When Pastors are more like IT than CEO
The "behind-the-scenes" ministry of a pastor, how to cultivate it and why it matters.
Last week, I hosted Covo Con which was a digital Zoom meetup for Pastors and Ministry Folks to learn about Bivo / Covo Ministry from different speakers sharing their experience. I will host more in coming months, so if you want access, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to support this work.
There were multiple recurring themes amongst the evening, but one that kept coming up was how Covocational (pastors with outside jobs that are an extension of their ministry) manage their time, energy and focus with multiple demands.
Curiously enough, the focus never was on crafting the perfect sermon, deliberating over transitions between songs or researching the perfect pop culture clip to complement the theme of the sermon series... the focus was always about people and their discipleship.
Eun Strawser, one of the Covo Con speakers shared that 90% of her ministry is investing in the 25 core leaders of her church and that most people who worship within her community don’t even know she is the Lead Pastor!
Kevin Middleton shared a similar sentiment and how the majority of his time is spent discipling, not programming or preaching.
It reminded me of a Eugene Peterson quote from The Contemplative Pastor, “You are at your pastoral best when you go unnoticed.”
It make wonder if the pastoral sweet spot are more like IT Support than CEO. I know in some circles, this will get me roasted but hear me out: I can’t help but wonder how many of the public moral failures of pastor are because they got away from the face-to-face work of ministry.
Pastors who have other means of income outside of vocational ministry have to be hyper discriminatory of how they spend their time and energy as its such a limited resource in their worlds. If the recurring theme is, “more people, less programs” it may be worthwhile for us all to listen, regardless of full time or not.
I think of my own spiritual formation. I’ve attended all sorts of churches and church services in my life. I recall being an undergrad at Liberty and attending services on Sunday and Wednesday nights, in addition to Chapel 3x a week. In a given 7 days, I had 5 worship services baked into my schedule that were required.
I also volunteered for a youth group Sunday nights and worshiped with a Pentecostal group on campus on Thursdays… so I was in church everyday but Saturday but twice on Sunday for 4 years.
That’s a lot of church. (No wonder I found a home in the Mainline, 60 minute services FTW).
Did that shape me? Undoubtedly and I won’t pretend it didn’t but if I stop to think of other experiences where God used people to move in my life, it was always over coffee, or lunch or my personal favorite, just going for a walk.
One moment I remember as a new dad is when a pastor whom I admired (and still do) visited me and we spent the afternoon doing errands (groceries, drugstore, and a lunch out in the mix) while pushing my 4 month old in a stroller. It meant so much to me at the time and it does today… years later. I still have a moment snapped in my brain of him giving my eldest daughter (who is now 6) a bottle while I ate pasta. Shoutout to Porto Salvo on 161st. IYKYK.
If you’re in pastoral ministry, are you cultivating your “behind the scenes” ministry in addition to your “spotlight” ministry? Are you being IT when it’s time to be IT? Are you taking time to feed a newborn baby while your tired brother in Christ eats pasta.
If not, take time to audit your schedule, even this week and carve space to be with people. That is always a good investment.