A Good Burger & Great Pastors

Last week I had the opportunity to sit with 11 pastors from all around the San Antonio area. This was our agenda:

• Eat a good burger (Chris Madrids is the spot!)

• Make and build solid friendships

Check and check! The time we had together was so refreshing. Most often when you get pastors in a room together numbers, programs, and church budget meetings drive the direction of conversations. This space we sought to make was intentionally different. Pastors simply need a venue to make and maintain authentic relationships with others who share the same daily calling and mission.

At some point during our time together the book “Letters to a Young Pastor” by Eric and Eugene Peterson came up as a must-read. Once in my car, Amazon Prime ensured a copy was in my hands within 24 hours. The book contains 37 letters from a seasoned pastor written to encourage and inspire a new leader in ministry. These just happen to be penned by a father to his son (Eugene Peterson to Eric Peterson).

I couldn’t get past the first letter! I have to share with you what struck my heart in a profound way:

“Dear Eric,

I can’t tell you how pleased I’ve been since you suggested that I write these letters to you, reflecting on our common pastoral calling. (Jan is too!) And I’ve been writing and rewriting (in my head) this first one ever since your telephone call, trying to get it right. And I can’t. I guess I'm thinking I’ve got to come up with something like Paul to Timothy and Titus. And I can’t - so this is what you get - just your old dad, trying to make sense of what we’ve both been given to do.

I think what strikes me most forcibly as I go over this is how different your world is from the one I grew up in and tried to learn how to be a pastor in. And in the light of that, realizing how context-specific pastoral work is: There is not much that can be generalized and passed on from one generation to another. The substance, of course, is the same - prayer and the Scriptures, obedient love and the holy sacraments, honest preaching and teaching. But the details - and pastoral work is almost nothing but the details - are so different that practically everything has to be worked out from scratch, on the job.” (pages 1-2)

Here is what I want us to catch:

• Keep the main thing the main thing!

  • Pray

  • Courageously read and follow God’s Word

  • Obey because you have been lovingly forgiven

  • Celebrate the sacraments (Baptism and The Lord’s Supper)

  • Be honest while pointing others to Jesus when you preach/teach

• Know your context, it matters!

  • Where are you?

  • What time is it?

  • Who is around you?

  • Take what is listed above and authentically insert it into your space!

  • God has placed you where you are for a reason!

Thank you, Pastor, for saying yes to your calling. Your drive. Your mission. Surround yourself with others who will be real with you and inspire you. Hang tightly to Jesus and share Him where God has placed you. The time is now! Peace and love TWP fam!