Preaching Is The Easy Part pt. 1

Studying for messages and preaching 4 times every Sunday is a grueling part of my job. I love it, but it requires hours and hours of my time and energy to be effective. It also can be very draining if I don't keep my batteries charged by staying close to God, getting adequate rest and by taking studying and speaking breaks. Though studying and preaching can be grueling, there are times I feel like it's the easy part of what I do. This week I want to talk to you about some things that make me sometimes feel like preaching is the easy part.

The Weight

If you are a senior pastor, you know exactly what I'm talking about. There is a weight, a load, that we carry as the senior leader of the church. I have several pastor friends who spent years being associate pastors at churches, and now they are the senior pastor of a church. ALL OF THEM SAY, I MEAN ALL OF THEM say, the biggest difference is the weight that they have to carry. They all say that they didn't have near the weight, pressure, stress and load when they were associates. None of them had any clue that there would be this weight that they would carry as the senior pastor. It's hard to put it into words but there are times the weight is so heavy that I feel like preaching is the easy part.