Doing Ministry is Harder than Discussing Ministry [From 2010]

[This is a blog I wrote back in April of 2010. It's from a series where I reflect on my first year as a pastor.]

Everyone thinks they have all the answers until they have to start making decisions.

It's easy to sit on the sidelines (or even be in the game), and criticize what others are doing. However, when you're the person making decisions which affect the lives others, it's hard. It's hard to make decisions where you're spending the hard earned money of others.

If I look back over what I've done over the last year and half, I've noticed I've started making much safer decisions. Perhaps some of it is maturity, but I fear some of it is that I've learned which decisions will get pushback. Therefore, I may be avoiding decisions which will get pushback.

I've sat on message boards criticizing other ministries. I've sat around late at night with friends criticizing the churches and ministries I've attended. Now that I'm the person making decisions that people sit around discussing, I think I'm far more humble when discussing other ministries.

If I'm experiencing this as a student ministry pastor at a fairly small church, I can only imagine what it's like being the lead pastor at a much larger church.