Aspiring Pastors

10 Things I Wished I’d Done as a Young Pastor

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I’ve written previously about my lessons learned as a young pastor (here, here, and here), but I’m thinking today about things I wish I had done back then. Here are several of them:

  1. Go on an overseas mission trip. I didn’t take my first missions trip until several years into my ministry. That means that I really didn’t challenge my church to think much about missions until much later than I should have.
  2. Find a mentor.  I didn’t even know the term “mentor” back then. And, had I known the word, I probably would have given up too easily on finding a mentor if one didn’t respond quickly.
  3. Travel across my state. Even a day long road trip could have helped me see that my little world in southwestern Ohio hardly reflected the world – it didn’t even reflect much of my state!
  4. Take more regular days off. My failure to take days off more than 30 years ago has led to the same problem now. I don’t take off enough time to relax, clear my mind, and prepare to go back to the grind.
  5. Set boundaries for counseling. I assumed my job was to counsel every member until he or she overcome the problem. Consequently, I had no sense of the need to refer people, and I spent far too much time counseling.
  6. Enlist an accountability partner. I had nobody, so I lived in too much defeat over my sin.
  7. Engage older pastors. Of the multiple older pastors in my community, I knew only one – and that was because our church wanted to use their church’s baptistery. I missed out because I ignored older, wiser leaders.
  8. Schedule at least one day per month to fast. I didn’t learn that discipline until a couple of decades into my ministry.
  9. Exercise regularly. Because I didn’t do it then, I now have to work harder at it to try to stay in shape.
  10. Read the news every day. This many years later, I now know that an uninformed pastor isn’t the best equipped pastor.

What do you wish you had done when you were a young pastor?


Editor’s note: This post was originally published at chucklawless.com


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MDiv Preaching and Pastoral Ministry

The Preaching and Pastoral Ministry track prepares students for pastoral ministry in the local church with a special emphasis on expository preaching.

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  • Young Pastors
Chuck Lawless

Director of the Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership

Dr. Lawless currently serves as Senior Professor of Evangelism and Missions, Dean of Doctoral Studies, and Vice-President for Spiritual Formation at Southeastern Seminary, where he holds the Richard & Gina Headrick Chair of World Missions. In addition, he serves as Team Leader for Theological Education Strategists for the International Mission Board. Dr. Lawless served as pastor of two Ohio churches prior to joining the faculty of Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY, in 1996. He received a B.S. degree from Cumberland College (now the University of the Cumberlands) and M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from Southern Seminary. He is the author or editor of twelve works, and he has contributed several chapters to other resources. He and his wife, Pam, have been married for more than 30 years, and they reside in Wake Forest with their Aussie Shepherd, Max.

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