To think of pastors, some of the most biblically trained people in the world and by in large the most biblically trained people that the majority of Christians come in contact with on a regular basis, becoming merely the masters of quips, quotes, and clichés, which effectively only keeps people biblically illiterate, is unimaginable except for the stark reality that it is true of far too many. Some of them are the most recognized and esteemed in evangelicalism.
Sometimes under the pressure unleashed by the idea that “the pastor has to model everything or it will not happen” coupled with the idea that recognition and accolades for success are inextricably tied to growth, the pastor forsakes his time-consuming call to study and equip the saints (Ephesians 4: 12) and instead models everything else.
Pastors must remember that we cannot do everything nor be the best at everything, but we can support what God is doing in others in the church as well as model what it means to follow God’s call upon one’s life; the most biblical way to model this is by following God’s call upon our own life to shepherd the flock that God has granted us (1 Peter 5:2), which necessitates feeding them upon the deep riches of the Word of God.
