Quote:
Originally Posted by Pergamum  Hey brother,
You use this phrase, "I'm writing as one who goes above and beyond in the execution of his ministry sometimes causing great personal and familial hardship in a field in which many of my peer "ministers" look at me like I'm crazy for doing so."
Could you elaborate on this?
I do not know what "above and beyond" means. When do we ever even succeed in meeting our duties - maybe in an OER, but not before God.
I always feel as if I am lacking or not doing enough... |
No problem. Let me give two examples of things that received "You need to slow it down a bit" admonitions from my peer (and supervisory!) chaplains...
1. We were away on vacation. Non-refundable reservations paid for, tickets bought, etc... Someone died. I brought my family back so that I could help with the situation. Now, mind you, there are tons of chaplains here who could have helped in my absence. But this was one of my people. Anyway, my wife was very upset, as were my children. I don't know if I'll do that again.
(Some of you pastors may think, "Big deal?" But I have now encountered FOUR instances in which the pastor was on vacation and someone - in one case a "pillar" of the church - and he basically said, "Sorry.... call this person." In another case, a person passed away a few days before a scheduled vacation and this pastor didn't change his personal plans at all. He simply directed the family to someone else for the funeral, etc.)
2. Unlike many pastors I know, I have no "black out" periods where I can't/won't answer my phone or make myself available. I cannot count the number of times I've come in to counsel on weekends or in the middle of the night, and I take absolutely no compensatory time off. Even when I preach, I don't take Monday off. About a month ago I came off a 6 month preaching rotation - that in itself was an eye catcher because so many chaplains complain if they have to preach more than once a month - and because I don't take time off on Monday, to "recharge" myself after spending myself on Sunday, there were many many weeks in which I worked 7 days a week doing this ministry.
Anyway, it is practices like this that have led some of my peers to advise me to slow down, etc.
Maybe they're right. Maybe I'm trying to do too much too fast.
I really struggle with Reformed Pastor because on the one hand I agree that I should pour myself into this calling, but on the other hand, Baxter makes it sound like I should run my family through the wringer - like I've done on occasion.