New Pastors: Advice for the New Pastors: The what "to do's" and not "to do's" on Day One

[Rev. Charles Moore]

I remeber my first comments on the BPN was under Min. Lockett discussion regarding "My First Sermon." At that time I was like him "An associate minister, faithful, patience, prayerful, hard working, and preparing for the day when God's will would allow me to pastor a church. You hear the discussion all the time, "When I am a Pastor, I will do this and that. We dont covete the position but we see ourselves preparing for the opportunity. Well, my season is here. After prayer/fasting/listening I recently accepted the Letter from a church to Psator. Words can't describe how I have been feeling. I'm careful to request to stay in God's mercy, remain humble, listen twice before speaking once, trying not to fix things that are not broken, (that is another discussion) learning names, praying frequently, and teaching/preaching. Every Pastor who I know has called, emailed, & texted congrats but I'm looking for advice from some of the experience members of BPN to begin a discussion of advice to new Pastors. I would rather learn from others mistakes than make them. School can prepare you but on day one, life experinces re-train you. by the way, all those ideas you had racing through your mind before you became a Pastor seem to exit on day one. I would like to hear your advice to New Pastors. I have always been one to recieve advice and learn from it.

[Catisha Asbury]

Amen!

[Bishop Marc L. Neal]

Wow, what a great topic. I actually have written a book on this subject. Did God Send You, or Did the Members Call You? Now that you are there whats next? I recommend this material for every new pastor and seasoned pastor as a refresher. If you, it may be order offline - winepress publishing, barnes and noble, amazon. etc. (isbn 1-57921-667-6) And be for you do - email me - [e-mail],and I will be happy to send a few excerpts. Love you all like a play cousin.

Pastor Marc L. Neal

[Pastor Selena B. Cepeda]

Greetings,

My husband and I just started a ministry. The question I have is, "is it harder to pastor an established church?" My husband and I started two months ago with thirty people in a house. Now God has blessed us with a building. It is a blessing to serve God's people, however, it would seem much harder to set vision in an already established ministry.

[Pastor John H. Young, Sr]

Yes, it is much easier to establish vision in a new ministry, but it also is a lot of work to start a ministry as well. Vision planting in an established church can take quite a bit of time, especially if the church is stagnant in growth and leadership is set on things being status quo (the way they've been or used to be). Older established churches are treated as "Second Homes". In some cases, it is the only thing that they feel ownership in, and they don't want anyone "sitting on the plastic covered couch".

On the other hand, new churches go through changes similar to child growing up. They are cute as infants, but soon you will have to go through potty training, crawling, walking (with many painful falls), running, first day at school (discipline), puberty, peer pressure, terrible teens, and young adulthood. The ministry will finally get to procreation stage (growth stage). This is a challenge not just for the congregation, but also for the leader, as the whole style of leadership changes. The more souls that come to Christ, the more delegation of authority must happen or you will find the ministry stagnate and eventually shrink back to what only you as pastor can actuall handle. The average church in America has an attendance of 75 or less, because 1 good man or woman can only pour themselves into about 60 people at a time.

[Pastor Annette Patrick]

Wow! Since starting our church I have prayed daily for some kind of information to help me through the process. I live in the Christian Bookstores and have yet to find on book on Pastoring 101. I kept telling all my friends to write the book - somebody needs to tell the "real deal" .So this advice is so refresing and uplifting.

I am also glad to find this network. It is a blessing just to hear what others are experiencing - it helps all of us!

[Robert A Mozley Jr.]

i like the purpose driven church book by Pastor rick warren and his pastors.com web site

[Diane Sherrod]

Pastor Young,

I read your comments and your thoughts on the above topic, they are insightful, realistic, and powerful. I made note of some of your points.

Be encouraged and continue to share your seasoned wisdom.

Diane

[Robert A Mozley Jr.]

Excellent info Pastor I find that to be very true "having church" and growing a church is totally different,and my advice to the young Pastor is to learn how,when and what to delegate and to gleen as you are doing now from more seasoned people and do not be afraid to fellowship with those who have excelled in their call.
I have made the mistake of fellowshiping with only churches who are on our same level and you cant get greater growth that way.

[TrustnGod]

Thank you so much!

[Pastor Robin]

I loved you synopsis of it all...from beginning to end. My husband and I planted a ministry in a very dry area...the PNW. You have described our ministry in every phase. We are now in our 6th year...growing into year 7, and wow what a journey. We have grown as the ministry has, but even through the challenges we still stand.

[Pastor Bonnie Hunter]

Greetings,
I founded the ministry that I pastor, and the Lord has blessed. Been pastoring for 14 years. I agree with Pastor Selena. It is much harder to go into an established church. I oversee 9 churches. One of them, the church hired the pastor. He went in and began to change things quickly, and they didnt like it. After two years they asked for his dismissal. First you must get to know the people, find out the vision of the house before you got there, find out how they treat pastors, prayerfully select your board members, because they hold your pay check (sorry to put it that way). Many hold the power and say if we hired him, we can fire him. Make sure you get a pastoral agreement, that's crucial. You must protect yourself and your family. Also, get a job description, so you will know what they expect of you. All of this goes with a pastor that inherits a church. Make sure you dont have a buddy system. Stay close to your family. Lift up your wife at all times. Preach the word in season and out of season.
Just a few pointers. We will be praying for you. I tell anybody its easy looking from the outside. But when you take on that responsibility, you got to know that God is with you. If God be for you, He is more then a whole world against you.

Bless you son!

Overseer, Dr. Bonnie Hunter

[Catisha Asbury]

Amen! It is hard to set vision in a ministry that is already set in their way!