Pastor's wisdom

Scot McKnight is doing a nice series I'm enjoying where he asked some seasoned pastors: "If you knew then what you know now, what would you have focused on? Or, in light of what you now know, what would you advise young pastors to focus on?"

It's kind of odd, because I *feel* like I've been pastoring for a million years; I feel like I've got a lot of miles on me and the compression's not so good anymore. But the truth is I've only been doing this occupationally not yet a full 9 years. So I'm still pretty wet behind the ears. I hope to be able to do it at least one more day.

Anyway, there has been a lot of good advice shared by a variety of respectable pastors, but two that have especially clicked with me - by two pastors I have always had a HUGE amount of respect for - are these:

• John Ortberg shared how he would seek to become a healthier person, emotionally and spiritually. His struggles with fitting in and needing people's approval hit close to home.

• Jim Martin has been one of my favorite bloggers for a long time. He shared how he would be more concerned with "self-care" - in areas of the mind, soul, emotions, and physical body. As he said, "Such self-care is not a luxury but is a God honoring investment in long-term ministry."

I really need to read some positive, encouraging stuff like this right now. So I appreciate Scot for doing the series, and all the pastors who have taken the time to respond.