Nancy has encouraged me from the time I started to blog. She has read, edited and given input which is always helpful and at times challenging. In the month of August she started to journal some lessons learned from our past 4 years in pastoral ministry. I was able to get her permission to blog these thoughts from her journal. This was posted sometime ago but it is back by popular demand so to speak!Lessons Learned:
I learned people see the church like Harris Teeter - pick and choose.
I learned how little people understand what commitment to a chuch means. It should be like a marriage. You may not like everything about it but your committed to it.
I've never been so disappointed in or by who I thought were my friends.
I've learned how people are more willing to be part of the problem than the solution.
I've learned that some people come to church for what they want...not what God wants.
I've learned how little people are willing to give the benefit of the doubt or to believe the best about others.
I've learned how God never fails...people do.
I've learned how willing people are to cast blame rather than to take responsibility.
I've learned that some people don't even begin to understand the role of leadership in a church.
I've learned that a person's ego can keep them from seeing the truth.
I've learned that few people are willing to work through problems Biblically.
I've learned that at times the line between the twilight zone and God can be very faint.
I've learned that people can focus more on the holes not punched in the handout than on the content of the handout.
I've learned that parents will take something as serious as spiritual leadership and rely on a child's judgment to do the leading.
I've learned that when some people say that "God is leading" them it is often where they wanted to go anyway.
I've learned that members who break off from the body have no idea how the pain of that break impacts the body as it tries to recover and heal from the loss.
