Comments on: Take Some Risks

By: adam herod

adam herod — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:21:56 +0000

Great stuff Craig. Thanks for the encouragement. I recently served with a friend who tried to encourage me to not be transparent. It was a tough conversation when I told him that I was selective with my transparency (and depth of it) but I wasn’t going to change it. Thanks again for the encouragement to continue to lead as a real person saved by an amazing God.

By: EROPPER

EROPPER — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 22:48:16 +0000

It’s amazing that the “office” of a “senior Pastor” is totally man-made and invented and non-Scriptural…and yet very few even question it……………..

By: Melinda

Melinda — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 20:55:17 +0000

Or, they can attack you as a group while you are opening yourself up. Had it happen a month ago. Still recovering.

By: Best of teh Interweb | religion sucketh

Best of teh Interweb | religion sucketh — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:30:31 +0000

[...] advice for pastors from Craig Groeschel; Take Some Risks. [...]

By: The best of this week… | Planting Space

The best of this week… | Planting Space — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:56:52 +0000

[...] Take Some Risks [...]

By: Steve Cuss

Steve Cuss — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:58:13 +0000

Craig,

thanks for this great post! I heard Larry Osborne address this at a conference last year. He said (rough paraphrase) “If you try to live like a pastor, you’ll be a fake or burnout. If you try to live like a mature Christian, you’ll thrive.” Maybe not the exact words, but I liked the advice. I suppose a cynic could say, “I just live like me” but I found the words to be very helpful

Steve

By: Darien Gabriel

Darien Gabriel — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:46:38 +0000

I can so relate to this. Didn’t Jesus discourage his disciples from letting people call them rabbi? I appreciate the honoring going on but I’ll trade that for good ole down to earth Darien.

By: Yemi Ogunbase

Yemi Ogunbase — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:44:04 +0000

Craig, I read your book, “Confessions of a Pastor”. At that point I realized that although your earthly job title is “Senior Pastor”, you’re committed to being seen as a Follower of Christ who happens to be a pastor.

I think your authenticity is one of the reasons we consider LifeChurch our home church.

By: Brian Proffit

Brian Proffit — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:48:29 +0000

So true! FYI, I just quoted you and gave you a shout-out at equippingministryblog.com.

By: Heady

Heady — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:04:28 +0000

Craig, I couldn’t agree with you more: “Most people will see you as a pastor first. I want people to see me as a follower of Jesus who happens to be a pastor. (In my mind, the difference is big!)”

By: Jared

Jared — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:52:50 +0000

I was talking to somebody about intensly altering our lives in light of Scripture…pushing hard to follow everything Christ said. They replied by telling me that it was different for me - I needed to intensly follow Christ because I’m a pastor, but they didn’t necessarily need to (even though they are a believer).

But I’m just a follower of Christ who so happens to be a pastor. As a believer, I’m doing it to honor God. Why would any believer believe a “pastor” needs to follow it more than they do? It’s so sad! After all, we are all ministers.

AuthentiCity. I’m not authentic enough. Honestly, sometimes I think I fake it. And I know it’s seeable. No more!

By: Rusty Williams

Rusty Williams — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:28:57 +0000

Craig,
I couldn’t agree with you more about this subject. For me it is always a balance between say just enough or too much. I don’t struggle with saying too little as my church has discovered all too well. I do have a question in regards to bringing You or me or.. you know what I mean. Does that mean using myself as an example or showing my passion for the subject matter? I tend to use myself a lot as an illustration and I wonder sometimes if it is too much.
Thanks,
Rusty Williams

By: Kevin M.

Kevin M. — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:17:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing this Craig! Not being vulnerable with my church was something that I struggled with a lot for many years of my ministry. It took a HUGE wake-up call from God to snap me out of this. It still isn’t easy to do and not everyone always appreciates it but as you said “I want people to see me as a follower of Jesus who happens to be a pastor.” Whether they like it or not, I struggle too . . .

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:21:47 +0000

This post caused me to think of the book, “In The Name of Jesus” by Henri Nouwen:

“Often I have the impression that priests and ministers are the least confessing people in the Christian community…Ministers and priests are also called to be full members of their community, are accountable to them and need their affection and support, and are called to minister with their whole being, including their wounded selves.”

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:29:48 +0000

Right on! We are trying to build our new church on principles of integrity and transparency, and I and the rest of our leadership team have to show people what that looks like. I make a regular practice of coming clean and admitting in my public speaking and in my one-on-one interactions that I don’t have it all figured out and am still very much a work in progress. I think Jenn’s comment hit the nail on the head. God is no respecter of persons. He sees us as we are–filthy rags in need of his cleansing.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:02:16 +0000

When I meet new people, I rarely tell them that I’m a pastor right away. It seems that when I say that, I comes along with all kinds of presuppositions of who I am because people have baggage from other (possibly non authentic) pastors they have come across, or simply just their perception of what a pastor should be. It’s certainly not that I’m ashamed that I’m a pastor, I just don’t want the fact that I am to be a wall between us. Am I off base here?

By: Billy Johnson

Billy Johnson — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:36:28 +0000

Craig~ You are so right! I want to just be a follower of Jesus, with a specific ministry! Thanks for the thoughts!!

By: Craig Groeschel

Craig Groeschel — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:35:46 +0000

Kevin, Good to hear from you. I’m not sure what to suggest. You said it was during a transition time. Maybe they didn’t really want to hear what you were going through as you were transitioning.

Are any of you in a church culture that resists authenticity and vulnerability in preaching?

By: Philippe Jean

Philippe Jean — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:11:30 +0000

I couldn’t have put this better. This is so true. I’ve been doing this my self and, just like you said, people actualy see that you are real when you do it. The very unfortunate reality is that people think that Just because we’ve been called to preach and teach His word that we OBVIOUSLY have it all together, the reality this couldn’t be further from the truth! Well put. God Bless you guys!

By: Kevin Bussey

Kevin Bussey — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:58:28 +0000

Craig,

I agree. However not every church culture likes their pastor to be authentic. My transparency caused lots of pain in a transitioning situation. I think it was because most of them came from dysfunctional homes and the dysfunction carried on into the church. How would you overcome that?