The Need for Broken Hearted Pastors (Mike Glenn)

By Mike Glenn

Since I've stepped away from the day to day leadership requirements of Brentwood Baptist Church, I've started a ministry to pastors and local churches called the Engage Church Network. Setting up a non-profit has been more difficult than I thought. There are a million details and I'm not real good at details, but we knew that already. At long last, we're getting underway.

Photo by Yohan Marion on Unsplash

I love working with pastors. Sometimes, we discuss the practical aspects of the ministry such as preparing sermons. Most of us never think about the challenge of coming up with something that is biblically grounded, interesting, and relevant every seven days. There's a skill to this and it's a skill that can be taught and learned. Other times, we talk about challenges of balancing home and church. We talk about how to deal with church members. I find it interesting that every church has the same members. They may have different names and there may be more or less of them considering the size of the church, but they're the same people -- same attitudes, same demands, same problems. I've been there.

Some say I'm wise, but all wisdom means is I messed up before you did.

Yet, for all of the education and training we can give pastors, there is one thing no one can give them. No one can give them the love they need for their congregation to lead and minister effectively. No one can break their hearts for their communities. No one can make them get up early in the morning to pray for their members. No can give them the burden for the broken and lost in their community that keeps them up at night.

We've tried to professionalize the ministry. We want to learn professional skills such as time management, organizational structure, and leadership. What we don't want to learn is prayer. Prayer is hard. Effective prayer is harder still. A.W. Tozer, the great preacher of the last generation, had a man who sat outside his office and wouldn't let any one interrupt him during his prayer time. Do you know of any pastor with this kind of commitment to prayer?

Me either.

At the end of Matthew 9, Jesus tells His followers to pray to the Lord of the harvest that workers would be sent to the fields. Jesus, His own heart broken in compassion for the people who were lost like sheep without a shepherd, asks His disciples to have their own hearts broken.

Paul reminds us in Ephesians that we do not fight flesh and blood, but against the spirits and powers and having put on the full armor of God, he calls us to pray. Most pastors I talk to lack a deep and meaningful prayer life. They're too busy. Too many meetings, too many expectations, too many demands and their solitude with Jesus is cut short so the pastor can go "run the church."

Pastors would do well to remember the lives of Moses and Paul. They're authority didn't came from their education, but from their closeness to God. When Paul was accused of not being a "real disciple", he responded by reminding his enemies he had indeed seen the Lord. Moses not only saw the burning bush, but disappeared in the clouds on the mountain for days and when he returned his people, his face reflected the glory of God.

The pastors authority to lead doesn't come from academic credentials or denominational recognitions, but from their closeness to Jesus. The hours in prayer change the pastor's heart. The solitude deepens the sermon. There is a power to the words of a pastor who has been there. People know when the pastor has been with Jesus. They know when the pastor is empty and they know when the pastor is faking it. Few pastors prioritize their spiritual lives and as a result, they run out of energy long before the race is over.

As much as pastors don't understand this, fewer churches do.  Few churches allow their pastors to spend this kind of time and effort in prayer. Most church members don't see it as being "real work." I would disagree. I would say prayer is the most important work of the pastor and churches not only need to protect the pastors time, but they should insist on the pastor spending this time in prayer, meditation and Bible study. Not only will it change the pastor, it will change the church.

In spending time with Christ in prayer, the pastor will soon learn how broken hearted Jesus is for the people of not only the church, but the surrounding community. In turn, this will break the pastor's heart. There are no shortcuts here. No programs to teach you how to have a broken heart. This burden can only be given by Jesus Himself. There are no programs or plans that can change a person's heart. Only the Spirit of God can do that. That only happens through prayer.

As Jesus told His disciples, there are some things that can only be handled with much prayer. This is coming from a Savior who sweated blood during His prayers. I don't know how much prayer it would take for Jesus to recognize our efforts as much prayer.

My guess is most of us aren't close. It shows in our preaching, our ministry, our churches, and our own lives. The world knows the difference. Our churches know the difference. Our authority doesn't come from any credentials, but from our closeness to Jesus. The world knows the difference. So, does the church. It's the one thing a pastor can't fake. This kind of broken heart, this kind of burden only comes through prayer -- much prayer.