5 Life-Saving Tips for Angry Pastors
A pastor needs another pastor—not a person who would sign off on everything that comes to your mind—but someone who will be objective enough to say “NO” or, when needed, “HELL NO” without risking losing the relationship. Sometimes, that person has to be found from outside your immediate ranks.
But find someone to talk to before you say something you will regret for the rest of your ministry.
2. Don't put it in writing.
Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake some pastors make and take the fight from the church and finish it off on Facebook.
That NEVER works.
Repeat, that NEVER works. For the hard of hearing, THAT NEVER WORKS.
Here’s why: What may be a one-on-one clash can now become a Twilight fight. In the movie series Twilight, fans were either Team Edward or Team Jacob. Fans chose Team Edward or Team Jacob even though they would never engage in personal combat.
That’s how some people will view a pastor’s rebuke online—they’ll be Team Pastor or Team Member instead of becoming Team Jesus.
I’ve had the opportunity lately to counsel several pastors, some whom I don’t even know, when I read their “blowing off steam” posts on Facebook. Even in a private room for preachers, you have to be careful.
The best quote is this: “You can’t misquote silence.”
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Pastor Robert Earl Houston is the seventeenth senior pastor of the 180 year-old First Baptist Church, Frankfort, Kentucky. He is the husband of Jessica Georgette Houston. He has been serving as senior pastor since April 2009. He has been in ministry for over 34 years and pastoring for over 23 years.
He has pastored or served on staff in congregations in Oregon, California and Tennessee. He is a Board Member and Webmaster of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.; President, Kentucky State Convention of PNBC; Chairman of the Publishing Board, General Association of Baptists in Kentucky which produces The American Baptist Newspaper, one of the oldest African-American Publications in the nation.
More from Robert Houston or visit Robert at roberthouston.org/
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