Think of a pastor you respect. What abilities do you respect about this
pastor?
FRP 2: He would talk about hard subjects from the Bible or uncomfortable things in my life; don’t shy away from challenging my views that are in opposition to what the Bible says
MRP 5: The ability to have difficult conversations in a way that others will listen;
anticipate objections people may have and answer them sensitively but truthfully MRP 3: Ability to have effective and sensitive communication skills: when to speak and
how to say it to different audiences
MRP 4: A heart for God and a genuine walk with the Lord; and a heart for their people
MRP 2: Ability to counsel; ability to depend on Holy Spirit for the counselee’s response;
love the flock even if they don’t love you back
MRP 1: Ability to stay in your lane, by which I mean: bring God onto the scene, be God’s representative where He puts you and always say “let me show what God says about this”
MRP 3: Ability to observe and discern; just be present with the people and when you’re with them, make them your focus – be 100% where you are
FRP 1: Consistent in all areas of life – whether at home or church or other activities you are the same; never seek to be the celebrity pastor but focus on others first and not be the only voice in the room tooting own horn
MRP 5: Seek to be a friend
MRP 4: In this Research Triangle, the ability to receive a graduate theological degree is very important
MRP 2: Need to seek further education – why not do it?
MRP 5: Be a widely read reader in many disciplines; readers are leaders MRP 4: Balance of heart and doctrinal integrity
MRP 1: Be a diligent student of the Word, not just go around drinking coffee in homes of the congregation on visitation; life-long learning
MRP 5: Teach so that others are not intimidated: they should say “I see that! I think I can do that!” don’t make them feel they are unable to study the Scriptures like you QUESTION 4/5: Describe what you think the Bible says are the most important
qualities for a pastor.
MRP 4: Balance – 1 Timothy 3/Titus 1 are a must, but in balance with John 10 and the life of a shepherd; sacrifice / give your life for the sheep; he needs to smell like the sheep because he loves them
MRP 1: Integrity – real godliness with real holiness; 1 Timothy 3-4 / 1 Thessalonians 4 / Ephesians 5:3-4 all point to purity in speech and thought in the pulpit, in your
marriage; another word is blameless; many are stumbling and are now out of ministry
MRP 3: Humility – many of these things fit under the umbrella; the ability to accept criticism; ability to acknowledge you can’t do everything on your own; humility is probably the #1 characteristic
FRP 1: Gentle spirit but preach the Word strongly and with a lot of conviction; gentle spirit for those who are needy and grieving and those in pain
FRP 2: Humble; love God’s Word and other people and allow other people in your life MRP 2: 1 Timothy 3 shows he needs to be patient in all aspects: with others and with
circumstances and with God’s timing; merciful when attacked; patient and merciful
MRP 1: He must be content with what he is and where he is (with or without success);
endurance is crucial
MRP 5: Ability to be tactful and courageous, and say to people “this is wrong, not right”