Audience of 1

Life is a tough gig. If you're married, you want your spouse to be happy and satisfied. Family? You want your kids to be happy. Employed? You want your boss happy...if for no other reason, that you stay employed. (smile) Employer? You want your staff happy...if for no other reason, they continue to do good work for you. You want your clients happy, so they keep you in business.

Then there's the church. And that gets dicey. For the believer, it should be about Christ..setting aside our earthly desires that so easily entangle us, and...you get the idea.

For the pastor, responsible for the spiritual condition of those under him or her...as much as is within their ability, they too serve an audience of 1. It's hard to say why and how people come to the decisions that they do and its easy in our own understanding to think it should have gone differently. If I need wisdom in my decisions, that outwardly, may just affect me or maybe my family, it pales in comparison to a pastor making decisions that potentially affect a church of hundreds and thousands and more. Plus, let's not forgot they still face the same decisions you and I face on a personal level, familial level, friendships, financial, and the list goes on.

Talk about the decision-maker needing wisdom and the affected needing grace, for when understanding is not possible. It boggles my mind just typing it out. Thus...our prayer focus for Senior Pastors:

Pray for increased levels of discernment and wisdom concerning decisions and their decision-making process. Pray that they would have the mind of Christ, in a great dimension, whether regarding affairs of the church, or of the home. Pray for understanding to abound by those affected, and grace much more, where explanations-at-large aren't feasible. Pray for difficult situations, that disagreements and misunderstandings and wrong-doings would not only be minimal, but also, they they would not be significantly detrimental to the purpose, vision and mission of the church. Pray for unity of purpose and not divisiveness of agendas.

-PNC

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