JR Vassar, a pastor in New York, has a challenging and encouraging post on authentic pastoring. The basic summary of the article is that we can be great pastors, at least in terms of outward effectiveness, and still fail to be good disciples of Christ.
It’s a challenging article because it seems that doing the work of ministry can very easily eclipse my focus on loving and pursuing Jesus. Especially when the payoff is tangible (e.g. finishing an announcement video, sending an email, completing a project) or the project it urgent (e.g. the youth room caught on fire), ministry work can encroach upon the time I should be spending in prayer or in the word.
It’s an encouragement that I’m not the only person that feels this tension.