The following is a fictional conversation with a pastor.
Pastor: I struggle with the title of being a leader. I am a pastor.
Coach: Okay, what do you do as a pastor?
Pastor: I preach and teach and administer the sacraments.
Coach: What do you preach and teach?
Pastor: I preach and teach about Jesus. I preach the Law and the Gospel.
Coach: What is the purpose of the sacraments and the Law and the Gospel that you preach?
Pastor: To bring people closer to Jesus. The Law shows them their sins and by God working through His Word leads them to repentance. The Gospel shows them God’s grace and forgiveness and the love of Christ who died for them.
Coach: Do you only do this in the classroom or in the pulpit?
Pastor: No, really it is a mindset I have whenever I am with people. When I am with people in the hospital, nursing home, church meeting, social gathering…anywhere.
Coach: Is this intentional?
Pastor: More or less. I just have this, you might say, God given priority as a pastor to engage people with where they are in relation to God. For some people it is with the Law, some with the Gospel and really with both at one time or another.
Coach: And what is the goal or purpose?
Pastor: It is to bring people closer to Jesus.
Coach: I am hearing that you have a priority and a purpose every day of your life to engage people every day for the purpose of bringing people closer to Jesus. And furthermore it is a mindset that you have with everyone that you come in contact with. What else can you tell me about that?
Pastor: I guess it is a passion that I have for their eternal welfare that comes from the love of Christ for them that God has placed within me. It comes out in the way I interact with people. God has really given me the heart of a pastor.
Coach: That sounds great! It also sounds like spiritual leadership as their pastor. You are bringing people from where they are to where God wants them to be, that is, closer to Jesus. Doesn’t that make you a leader?
Pastor: I guess it does. But for some reason that word “leader” is uncomfortable for me.
Coach: I would say you are more of a leader than you think you are. What is uncomfortable about that?
(To be continued…)