In his book, “By The Stream,” Monty Hale quotes leadership guru Peter Drucker, saying that the four toughest jobs in America are: president of the United States, a hospital administrator, a university president, and the pastor of a local church. Are you surprised by number four? I mean, just how difficult can it be to be a pastor, right?

I have been in ministry for over 40 years.I served as the pastor of a local church for 12 years and have served as encourager, counselor, coach and pastor to pastors for 25 years. In my experience, most pastors work 55 to 60 hours per week, often with additional hours in sermon preparation. They are “on call” literally 24 hours a day, seven days a week. More often than not, days off and family vacations are interrupted by a call to minister to a crises in the church family. Pastors work hard!

However, the hours are not what make this “job” tough; it is the burden they carry. Pastors carry the burdens of their people: the sorrow and heartache shared in confidence over human brokenness, the grief of the loss of a loved one, or the disappointment of a broken relationship or unfairness of life. They also bear the burden of being the peacemaker between church members who don’t get along because of conflict in the church. Then there is the burden of the “lost-ness” of your community! That “call” from God brought with it a profound awareness of the spiritual darkness and the lost condition of the people living in your community. Who will reach them with the gospel? Who cares about this issue more than your pastor? As if these burdens were not enough, he also carries the burden of leadership.

Your pastor is the leader of your church. He is the only one in your church who has been “called” to lead your church. This distinction makes him the target of criticism by anyone with an opinion, and especially those in church who share leadership responsibilities. That is not to say pastors are perfect or don’t need to be held accountable. Pastors need the accountability of godly counsel and should lead by building consensus around a clear vision — but the fact remains, your pastor carries the burden of leadership.

That leadership burden is why Satan has marked your pastor for attack. He knows he can nullify the Great Commission by simply neutralizing the effectiveness of your pastor. It is a true saying that “as the pastor goes, so goes the church.” Satan will use people inside and outside of the church to criticize your pastor. He will bring past failures to your pastor’s mind to beat him down. He will try to create conflict in your pastor’s family to bind him emotionally and relationally. Satan will try to wear him down physically by using the expectation of church members to convince him that he is the only one who can do the ministry. No one knows how that burden weighs unless they have carried it! It is no wonder that health insurance for pastors is driven so high because of stress-related illnesses.

In spite of the demands of the job and the burdens they carry, the pastors I know gladly and faithfully serve because they have experienced the call from the Master Shepherd.

I would like to call on every church member in the York Baptist Association and the South Carolina Baptist Convention to recognize the “tough job” their pastor has and dedicate 2015 as a year you will earnestly pray for your pastor and protect him from ungodly criticism and the expectations from church members. Then find a way to support him in the ministry of your church. You might be amazed by the difference your respect and prayers will make in his effectiveness and the progress of your church.

Mike O’Dell
York Baptist Association