Let me say at the outset that I appreciate the topic you have chosen for today's talk. To highlight the importance of ministry in your community and to acknowledge the worthiness of Pastors is truly a worthy subject. I appreciate the sincerity of your organization in wanting to pay homage to the Pastors of this community. I recognize that ministry is probably one of the most difficult of all careers. There are many studies that say that respect for that profession is pretty low on the totem pole. I think it ranks down there at the bottom along with used car salesmen and politicians.

As I view ministry today, I see it perhaps as the most difficult it has ever been. I admit there are many thriving churches but there are also many sluggish and almost dying churches. To serve the latter kind of church is not an easy proposition because the hurts are pretty strong in those congregations and people have pretty high expectations in their desire to see things turned around or to see significant improvement. So those expectations are brought to council meetings and other meetings where the church's position is put on display.

I came across this study recently that points out the difficulty of the profession of ministry. I would like to share this information with you. This is from the March/April 2001 Ministry Magazine. It goes like this (it's a did-you-know kind of thing):
Did you know 90 percent of Pastors work more than 46 hours a week. I used to have a person come to me when I was in the parish and say "When are you going to get a real job?" And I often wanted to say to him, although I did not, "About the same time as you learn to keep your mouth shut." But I let those kinds of improper pieces of humor go. But 90 percent of Pastors work more than 46 hours a week. This surely complicates some people's lives who think that the Pastor only works one hour per week.

Did you know that 80 percent believe that Pastoral ministry has affected their family negatively. When I was in Seminary I saw that already appear. There were already marriage turmoils from the young Seminarians when I went to Seminary. They already recognized that their spouses and their family members would probably be on display more than they would have wanted to be and that was already having a negative effect on their lives.

Another did you know is this: 33 percent say that being in ministry is an outright hazard to their family. I guess that implies that one-third of those in ministry believe that their family lives are really much more on display than they would otherwise have been and this causes some real grief.

There are some more did-you-knows and here they are: Did you know that 75 percent report a significant stress-related crisis at least once in their ministry. That; my friends, is a three out of four statistic, meaning that this kind of big stress comes along and creates a major problem sometime in the life of their ministry.

Did you know that 50 percent feel unable to meet the demands of the job? There are so many different avenues to the job of ministry that I would like to say more about that later in this talk.

Moving on. Did you know that 90 percent feel they were inadequately trained to cope with ministry demands. That is very interesting. Nine out of ten Pastors feel that the training they received was not adequately structured for them to be fully prepared to do what they are doing today.

Did you know that 79 percent say they have a lower self image now than when they started? That is also a distressing kind of thing. Seven out of ten Pastors feel that they have a lower self image than when they started in this profession.

Did you know that 40 percent report a serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month? Now I know all of you who are going to church are not those kinds of people who create conflicts with your Pastor but 40 percent report some major conflict with a parishioner at least once a month. Not once or twice a year but once a month!

Did you know that 70 percent do not have someone they consider a close friend. That is also worrisome because it means that ministry to a great extent is an isolated profession.

Did you know that 50 percent of the ministers have considered leaving ministry in the last three months? That's half of the Pastors who were surveyed had considered leaving the ministry in the last three months. That means many ministers think about that three or four times a year. I can identify with that because when I was in my second church I used to carry my Letter of Resignation around with me in my pocket and touch it periodically, just to remind me that there was some hope at the end of the tunnel.

Did you know fifty percent of those who go into full time service drop out in five years? Did you know that there is that kind of a drop-out rate in ministry? Did you know that it is that difficult that 50 percent of the ministers drop out after 5 years.

There are two more did-you-knows: 94 percent of clergy families feel the pressure of the Pastor's ministry. That is also significant because it means that no matter how hard you try to keep your family from recognizing the heartaches of what you are about - 94 percent of the time they feel the full brunt of some of these stressors.

Last but not least on the did-you-know list: 66 percent of church members expect a minister and family to live at a higher moral standard than they do. Two-thirds of the people in church expect the minister to have a higher moral standard then they do. I don't think that's any surprise to us either.

I am reminded of a remark made by Dr. Vance Havner. He was a very renowned Southern Baptist and he once said this about ministry: "A minister should go to every service as though it were the first, as though it could be the best, and as though it might be the last."

There is a text in I Timothy that talks about what we should do if we are Deacons in the church. To some degree I think that applies to ministers as well. And I think that if we are able to follow those kinds of edicts that, in many instances, we can rise above some of these problems I talked about earlier in this speech. Those texts in I Timothy talk about what must be done to be a Deacon. And, of course, the first is that they must be serious. Now I recognize that I'm like you, I enjoy laughter and I certainly enjoy happiness. But I think what Timothy is talking about in ministry is that you have to be focused and you must be dedicated. And that comes off, I guess, as seriousness.

Another thing mentioned there is they should concentrate on shepherding and teaching. I think one of the difficult points about ministry today is to be able to be a teacher. We don't have a lot of people in our churches who have much Sunday School experience. In fact we are raising generations of people who never go to any other church meeting but a worship service. Therefore they only hear what we can provide in a brief 20 minute experience. Then there are all sorts of distractions about that. So they really know very little about the Bible and what it means to be a Christian. So, the minister has to center in on teaching and on providing good pastoral care.
Another point in that I Timothy text is that we should not be double-tongued. What that essentially means is that the minister has to be careful about the way he or she words things and they have to somehow be sincere, authentic and slow to criticize and devoid of hypocrisy.

So those are lofty things to think about in terms of the biblical mandate of ministry. With all of that it ends by saying they should not be addicted to wine and not greedy for gain, seeming to emphasize watch the way you imbibe in alcoholic beverages and also watch your desire for materialism.

