Pastor Sam Crabtree highlights 15 temptations that a pastor might face.
The five I fear the most:
1. Familiarity—“loss of awe at holy and amazing things.”
4. Mediocrity—doing the bare minimum.
10. Numbing—“TV, food, escapism, banal entertainment.”
13. Envy—“looking over the fence at some other ministry.”
14. Self-rule—following my own agenda rather than taking time to listen and follow the Spirit.
“When Adrian Rogers became pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, the church had been a strong deacon-led church for decades. One of his predecessors, R.G. Lee, had preferred a deacon-led church because he was often gone for preaching engagements. Ramsey Pollard, who followed Lee, was unable to change that procedure. Adrian Rogers believed in a strong pastor-and-staff-led church. When asked what he did to turn this around, he replied that he had the deacons meet only for an hour one Sunday afternoon a month. He took the first forty-five minutes and taught them what the Bible said about the role of deacons and left them only fifteen minutes to discuss business. According to Acts 6, they were to be assistants to the pastor, not an official board. He taught them the Word of God” (James Bryant and Mac Brunson, The New Guidebook for Pastors, 23).
Treasuring Christ