Just got off the phone with a broken hearted pastor friend of mine going through a brutal beating right now. (I got his permission to blog on this). He's a great man of God. I find myself extremely Blessed to never have been through what he's going through, but broken hearted for what he is going through. After all, he's a friend. Real friends feel for one another, good and bad. Don't get me wrong. I've had my disappointments, my hurts, my pains. I've felt as abandoned as the next pastor who poured himself into people, only to be hated for his decision/opinion/council. 
But nothing like my friend is going through. He feels brutally betrayed. I've known him long enough to know his character and have 0 reason to NOT believe him. He's led a godly lifestyle and from a insane point of humility. He puts Christ first and his calling at a very high level. He's a servant/pastor to the core. He just feels betrayed. He feels forgotten, he feels abandoned.

     If people are FUNNY, then people mixed with ministry is HYSTERICAL.  The servant/pastor type can struggle with this as my friend is right now. It's amazing how you can literally be a hero one day, and totally despised and forgotten the next. I listened to my friends story and felt for him. I've talked to a lot of pastors who have gone through this. If my friends church really stopped to think of how much he loves, has sacrificed, and would do (and has done) anything for them, they would probably be embarrassed by their actions. They've forgotten his heart for them (haven't we all done this to someone at some point?).  They don't like one thing, and they've let that one (non-essential thing) to define their relationship now. It's the sin of immaturity, and it can tear churches, but more importantly people apart.

      I scrambled my brain for scripture as he was unloading his story on me. I couldn't think of anything! I couldn't think of one story, one Psalm, even Solomon abandoned me. So I listened, I encouraged, we prayed, and the only thing I could think of to tell him was the thing that should comfort us all when we feel we've invested and then feel abandoned. 

3 powerful words.


JESUS 
CAN 
RELATE
 

I rarely write on leadership (it's too hip now a days). I'm more of a write on LIFE guy. But I want to write a 3 part post on Paul and his leadership abilities. I want to focus on THREE things every leader should possess.

1. Appreciation (to verbalize is key)
2. Observation (to watch those you lead)
3. Intergrity in leadership.
    Theres a beautiful depth in scripture (Philipians 2) where Paul is writing the last of his imprisonment epistles. I particularly love when he speaks about Timothy (referring to him as a son) and 
Epaphroditus whom he calls his "Brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier".I love this particular text of scripture because it shows a side of Paul towards men he worked with, loved, and deeply cared for. It also showed Pauls level of leadership was definately at 11. He was caring for the ones working side by side with him, and he was preparing for the future of the church. When he writes "O that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety", Paul is showing how much Epaphroditus (or as a mentee and I call him "epi") meant to him, (When was the last time ANYONE made YOU less anxious by just seeing them?).

Paul got it. He knew that valuing people who served with you was the way to always have people wanting to serve around you. He knew that pouring into the next generation was the surest way to continue beyond himself.

These are the first essentials every PERSON should have, YET ALONE every leader.

Everyone has a ability to pour in and appreciate. No matter your occupation, your status in life. We can all learn from this point.