SECRET2

I shared several of my personal secrets in my last blog so today I thought I'd share some of Joelene's.


















So ... I can't believe you clicked on that link so fast to get here.

Did you seriously think I was going to share her secrets with you?  I'm so disappointed in you.  Really.


But since I have you interested, I will share some secrets - not the ones you were hoping for, but important ones nonetheless.

Pastors have secrets.  Several of them.

One secret we keep is that we feel pressure to live up to your expectations.  We really want to because we love you, but deep down we know we can't meet them all.  But we keep trying.  These days, the pastor is expected to be a wise businessman, a gifted communicator, a charismatic personality, a miraculous counselor,  a bold visionary, a team leader, a strategist, a servant, a passionate worshipper, a lead sacrificial giver, a healer and an evangelist with a model marriage, family and home life.  That's just a little bit of pressure.

Another of our hard-kept secrets is how hard it is for us to tell you what you need to hear.  It's far easier to tell you what you want to hear, and yet the Holy Spirit compels us to do more - at our own risk.  It's another mark of our care for you that while we want to consistently be pastoral in our words, sometimes it's the prophetic we know that needs to be heard.

We have a secret that we're a lot like you.  We want to make a difference - like you.  We sometimes feel like we aren't getting anywhere - like you.  It gives us such a great feeling when we hear someone says, 'Nice job' - like you.  We sometimes struggle financially - like you.

One of our more painful secrets we tend to keep to ourselves is that church life can be hard on our children.  It's a glass house we live in.  We're telling everyone else how to live and sometimes that doesn't work itself out perfectly in our own homes, no matter how hard we try.  Sometimes the crowd's expectation of our families is unrealistic.  Additionally, our odd schedules make it hard to connect with our own families at times.

Another secret is that sometimes we fear we won't have anything to say to you.  It's amazing how quickly seven days go by.  No matter how 'good' we are on Sunday the 7th, Sunday the 14th is only hours away once you walk away from Sunday morning service.  The clock keeps ticking.  We have to be brilliant again in another 164 hours.  God always comes through and we've learned to trust that, but there's a drain that can't be mistaken.

There are many more secrets I could share but one last I can't resist is that sometimes we're lonely.  I don't say that as a 'poor me,' but there are serious things people share with us - secrets - that we will take to our graves.  There is pain we carry for others because we love deeply.  We know friends who have left ministry because they couldn't handle the pain, the stress, the loneliness, the expectations, the struggles.

One thing that isn't a secret and for which we are so grateful is that we are deeply loved in return -- we feel people praying for us -- we have been invited in to small groups of friends' circles to share life with -- we know we're doing what God has called us to do -- we've been given freedom to be imperfect -- we're showered with grace when we misstep.


So thank you for allowing me to share some secrets and thank you for praying for us.

And be blessed.