I got a first hand example of that in my first church. I thought we were doing quite well and things were going well, the church was growing. When I started, the church was almost dead. So at one meeting I spoke to the various persons in the church about an increase in my financial package. I was rather surprised at some of the remarks that were made during that meeting. I remember one of our wealthier members who ran a lumber yard in that small town in Iowa. He looked at me and said, "Pastor, if we approve this package you'll be doing better than I am, and I don't want any Pastor to live better than I do." You can imagine what happened from that point on. There was certainly no approval of any increase in my package. He pretty much nipped that in the bud with his remark. I could have pointed out to him that there was no way in God's green earth that I could afford a nice home like he had, or the leisurely schedule he had. But that's part of the problem in ministry, you have to keep your mouth shut most of the time.

As you value your Pastors today 1 want you to remember that ministry is a career that forces the individuals to be patient. The Bible speaks of numerous times when waiting is part of the process. We know the story of Jesus' birth, which we will be studying more at this season of the year. It introduces us to a host of people who were waiting: Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon and Anna. Waiting is not a very popular attitude. I don't see many people waiting very nicely at stop signs or in lines in grocery or department stores. Waiting is not something that people think about with any great deal of sympathy. In fact, most people consider waiting a waste of time. And yet ministry, to a great extent, is waiting for things to happen, trying to set machinery into motion to make those things happen, but not get too carried away at the lack of speed that they will happen. That, my friends, is one of the big dilemmas about being a minister. Waiting is forced upon you and you have to develop an attitude of acceptance of waiting. If you can't do that you are going to be an unhappy minister.

So, as you and I think about what is good about ministry I want you to look at your Pastors as people who have the patience to wait. We should make it available to those people that we appreciate that kind of self control and the ability to look at a greater good in making things happen.

To be in ministry today means to maintain your hopefulness. To maintain your hopefulness, not only do you have to have a strong faith, you have to have a hope that you can see God's actions in the world continuing to unfold. Ministry has to be a profession of hopefulness. And I hope as you look at your Pastors and as you revere them today, that you will be thankful for the hopeful perspective they provide. We need more hopeful people in this world. We need people who will say things from the heart, that will talk about hope and dreams, and talk about God's action in their lives.

Ministry is intended to help people with that whole business of looking at the spiritual aspect of life. And even though many people do not talk about their spiritual lives very openly we know it is important. And we know that that importance shows itself in the way we often deal with crisis.

It's interesting, in my particular ministry, that I hear all sorts of people saying wonderful things about God and the reason for that is because they are facing something very difficult. That's usually when people begin to remember how good God really is when they are scared to death.

As we move to a conclusion in this talk I move in that direction by saying to you that ministry is all about serving, and I want you to see your pastors in that vein. The Greek term was Diakoncia which meant "to serve". Willingness to serve in whatever capacity has to be one of the main fundamentals of the Christian ministry and I know that for many of us we don't have a high regard for serving others. It's not something that many people premium. And yet it is at the heart of ministry. If you don't wish to serve others, if you don't want to be humble in that service, then ministry will be a difficult career. But I hope you people here today will begin to see that serving others is a beautiful way in which to live. And it is something that we should value in other people.

Immediately akin to that kind of perspective is the perspective talked about in I Thessalonians; chapter 3, verse 12. It says this: "May the Lord make your love mount and overflow towards one another and towards all; as our love does toward you." This is at the heart of the call for ministry. To be people who can love other people, and to try to be as pure about that as you possibly can. To not overreact to people's foibles, people's negative criticisms, and people's inability to see your perspective. Ministry requires special talents. It requires the best of the best.

Even though the financial packages for ministers are not great, it is important that we recognize that people who do this profession very well are truly unusual people. They have many different kinds of skills. Just think about those kind of skills for a moment. They are not only preachers, but they are teachers, they are overseers of an administrative process within an organization, they are also substitute janitors, they are responsible for organizing the worship services, they are also responsible for dealing with the musicians of the church. The list of their responsibilities goes on and on and on. So it isn't an easy profession. It certainly isn't a profession for the weak. It is for the strong and the endurable and for the patient.

As you continue on in this precious season of the year I hope you will see your Pastors in a wholly different light. You will see them as worthy persons who are called to do what they are doing. They have many struggles, but you can help them along by supporting them and by encouraging them, and by giving them as much appreciation as you can. That's the way we can show our ministers that we care, by making their lives easier and by following the spiritual direction they provide.

I am glad I had this chance to talk about ministry with all of you and I hope that as you continue on with your lives that you will have many positive experiences with ministers over the years. I would not be in ministry today if it were not for an older Lutheran minister who came to my bedside when I was 15 years old and I was having a very difficult time in my life. I was in the hospital for three different things. I was in the hospital for poison ivy. athlete's foot and sinus headaches.

As I was laying in that hospital bed feeling very sorry for myself and wondering why I had to have all these things happen to me at once, this older pastor came to me and held my hand and complimented me on the kind of Confirmand I had been, and on the fact that I had been such a good acolyte, and complimented me on the fact that he could depend on me to listen when he spoke, and then, after he gave me all those compliments, he said, "And I know another thing that is very evident in your life: you have been called by God to go into the ministry." I practically urinated my pants right there in the bed but I know that he planted the seed which led to a call which led to me being in ministry today.

So I am grateful to that older Pastor back in the town of Ottumwa, Iowa, many, many years ago. And there isn't a Pastor around today that hasn't had many good examples of ministry given to them and probably had some Pastor make the same kind of conversation with them which led them to that calling.

Thank you again for this topic and I hope we have done justice to it.

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