Taking Care of Pastors
I was a youth pastor for just over 20 years. I started my ministry serving a small church in Crab Orchard, TN on the weekends in 1982. I was a junior at Johnson University (formally Johnson Bible College). I then served as youth minister at First Christian Church in Maryville, TN for 2.5 years. In the Spring of 1986 I moved to Whitesburg, Georgia to become the first full-time youth minister at Whitesburg Christian Church. In 1991 I moved up the road to serve at First Christian Church in Carrollton. In February 2003, I became a REALTOR and simply brought my ministry background of serving others into what I believe has always been a service industry. I was taught early on that REALTORS were sales and marketing and I agree that this is part of my job. I do believe that the bulk of my role as a REALTOR is to serve the needs of my clients and help them move with as little stress upon them as possible.
During my time in ministry, I learned quickly that ministry was not about making money. I found myself barely above the poverty line in most every church I served. There is a big gap in how much the average person in ministry makes verses their counterpart in business. This is troubling to me. I remember one particular incident that hurt me at Christmas time when as a young youth minister, I was expecting a Christmas bonus. The church leadership decided to fold it into my salary starting the next year. It was just a business decision on their part, but it crushed my spirit and my kids were going to have a slim Christmas. To this day, I still have a warm place in my heart to the people who serve in ministry. They don’t serve for the salary, but it sure helps if they’re not the poorest in the church.
This topic came up this morning as I read where Joshua and the leaders were giving land to the Levites who were serving as priests and spiritual leaders for the people. Check this out….
1Then the leaders of the tribe of Levi came to consult with Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders of the other tribes of Israel. 2 They came to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us towns to live in and pasturelands for our livestock.” 3 So by the command of the Lord the people of Israel gave the Levites the following towns and pasturelands out of their own grants of land. (Joshua 21:1-3 NLT)
I am thankful for people in ministry. They come to visit when we’re sick. The invest their lives into others for the sake of the Kingdom. They give themselves away in service for the kingdom. I believe that the church should be generous to them. Not everyone can make tents like Paul and be self-sustaining from his side gig. I would love to see churches really serve well the people who give themselves to ministry. When I was in ministry, I had a friend in student ministry at a denominal church in town and this young man made more annually than the lead pastor I served with. There is something broken and “out of wack” with that. I would love for churches across our world to be generous with those serving in ministry locally and in other countries as missionaries. I don’t think they should be the wealthiest, but certainly not the poorest either.
A couple of suggestions…. Let’s give our pastors and ministers a well thought out “salary bump” soon and throw in some benefits and extra days of to be with their families. Let’s figure out how to serve them well as they serve the kingdom. If I could, I’d give our ministry staff land and a home like the Levites received.
Pressing On!
Dwayne