Pastor

 I have held many titles over the years. Athletic Director. Coach. Youth Pastor. Evangelist. President of No Compromise Ministries. No title means more to me than Pastor. The word means shepherd. A person who leads, nurtures, cares, and protects his flock. 

In 1993, I held the title pastor for the first time. I had no idea what I was doing, and it soon showed. All I knew to do was the preach and try and win people to Jesus. The small country church began to grow. In fact, it more than doubled in two years. We did a major renovation project in our educational wing. Things went well. Suddenly things changed. I was learning how to preach three times a week. What I did not excel at was shepherding the people. I did know how. Nobody had ever taught me about hospital visitations. I soon got the opportunity to learn with a lady named Maurine Jones. 

Maurine was a very sick elderly lady. I visited her in the hospital hundreds of times. That is not exaggeration. She spent over eight straight months in the hospital at one point. I went to see her nearly every day as one problem compounded with another problem. Her insurance ran out. I mean they would not pay anymore. She was sent home and died in less than two weeks. She is the first funeral I ever preached. It was not difficult because I shepherded her. I walked through that difficult season with the family. I learned to be more than a preacher. I learned to be a pastor. 

Some call me Pastor Matt at Spring Creek. A couple of ladies just shorten it and call me Pastor. It is a term of affection. One I treasure. It is important to me to be both preacher and pastor. I have met many who excelled at one over the other. Some were great in the pulpit but failed in caring for and shepherding people. Others were great shepherds but poor preachers. Since my first job as pastor, it has been important to me to work hard at both. To care for the flock, love them, and shepherd them. I also want to feed their souls the word of God from the pulpit. 

Pastors are not CEOs. We are not running a business model. We are caring for a church. Sure, there are times when pastors are called to lead the church. We lead prayerfully, humbly, and always must remember it is God's church and Jesus is the Head. Pastors are not bosses telling everyone else what to do. A true pastor is a servant leader who gets his hands dirty working alongside the people. Pastors are not to be self-serving but willing to sacrifice like the Chief Shepherd for the good of the flock. 

It is my humble honor to be a pastor. To be entrusted with a flock to love, protect, guide, feed, and walk through life with the sheep. I would not trade being a pastor with any other job in the world. Not the President of the United States. Not the head of a fortune 500 company. Not a successful coach, Entrepeneur, business owner, or any other profession. God called me to be a pastor. It is role and title I cherish. It is a high and noble calling. I am humbled to be one of a few handpicked by God chosen for this service. I take I Peter 5:2-3 seriously. I had it stenciled on my old Bible. Shepherd the flock among you exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; not yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge but proving to be examples to the flock.