#597. Wondering what your pastor does all day.
Aug 7th by Jon(Nick the Geek is a guest post champ. In addition to knocking out his own blog, he occasionally jumps onto SCL to enlighten us with the kind of ideas that only a full time minister can elaborate on. Today he answers the age old question, “So what do pastors do all day?” Growing up as a pastor’s kid myself, I often had friends ask me, “What does your dad do when it’s not Sunday?” Nick has the answer. Enjoy.)
Wondering what your pastor does all day.
I want to start by thanking Jon for allowing me this opportunity. He is super frigintastical, insightful, and funny. I want to get that out of the way now so I don’t forget later.
As a minister I am always asked, “What do you do all week?” Sure people know about the church time things but it can’t take that long to make a sermon so what does the rest of the week look like? I am bound to get in trouble with the Alliance of Ministers Union (AMU) but what’s a fella to do? I’m tired of lying about my week.
I tell people about how much “time” the sermons take but no one believes it. Sure AMU gives us a scale that suggests we can claim 20+ hours a week for sermon preparation but people don’t buy it anymore with so many resources available online. Hey guys, they know we can just steal other sermons on Saturday night and be done with it, why would we spend hours praying and researching before ever writing down point one? It’s time to come clean.
I tell people about the meetings and building and event planning and relationship building and prayer and reading/studying but that doesn’t add up to the 60+ hours I claim to work each week so I have to tell people about the side projects and graphic work I do for the church as well. They keep asking me what I do all week and always seem surprised at how much work I say I’m doing. How can it take half a day to clean the Youth building after youth have been inside? They just don’t seem to believe me anymore.
So, it’s time to tell the truth.
On Monday morning we have a big party. All the ministers get together and we share stories so we can pretend “God gave us this message” because it is being shared all over the country. Then we make a big pile of money and roll in it because we are all ridiculously wealthy.
That takes up most of Monday so on Tuesday lots of ministers go play golf. I can’t because I have a knee problem so I won’t be able to tell you how that goes. I hang out with the Youth pastors and play Ultimate Frisbee instead. I have a Young Adult class that meets on Tuesday so I take a 5 minute break in the afternoon to write a few notes.
Wednesday is Youth day so I sleep in till about 4. Then I start playing video games and drinking Monster so I’m super energized for Youth service. I try to find some time to get online and download someone’s sermon so I can listen to it while playing Wii but if I run out of time that’s OK, I can always wing it.
Thursday I’m recovering from all the work I did on Wednesday. Seriously when you are used to taking it pretty chill the whole week, yelling for a few minutes can really take it out of you. Then I take my “day off” on Friday and do some house work on Saturday. If I have to do a Youth Sunday or anything then I skip the house work and download another sermon and listen to that while I play with my kids.
Well, AMU, the truth is out there. That’s what ministers are really doing during the week. It’s just like everyone suspected. People aren’t stupid enough to keep falling for the old lies. We need new ones that account for the internet. Not every church has a super successful blog but I think we can pretend to. Most church people aren’t that tech savvy. So AMU if it’s ok with you I’m going to start talking about the hours I spend on my blog reaching the lost online instead of trying to convince people that I actually go to band practice and help community groups like the Not On Tobacco class.
What do you say ministers, what do you do with your weeks? Afraid of the AMU? Leave an anonymous comment.
Everyone else, what are your suspicions about how your ministers really spend their weeks?
(For more great stuff from Nick the Geek, visit his blog My Experience as Youth Pastor)
Comments
Though I truly enjoy the humor and sarcasm of this guest post, I also think that sometimes there is a good reason for a person to ask "what does he/she do all week?"……and a good reason for an answer to be given. Btdt, and not all pastors are working so hard – a fact which shocked me at first, and then,honestly, made me angry. Especially at a time when so many of us are working so hard to support our families. In *some* churches, there is a lot of buck-passing.
Still love this post, though.
LOL!
My husband was a senior pastor of a church we planted for 6 years but we didn't take a paycheck because he worked full time also.
