A Note to Pastors from Justin Taylor

Dear Pastor,

I am writing this note while sitting with my wife in the waiting room at a children’s specialty hospital in a neighboring state, where our seven-year-old son has a scheduled surgery that will last several hours.

Being here brings to mind one of my favorite quotes from Tim Keller: “Churches should feel more like the waiting room for a doctor and less like a waiting room for a job interview.”

One group is all cleaned up, putting their best foot forward, wanting to make a good impression. They need to project confidence and competence. The other group is harried. Perhaps a bit disheveled. Trying to produce a carefully curtailed profile that minimizes weakness would be counterproductive. They need to be candid about their brokenness and their need for help. It’s a humbling place to be.

This is not only true for those parishioners out there in the pew, but also for us as pastors who stand behind the pulpit. We were not just under-shepherds, but we ourselves are also sheep who need a Great Shepherd.

So, pastor, if you are feeling weak today, please know that you are not alone. Your Chief Shepherd is with you. He goes before you. He is working for your good.

At one time, you yourself were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” and Jesus took compassion on you (Matt. 9:36; Mark 6:34).

This “good shepherd” laid down his life for his flock (John 10:11).

The flock knows their shepherd, and the shepherd knows his flock. The shepherd has other sheep not of the fold, and determined to bring you in also (John 10:14–16). “You were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Pet. 2:25). He then called you to be a shepherd. Ultimately, there will be “one shepherd” who oversees “one flock” (John 10:16).

The Apostle Peter, as a fellow elder and an eyewitness to the sufferings of Christ, exhorts you today:

shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,
not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;
not for shameful gain, but eagerly;
not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. (1 Pet. 5:2–3).

And what will be your result as a faithful under-shepherd of the great shepherd? Peter tells us: “When the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (1 Pet. 5:3).

There is coming a day when there will be no hospital waiting rooms. In glory, when the shepherd guides us to springs of living water, God will wipe away every tear from our eyes (Rev. 7:17).

I know that these can be discouraging days in the church. There are academics and journalists and social-media influencers who feel called to be the daily chroniclers and broadcasters of anything and everything bad that happens in the church today. And some days it feels like you are fighting a losing battle.

But Paul tells us not to throw in the ministry towel: “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9).

Nearly 30 years ago, in the mid-1990s, a Baptist church with around 100 attendees was searching for a new pastor. They ended up interviewing Mark Dever, then in his mid-30s. One of the people on the search committee asked him if he had a church-growth program or plan to implement.

No, he admitted. He came with no plans or programs per se. Rather, he said, he was committed to doing four things:

preach and pray;
love and stay.

What a clarifying word. There are ten thousand things we cannot do. We can’t be everywhere or do everything or know everything. But we can preach the Word. We can pray. We can love. And we can stick it out for the long haul.

The operating room nurse just called, and the surgery is going well. They are in the final stretch. So let me close with a benediction for weary pastors from the author of the book of Hebrews:

Now may the God of peace
who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great shepherd of the sheep,
by the blood of the eternal covenant,
equip you with everything good that you may do his will,
working in us that which is pleasing in his sight,
through Jesus Christ. (Heb. 13:20–21)

Brother pastor, you are loved and appreciated. We thank God for you!

Yours in Christ,

Justin Taylor
Executive Vice President of Book Publishing, Book Publisher