Pastoring for free
This coming Sunday will be our second week at Horizon talking about becoming generous with out money, and I uncovered something interesting in my research today. I was reading about how Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church, and his wife Katy had become reverse tithers and now give away 90% of their income and live on 10%. While I was reading this article I was hit by something Warren said and to me it was me it was even more amazing than the faith they have to give 90%. He said,
“I don’t know a single pastor who does it for money. There are so many easier ways to make money. Believe me, if you want to make money, don’t be a pastor. But a lot of media think that the pastors are in it for the money. Every one of them I know would serve for free if they could.”
That really hit me hard. Would I do what I do for free? Well, even though the fact is at this point in Horizon’s life I basically get paid nothing there is a big difference between getting paid basically nothing and getting paid nothing AT ALL. The more I thought about it the more I realized that 2 years ago I honestly wouldn’t pastor a church for nothing. It wasn’t all about the money for me, but ministry was my profession. Thankfully, as my faith and reliance on God has grown so has my ability to see the importance and necessity of my work outside of just being my profession.
I think it’s easy for ministers of every level and type of church to become professional Christians, or career pastors. Sooner or later it becomes a weekly grind and if we aren’t able to get our heads about the clouds of routine we will become stuck in the rut of our work.
I’m not declaring my righteousness here, but I am truly grateful that God has allowed me to become a pastor, minister, husband, father, friend, brother, and son that relies more on him now that I ever before. I can truly say that I would pastor Horizon for free if it ever came to that. That’s hard to say outloud because it could very seriously become a reality for me within the next year, but that’s how much I believe in this church’s mission and love the people that are a part of it or will become a part of it in the future.