The hard part was that people would come into our business and expect him to be able to drop everything because they were having a bad day and needed to talk (of course these were the people who hadn't been to the church in three weeks because they had to spend time at the lake).
So he worked all day and then spent his evenings doing church stuff and preparing for Sundays.
People have no idea the work that goes into pastoring.
Sometimes I just wanted to scream- 'if you would just follow what was preached on Sunday (that he spent hours and hours preparing) and read your Bible for yourself…you wouldn't need to 'sit down us' and take more time away from our family.
But…that's just silly now isn't it?!
Wow-that came out bitter didn't it?! LOL.
I love the Lord with all my heart, but I do get a bit frustrated with His bride from time to time…working on that…
katdish,
Who is Tom anyway? You won't tell me that.
rob,
hmmmm, honest and forthcoming. Ok I'll run with that it sounds better than a lot of other things. I will say that the Tithe as it was is based on an entirely different system and situation. It should still be obeyed and I encourage looking at it as a starting point, but to say the tithe should be 12% if you are paying with money misses the purpose of what was going on. Of course if God convicts a person to that then they really need to keep to it.
Rachel,
Thanks, and yes there is a lot of work and so the leadership should be very busy, so it is really sad when we play around but expect the congregation to work their 40-60 hours a week then come in for another 10 volunteering in the church. I don't ask anyone to do something I won't.
Lauri,
Grace is one of the most important things we can express. I know as busy as I am I disappoint a bunch of people because I'm not busy in the right way. It makes me angry but I have to learn how to live grace with them. Also, I say grrlpower but I'm a hopelessly lame geek.
Carmen,
I know my senior pastor goes on hikes in the woods and fishing trips whenever he is well enough. We go together pretty often. These times are important for both of us. Sometimes it is even part of ministry because we can talk about church stuff, but mostly it is ministry just for us so we don't have to talk church. Hope that makes sense.
jujube,
I think questions are a great thing. If you don't have the answer then you should ask the question. I think sometimes ministers get bent out of shape about it because it gets asked so often. Maybe we should make a point of answering the question before it is asked by loosely detailing our weeks at annual business meetings or something.
Praise and Coffee,
It can be frustrating to have people, almost always the same people, monopolizing all your time because they refuse to help themselves. It is especially frustrating when those people are the first to complain that they aren't being fed. When you start to see them get it though it is worth the frustration. Just remember you are part of the Bride too.
I was once speaking with a congregant who, when learning the church actually HAD staff, was quite suprised…'Oh! I just sort of thought we all just turned up here on Sunday and that was it!'
I'm not kidding.
Of all the jobs I've had, none has been so utterly 24/7 every-aspect-of-who-I-am consuming and demanding as when I was on church staff.
It just seems like so many people in the church don't have a general acceptance that church staffers work hard. that's why the question gets so old.
when I was a teacher I never got the 'half-joking' questions about what I did all week, even though public school teachers are 'paid by the people' like pastors. there's a general assumption that teachers work hard. They're not expected to justify their hourly activities.
it just gets discouraging when you pour your life into something for a ridiculously small wage just because you believe in the cause and the call, and people look at you with suspicion that somehow you're on a cruisy gig, and don't know what it's like to work in the 'real world'…
In reality, all my 'real world' jobs, even coupled with extensive volunteering, haven't had the same unique type of pressure, workload and demand as church work, and have had A LOT better pay.
Even as a teacher;p
aahh, but still, I've gone back to church staff, knowing full well what I was getting into, cause you can't trade being smack in the middle of what god's calling you to for anything in the world!
Excellent, Nick!
Seriously, though, a pastor can be as busy–or unbusy–as he/she chooses to be. I've known many pastors who worked long hours, as well as pastors who didn't, by choice. And being not very busy is no sin or crime. The Sufi mystic Rumi praised the idea of laziness as a way of understanding God–the lazy mystic sits back and watches God at work in the world.
Our idea of a pastor needing to be busy all the time simply falls into the workaholic trap so many other Americans have fallen into–if you're not working 60 hours a week for the corporation, or for the Lord, then you ain't workin'.
