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Ministry brings joy in spite of frustrations

By DR. DAVID L. CHANCEY
Contributing Writer

A man driving behind a truck noticed something odd. At each light the driver jumped out of the cab and pounded the side of the truck with a baseball bat. After seeing this at a half-dozen red lights, the man's curiosity got to him. At the next stop he pulled up next to the driver as he furiously pounded his truck.

“Hey, fella,” he said, “What are you doing?”

The driver stopped beating for a minute and said, “I have a one-ton truck, but I'm carrying two tons of canaries. I have to keep a ton of birds in the air at all times or this truck won't move!”

Have you ever felt like you have more canaries than you can carry? That describes the joy and the frustration of the pastorate. The work is never finished. At the end of each day, there is always someone else I should have called, one more visit I should have made, one more task that got put aside, and one more need I didn't get to. That's why one pastor said he enjoyed mowing his lawn so much. Cutting his grass was one job he felt he could finish.

Ministry is joyful because you're helping people. It's also frustrating because you're working with people and living with their high expectations. One minister wrote, “If I wanted to drive a manager up the wall, I'd make him responsible for an organization, but give him no authority. I would provide him with unclear goals, not commonly agreed upon by the organization. I would ask him to provide a service of ill-defined nature, and staff his organization with only volunteers. I would expect him to work 10-12 hours per day, and have his work evaluated by a committee of 300-500 amateurs. I would call him a minister and make him accountable to God.”

Most of us ministers realize that we're just people called by God and because of God's call, we cannot do anything else. There's joy in serving God and His church. Yet, we're human and have our shortfalls.

I read about four ministers who met for support. One suggested, “Hey, since it's just us, let's talk about our problems.” They all nodded in agreement.

“I want to admit that I have a drinking problem,” said the first. They all gasped.

The second said, “Since you were so honest, I'd like to admit that I have a terrible gambling problem. I have even taken some money out of the collection plate from time to time.” There was another collective gasp.

The third confessed, “I'm really struggling, brothers, because I'm falling in love with a woman in my church who is not my wife.” There was another gasp, but then the fourth man sat silently. They coaxed him, and finally he spoke up.

“I don't know how to tell you this, my friends, but I have a terrible problem with gossip.”

I read where they finally found the perfect pastor. He preaches exactly 20 minutes every Sunday. When he looks at his watch, he knows how to tell time. He preaches on sin, but never steps on anyone's toes. He makes $400 per week, gives $100 to the church, drives a new car, dresses in fine clothes, and has a nice family.

He is 36-years-old and has been preaching for 40 years. He is tall on the short side, heavy-set in a thin sort of way, and handsome. He wears his hair parted in the middle: left side, dark and straight; right side, brown and wavy. He's bald in the back.

He has a burning desire to work with youth, and spends all of his time with senior citizens. He smiles all of the time while keeping a straight face; he has a keen sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated. He makes 15 visits a day to church members, 30 a day to unchurched persons and is always found in the office when someone pops in unexpectedly. He's the perfect pastor, except he keeps getting burned out.

Seriously, doing God's work is always challenging, frequently demanding, and often difficult, but it's usually fulfilling. I can't imagine doing anything else.