What is the "flip side" of your pastor and his family? As you sit in your church Sunday after Sunday, as you receive a constant flow of encouraging words from the man in the pulpit, what (if anything) do you think about your pastor - as a man? Is there a “flip side” (another side) of him that needs your immediate attention?
Think about this: Recently there were some rather startling statistics compiled from a wide variety of denominational sources. The numbers (in the form of percentages) presented for our enlightenment were about such concerns as: pastors, their wives, their marriages, their children and their personal relationship with the Lord.

What are the concerns on your pastor’s mind when he is not talking with you from the pulpit? Let me give you a list, according to the survey, for you to think about. He is concerned with:

Spiritual burnout; moral failure; divorce; discouragement; a different job;
failure of seminary to properly train them; dealing with disgruntled and
uncooperative people in their church; money problems, questions about
their call to the ministry. In addition, he worries about the way his wife feels, when
she says he is overworked; that she is left out and unappreciated, objects
to church pressure to do things she is not trained to do; that his ministry
work is slowly destroying their marriage. The need for their teen-age
children to get professional help for depression. Also, as a couple, they are
worried that all of this depression may lead then into extra marital affairs

Perhaps your pastor may never complain to you about the following additional concerns but: 70% of pastors do not have a close friend, confident or mentor, 95% do not pray regularly with their wives, 80% spend less than 15 minutes a day in prayer and 70% said the only time they spend studying the Bible is while preparing weekly sermons.

Would you agree the man (and his family) who speaks such encouraging words to you from the pulpit every Sunday needs your help? Obviously, he needs you to come alongside and make his life better in the days ahead. So what can you do? First of all, pray for pastors everywhere and especially pray for the pastor of your church.

Finally, suggest to your church that they should send your pastor to the brand new week-long leadership-training course being offered this summer for pastors and their families in Ocean Grove, NJ. The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association will sponsor these weekly sessions called: “Breakthrough Executive Coaching.” They will begin on June 23rd and continue until August 25th. All pastors are cordially invited to attend.

Email: originalsbyweber@gmail.com