It amazes me how we love to suck people dry as they serve in the church. Part of the Church's job (and I use big C to notate the global church) is to help each Christian find their purpose, locate their spiritual gifts and give them opportunities to serve and grow with accountability and encouragement.
But what we prefer to do is grab a few successful people and load as much onto them as they can bear and then ask in the name of Jesus to add more.
We need to be protecting our leaders by helping them balance responsibilities in the church and in their family. Our greatest success as pastors should be promoting health families. If the greatest impact on toddlers and teenagers are parents why don't we spend more time focused on the family and not on the production of Sunday morning.
When I was a student pastor I couldn't understand how some people could work 40 or 50 hours a week in the jobs, be involved in their kids lives and after school activities, and play major roles in multiple ministries.
I don't think I could count on both hands all the conversations I intentionally started to ask my leaders about the health of their marriages. So often its the result of the attendance sheets not the changed lives that are our focus. Or its the patience to look down the road and see the continuation of our children's faith that is our boast and not the short handed goals to brag about at conferences.
But when we are filled with compassion to the point of caring, then sitting down to grab a caramel covered ice cream cone from Zesto's with the people who make God's vision actually run smoothly in our churches should certainly have a different flavor than the next bale to load on to them.
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