Leadership Means Taking a Beating (A New Perspective)

Yesterday I wrote about four different ways we face criticism in ministry.


1) People Will Disagree With Your Direction
2) People Will Judge You Without Having All the Information
3) Wackos Will Come After You Because They're Wackos
4) People Will Gossip and Complain About You


As time has passed, it has only affirmed each of those points, but those four critics aren't what lead me to feel beaten down in ministry.  I can anticipate that people with disagree with my direction if we make a change.  There's no reason to take ill-informed or wacky criticism personally, and people who gossip about you are in sin.  So there criticism doesn't mean much to mean.


What weighs me down in ministry is knowing all of the hurt and pain that people in my ministry are facing. When you start doing real ministry and doing life with people, you hurt when they hurt. It doesn't take long to realize just how much hurt there is in the world.  Watching people you love in pain and being unable to solve all of their problems is the hardest thing about ministry.