What does it take to be a great pastor?

Do you want to be a great pastor for God?

“Don’t quit, don’t fornicate, you will be the only one left and you will be great.”

I was stunned by those words.

Really?

Is that all it takes to be great for God as a pastor?

I heard those words for the first time in my Historical Theology class at Dallas Theological Seminary in 1994 from Dr. John Hannah when I was a 23-years old as a seminary student studying for the pastorate.

I am now 53 years old and realize how difficult it is and seemingly at times impossible to do these two simple things.

Don’t quit.

Don’t fornicate.

You will be the only one left and, well, you’ll be great.

For some of you reading this, this statement is incendiary to you. Maybe you have had a moral failure in the ministry, and you have gone through the process of properly being restored, and you are serving God’s people again. If that is the case, please know that this is not about bashing you, who have quit or had moral failures. I am extremely grateful for those choice servants of the Lord who did the very difficult task of allowing others to dig deep into their hearts and help them be restored to the pastorate. I wish them nothing but the best and I cheer them on.

This statement is also not about moral supremacy in the ministry. It is also not about how “perfect” you and I can be while serving God’s people. However, it is about very good men and women who early on in life dedicated their lives to serving the Lord and His people as a pastor or minister by living out the necessary disciplines, principles and commitments to help them do this. Somewhere along the way, our sincere desire to serve the Lord can be tempted to give way to a lesser desire in our flesh that leads to devastating pain, shame, and embarrassment.

The statement is a challenge to set out on a journey to live for God our entire lives without quitting or fornicating.

Quitting seems self-explanatory, right? But what does it mean to fornicate? As a pastor there are a couple of ways we can fornicate. We can commit a lewd act with someone other than our spouse. This act usually begins with unlawful indulgence of lust. In Scripture though, fornicating can also carry a spiritual meaning not just a sexual meaning. It can also denote idolatry. As pastors and ministry leaders, we can commit fornication by not standing up for the truth of God’s Word for God’s people. We can fornicate with the world and its values. God wants us to stay true to His Word. If we stay true to sexual purity and spiritual purity, we will have reached the only greatness that really matters in the end.

But it won’t be easy!

I have now served at the same church for 28 years. In 1996, my wife and I moved to Colorado Springs, Colo., with the Southern Baptist Convention to start Vanguard Church. Vanguard was one of 34 church plants in Colorado Springs, Colorado that year. 28 years later, I am the only founding pastor still at the church he started.

“Don’t quit. Don’t fornicate. You will be the only guy left and you will be great.”

But here’s the problem, I don’t feel great. I pastor a church that has only averaged over 1,000 people for one year in those 28 years and that was over a decade ago. As matter a fact, one year, 23% of the church left in seemingly one week. I really felt great that week.

My professor’s words would tell me I’m great, but my heart tells me I’m average at best. I had grandeur illusions of what the church I planted could become. I had grandeur illusions of who I could be for God. Thirteen years into this journey I was lost, discontented, deeply wounded, confused, angry, hurt, betrayed, and forced to face the reality that I too had created a church with problems. It was not perfect. It did not ring the bell and solve all the dilemmas the modern church is facing. As matter a fact, as I look around most of my church is just like your church.

So, the dilemma of it all is this — the pastorate is primarily not about growing a big unique church but about growing yourself as a shepherd so you can faithfully, wisely, purely, and sincerely, shepherd God’s people. Pastors, if you want to be great for God for a lifetime, you must keep growing spiritually yourself. Simple enough, right? But along the way, I have discovered what my teacher already knew. Simplicity doesn’t always equal easy.

I am just a servant like you. A few years ago, I captured the principles that have anchored me to remain faithful to God in the pastorate. I explore those concepts in the book, The Good Pastor. I invite you to consider it.

Keep telling the Lord this, “I will not quit on you Lord. And I will not fornicate in my sexuality or in my sincere responsibility to uphold and teach the truth of God’s Word to others.” But remain humble in your pursuit. Brennan Manning said it best, “I am just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”

My favorite prayer to pray after I preach is this: “Lord, whatever they have heard from me that is of you, help them never forget it. Whatever is of me, I pray they forget it the moment they walk away.”

Don’t quit!

Don’t fornicate!

May you be known by your spouse, your children, your grandchildren, and generations to come as one who was great for God. And may you hear one day from the Lord Himself, “Well done my good and faithful servant!”

Until then, keep being great for God!