Nick, that was great.
Having been in the ministry (officially or unofficially) for 12+ years now, I have a good understanding of what really DOES go on. And I've seen everything from overworked folks to employees who truly do spend their days on youtube. (But as someone mentioned–the same thing happens in a secular office. I've been there too.)
I remember the day someone saw my husband outside of church and said, "You wear JEANS? JEANS?!?!?!?" And I was shocked that someone would think People In The Ministry were so very different from Someone In Just A Regular Job.
Nick,
Individual responses to each comment? You're making Jon look bad.
Nick, the next time a frenemy brings into question the industriousness of pastors, remind him that Jesus spent the first three decades of His life just goofing off before even starting His ministry.
Great post!! I tutored a priest in English once — I know how long it takes to prepare a homily. Of course, he was doing it in a foreign language (but he did have a living dictionary – me). Because of the tutoring, I got to know how hard he worked. His English was important, but he could usually only make time for it after 9 or 10 at night (I, too, had some very short nights), and even then if there was someone who needed to confess or a sacrament or a special mass, we would not begin until 11:00. He was from Colombia, and I think people have more access to priests on call there than in the USA, but I got to see a lot of the things that eat up time, and if that time is not invested, then one has a less vested parish, as well. Needless to say, we have a very vested and bonded parish, and it begins with the priest (who works his heart out and fills his hours with labor for God).
I will fully admit that my days as a full time worship leader include flurrys of activity separated by facebook, fantasy baseball, random walking around, "researching" music, and reading.
I can't help it, I work extremely fast. I create loops for our services, update all of the chords, help plan services, practice, eat a dollar, go to production meetings, type words into ProPresenter, conquer France, prepare our click machine (to keep us in time), prepare our time machine (to travel through time), and do whatever else they ask of me, but I do all of that while facebooking at least an hour a day and updating my fantasy team enough to be 13-3 and second in the league.
Wow, my life as a foreign missionary sounds uncannily like that of Pastor Bob's! Of course, I'm in Mexico, so I can't forget drinking margaritas on the beach, going to futbol games & bullfights, and taking my daily siesta!
Nick, I know I'm part of the bride, but sometimes that's so hard to see with this plank sticking out of my eye!
Perkyguy,
"Visitation"
that's Brilliant
we are a cynical bunch, eh! myself included. (something i'm working on) i once decided to keep a minute by minute log of my days. including the times where i've just sat down on the couch at 8:30 from a "normal day," only to receive an email, text, or phone call that immediately puts me back at work. even if just mentally. i'm still trying to figure out the whole boundaries thing with church members. i keep waiting for them to figure them out, but so far, no luck. i ended up stopping because it was feeding bitterness in my heart.
here's the thing… our vocation is probably the most abused and most misunderstood vocation i can think of. there are too many of us who really do keep lazy, undisciplined schedules, that encourage the "wow must be nice" mindset. but the reality is that if we are serving God by loving His people, caring for their needs, speaking truth, training leaders, making disciples who make other disciples, there aren't enough hours in the day. and sadly… even if you fall in the 2nd category, you will always get the jokes, judgment, and eye rolls. and you'll rarely get the affirmation and edification you need and deserve.
sometimes an email response can take an hour. sometimes building a relationship on facebook really is ministry. sometimes a golf game is the connecting point for the man who hates the Church. sometimes long lunches with pastors fuels us and restores us. sometimes sleeping late honors God because you are "poured out like a drink offering." i could go on and on.
for all of you who are weary, know that your reward isn't through the praise of man. but i do pray God sends you a few really great encouragers who can fill your mind and soul with the truth of the fruits of your labor. don't give up. it's not in vain. serve Him well every day. and don't let the nay-sayers get in your head. your God is FOR YOU.
I have a friend who, shortly after being called into the ministry, said to me, "I can't wait until I don't have to work." Well, that brother has since been blessed with a call to church planting, which we all know requires much work, as well as having to hold a secular job of some sort most of the time. I think his view of ministry has finally changed.