Sunday is Clergy Appreciation Day...

...what are you doing to encourage your pastor?

I grew up the daughter of a pastor, and I am now the daughter-in-law of a pastor. So I know a little something about the pressures of the ministry...the discouragement, the fatigue, and the pitfalls, as well as the rewards.

Sunday is Clergy Appreciation Day, and I encourage you to let your spiritual leaders know how much you appreciate them. The following is from a Christianity Today article:

Eight Ways to Encourage Your Pastor

1. Cut the Criticism
2. Pray regularly
3. Express appreciation in writing
4. Use your skills to bless
5. Squelch gossip
6. Offer to meet a need
7. Be openly responsive
8. Throw away the measuring stick

You can read the entire article here.

This piece of humor is an oldie-but-a-goodie--and in some cases, not much of an exaggeration!:

The Perfect Pastor preaches exactly 10 minutes. He condemns sin roundly, but never hurts anyone's feelings. He works from 8 a.m. until midnight, and is also the church janitor.

The Perfect Pastor makes $40 a week, wears good clothes, drives a good car, buys good books, and donates $30 a week to the church. He is 29 years old and has 40 years' worth of experience. Above all, he is handsome.

The Perfect Pastor has a burning desire to work with teenagers, and he spends most of his time with the senior citizens. He smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his church. He makes 15 home visits a day and is always in his office to be handy when needed.

The Perfect Pastor always has time for church meetings and all of its committees, never missing the meeting of any church organization. And he is always busy evangelizing the unchurched.

The Perfect Pastor is always in the next town over!

If your pastor does not measure up, simply send this notice to six other churches that are tired of their pastor too. Then bundle up your pastor and send him to the church at the top of your list. If everyone cooperates, in one week you will receive 1, 643 pastors. One of them should be perfect.

Have faith in this letter. One church broke the chain and got its' old pastor back in less than three months.