Everybody Needs a Pastor

I am a pastor.  It's my calling.  It's a privilege.  My son is a pastor.  My son-in-law is a pastor.  Josh and I meet on Monday nights for an hour to talk ministry - Paul/Timothy style.  I was Josh's pastor for nearly ten years before he was my son-in-law.  In a few short months he and my daughter are headed to seminary.  We are enjoying these weekly meetings to talk ministry before the next transition stage in Josh's life.  The last two weeks as part of our hour we have taken a few minutes to call a pastor who has impacted my life and whom I hold in high regard.  Last week it was Pastor George Jackman from New Hampshire.  Tonight it was my pastor - Frank Wood.  He's from Georgia, and is serving there now.  I have more pastors on my list and we will have rich conversations with them in the weeks to come.  

Pastor Wood did not know we were going to call, but when he answered and we had him on speaker phone we were in for an amazing blessing for the next twenty minutes.  As I listened to Frank speak into Josh's life my eyes filled with tears.  I realized how deeply I was impacted by a man who was my pastor for about four years.  Frank spent four years in New York, but everyone who has ever heard me preach or been impacted for good by the Lord through my life has seen Frank's life.  His love for Jesus, his own family, the church he served as pastor, and the community where he served were a model for me to this day.  

Pastor Frank baptized me, licensed me to the ministry, ordained me and married Kathy and me.  When I moved to seminary just a year after my father died, he followed in a few days and brought my Mom with him and his family to be a part of the opening days of the seminary called Founder's Days.  He connected me with a pastor in Tennessee who invited me to serve with him and I served that church for seven years.  As we closed our conversation tonight, I asked him to pray for Josh.  As I listened to my pastor from years ago pray for my son-in-law and pray for me, I was deeply touched.  I was reminded that everybody needs a pastor - someone who serves as a shepherd to the Lord's flock.  

I'm not the perfect pastor - far from it.  But I'm not sure I've ever been more grateful for the privilege to serve the Lord and His people in this way than I am tonight.  If you are a pastor and are reading this, I want you to know that what you do matters.  You are making a difference in some young man today who may call you in thirty years and thank you for your ministry in his life.  This world is in a mess.  Jesus is the answer.  Press on pastor.  It's a privilege.  Everybody needs a pastor.  I have been blessed with some great ones to this very day.  Frank Wood, there will never be a better one.  I am grateful for you.  Your footprint is on my heart.  To God be the glory - and to Northside - the flock I serve with now - thank you for the privilege.  It's an honor.