Lazy Preachers

Well, in my experience, many people call a pastor "lazy" without having a CLUE what really goes on. Like today for instance, my husband has been gone doing church stuff since 10 this morning, and it is almost midnight. And he is doing things that those who think he is lazy will never even know about. Tomorrow, he has church "stuff" from 10:30 - about 5. And its not eating and having coffee. I see the hours he puts in studying, counseling, visiting the hospitals, etc, and others dont see it. They ride by craning necks and if he is home, then he is lazy. If he is not home, then he doesnt spend enough time with his family. Sometimes ya just cant win!

 

I hear ya, Gibby, ole buddy ole pal!!!

'course---I ditto TaterTot!!!! 99% of all church members don't have a clue!!!!

 

That wasn't my hand you saw. I am too lazy to raise it off the remote ...

 

I'm sure if these 'Lazy Preachers' will be assigned here in my place and experience our situation here... It will change their mind...

 

A lazy preacher is one who prepares his Sunday sermon on Sat. night or maybe even Sun. morn. He will usually get them out of the Sword of the Lord or from someone elses tape. He sleeps in every day. There are also alot of lazy missionaries.

 

Amen, Amen, Amen

 

What does it matter when he prepares it?

And how long did Paul take to prepare the sermon he delivered on Mars Hill?

No. I'm not a pastor.

HankD

 

The "when" is not so much the issue as the "how much time." Paul's sermon on Mars Hill was a one time deal that he had likely given before. I have preached enough to where I could preach tomorrow with no study this week. And if I were a guest speaker somewhere, I would likely use an old sermon.

But week to week in the pulpit requires time in study. Much bad preaching comes from not much study. Typically, sermons take 10+ hours to prepare. There aren't that many hours on Saturday night.

 

My pastor certainly is not lazy...and I'm not just saying that 'cuz he's my son'n'law. He works full-time as a self-employed carpenter...as he can get jobs. He takes no salary from us...but we try to compensate wherever possible (extra groceries, a tank of gas unbeknownest to him, etc.)

He gets up all his own messages, including the ones for his shortwave program, "The Sons of Liberty". He street-preaches and is currently litigating his last arrest...even yesterday, we were harrassed over the abortion pics again.

He's currently trying to build a fancy bath/outhouse for our first-ever Campmeet, and still he has time for the small stuff. He's a 6'7" tall-drink-of-water, who actually drinks 5 gallons of milk weekly...and I'm thankful he's not a lazy pastor. I'd have to take him out behind the woodshed if he were,

 

To be honest with you, I don't have time for lazy preachers. I would have to take my services and commitment elsewhere.

 

I have a feeling that would be a sight to behold, Granny Gumbo giving her 6'7" son-in-law a whuppin'.



HankD

 

My pastor is the farthest thing from lazy I have seen in a while. The balance is probably out of whack in the other direction. Better than the alternative I suppose.

I have no delusions about pastoral ministry having grown up in a pastor's home. I am sure there are lazy pastor's just like there are lazy accountants, Engineers, mechanics, plumbers, whatever. Being a pastor is not a 9-5 job, I mean, the rest of us get Sunday off! Being a pastor has a great deal of time and stress that seems to be missing from the Job description, and the oncall nature of a pastor's job can be overwhelming too, especially in a body with many needs.

I think many times the perception of laziness in a pastor is probably due to either ignorance as to what the guy is actually doing, or unrealistic expectations. The incidence of actual lazy pastors is probably much lower than the number reported by their people as lazy.

 

I wounder how well our own time is spent when were thinking on our or someone elses lazyness.

 

I think you give a much needed perspective!

 

I think if you get down and out honest---its the folks who THINK that pastors are lazy--who are lazy!!!! And then on top of all that---they probably have "something" against that particular pastor---and that's the reason for the "lazy" talk about him!!! New pastor comes in---and the ones who griped about the one that just left being lazy---all start off sayin'---"Man! Now, THAT new pastor is a work horse!!"----until the new pastor "says somethin'" to miff them off and then its back to the old grindin' gripe---"He's lazy I tell ya!!!"

I'm sayin'------99% of all church members don't have a clue!!!!!!!

 

My preacher is far from lazy. He works an outside job as a Codes Inspector as his primary source of income.

I do have a BIL (soon to be EX-BIL) who is an IFB preacher who will not work to support his family, but will/would allow his wife to support him with her real estate career while he lays about and goes out to "visit" whenever he feels that he needs to. I've met many pastors who were lazy, and it's a shame.

 

I think that most of the laziness is on the part of the church members at large. I know of people that continually complain that the pastor does not do enough of this or that, but will not get off their blessed assurance and do anything themselves. Why do we complain that a pastor does not visit us enough when we will not get off of our couch long enough to visit someone else? Something is definately wrong, but it is not usually the pastor. Many times it is the fault of the other 100 or whatever number of people who sit and complain that someone else should do more.

 

I have met many church members who are lazy, and it's also a shame. The best we can do is make sure that we are not in that category ourselves first. I have seen where pastors and about 5 percent of the church members do almost 99 percent of the work while the other 95 percent stand by doing nothing but complaining that enough was not being done.