12 Things I Learned the Hard Way as a Pastor

As a pastor, I’m afraid I learned a lot the hard way. Here are some of those random things:

1. Early on, I didn’t know how to exegete and preach the Word. I’m still learning now, but I thought I knew how to preach back then. I look back now, though, and I pray God has supernaturally destroyed any sermon cassette tapes that bear my name. . . .
2. I needed counseling training. I have no question that folks can counsel with only the Word, but I needed help in understanding problems and applying the Word appropriately. 
3. I did not know my community. What I realized too late was that I knew the community most connected to my church members. I didn’t know the community completely disconnected from the church world.
4. It’s easy to avoid accountability in the pastorate. Especially as a single-staff leader, it’s easy to do ministry without many folks knowing your schedule, your activities, your outreach, etc. Non-existent accountability is dangerous. 
5. Church people are messy. I led two churches who were great to me, but both congregations had messy people. I was naive enough as a young pastor that I was at times shocked by how messy church people can be. 
6. Evangelistic fire needs fuel to continue burning. I was an on-fire evangelist my first years as a pastor. Ministry, though, had a way of diverting my attention so my fire for telling everybody about Jesus diminished for a while.
7. Evangelistic growth without discipleship leads to whining. If the church has a large number of baby Christians who are not discipled to growth, they remain babies – even after we place them in leadership positions. I know, because I made that mistake. 
8. Marriage ministry must be more proactive than reactive. I spent too many hours working to clean up marital problems among members before I realized we needed to teach youth and young adults about biblical standards of marriage in the first place. Preparation can be prevention. 
9. I could (and still can) do ministry in my own power. It stings to write those words even now. Training and experience might make us sound good and lead decently, but they do not automatically result in a display of God’s power.
10. If you think you must (or can) fix everything, you’re probably idolatrous. Only God can fix everything. When I thought I could fix it all – and had to if I were I a good pastor – I had placed myself in the position of God.
11. Rest and exercise matter. More than once in 40+ years of ministry, I’ve burned out at least briefly (including developing ulcers early in my ministry). I haven’t always taken care of myself as I should. Frankly, I’m still learning this lesson. 
12. Apart from God’s grace, I’m fairly stupid. Actually, I could write several more posts like this one to prove my point. I promise. 

What lessons have you learned the hard way? Pastors, let us know your thoughts so we might help young pastors. Direct your pastor friends here as well to give their input.