encouraging your pastor

This week, I’m doing the Encouragement Project a little differently- I’m specifically wanting to encourage my own pastor, whom I happen to share a bed with. No, it’s not scandalous, he’s my husband. I would love to share for a few minutes how this godly man does a phenomenal job of leading our church. It’s not often I get to brag on his pastoring “skillz” publicly, but I definitely want to take this opportunity to tell the world how great this man is. I believe every woman has bragging rights on her man. 🙂

First of all, let’s look at what a pastor should be. The book of Titus {chapter 1, verses 6-9} gives us the qualifications necessary for a pastor. My husband recently preached an awesome series on this passage right before we ordained three other elders to help shepherd our church. I won’t go list every qualification- this is a blog post, not a seminary thesis- but please  take time to read the passages yourself. It’s a huge calling on a man to be a pastor!

Let’s start with verse six-an elder must be “above reproach.” Ben has gone above and beyond to prove himself above reproach. It is all too common a headline that yet another minister has fallen into the trap of infidelity. But you know what, they didn’t go out one day and say, “I want to sleep with someone who isn’t my wife.” They most likely took small steps that slowly chipped away at their integrity, and one day, “That will never be me,” turns into, “Uh oh, that is definitely me.”

Ben, even prior to our marriage, has taken extreme caution in his interaction with other females. Some have even chided him for it {although I have NO idea why}, but he still has a third party present somewhere close by if he must counsel alone with a female. I can count on one hand the number of times he has ridden alone in a car with a female besides me, and in the extremely rare cases he has had to, he talks to me before and after the ride. We also have the passwords to each other’s Facebook accounts, etc. Our lives are an open book for one another!

Also, according to verse six, an elder must be “the husband of one wife.” Check. Not sure how other sects of Christianity excuse this portion of Scripture, but I am sure Ben would be quick to say one wife is plenty!

Verse seven tells us that an elder must be “not quick-tempered.” This man has the patience of Job. Seriously. Not only with our family but in all kinds of ministry situations. His compassion and optimism for broken people surpasses any I have ever seen. There have been occasions in ministry I have, in exasperation, wanted to throw in the towel on a person or a situation- but Ben honestly takes his hope for people above and beyond. {Both our former pastor, Bro. Mike Simpson and Ben’s dad, also a pastor-  set excellent examples in this capacity. Thanks for the great influence!}

Additionally, verse eight says that an elder must “love what is good.” Ben is constantly holding me accountable- as well as our ever-growing church- to pursue and love holiness. There are so many distractions in this world, but Ben is great at consistently leading us back to love what is “good”- Christ, above all, as well as helping others, loving one another and spreading Christ’s love.

Here is verse nine, since all of it works together:

… holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

If there is anyone who is faithful to preaching the word, it is Ben. He spends hours and hours each week, many of them before dawn, studying the Scripture in preparation for his sermons. No Saturday night deciding-what-to-preach for him! And it is incredible how his “holding fast to the faithful word” leads to both of the results in the second part of the verse: “he will be able to exhort in sound doctrine,” AND “refute those who contradict.”

By exhorting- the Bible simply means teaching and encouraging. Because he is faithful to the word, he is able to give incredibly Spirit-saturated sermons each week. {Want to hear what I’m talking about? Click here for all of his sermons for the last three seven years. That should keep ya busy for a while!} I’ve had people at church almost every single Sunday tell me what a great sermon he preached. I agree. 🙂

The second reason for pastors to stay absorbed in God’s word is to be able to defend their faith. {This goes for all believers, but pastors/elders are specifically mentioned here.} Does this mean they are supposed to come out with guns blazing and egos flaring? By no means. The “contradicting” Ben does is always in an extremely humble, loving way. His purpose is in no way to prove himself right, but to lead others to a saving knowledge of Christ, or to a restored relationship.

I am sure you are wondering where to find such an incredible pastor? 😉 If you live in Houston, we’d love to have you visit! {The Church in the Center– in the Medical Center area.} And if you’re not close by, please take the time encourage your pastor! (I’ll give specific ways to do just this in next week’s post.) His work is hard and his burdens many.

As I mentioned before, this is by no means a comprehensive list, but I just wanted to take the time to properly thank my husband for being the man that he is. I also don’t want anyone to think he is perfect- he’s not- but I can’t imagine God giving me a more wonderful person to have not only as my husband, but as my pastor.  I live with him and I can attest- he is who he says he is! Love you hon!

(this post originally appeared 9.28.2011)