Lessons from NorthwayChurch.tv, Pt.4

Recently, my wife, Dawn and I had the privilege of traveling to Northway Church (www.northwaychurch.tv) in Albany, NY to spend some time with Lead Pastor Buddy Cremeans and his amazing staff. I am still trying to process all that I learned from this trip, but let me try and unload some here:

3. HONOR THE PASTOR & HIS STAFF:
The Bible says that a pastor his worthy of “double honor”. Now this particular piece of Scripture is referring to “financial wages”; a pastor that works hard to deliver the teachings of the Bible is worthy of “double salary”. If this is true financially then it is most definitely true in every other area.

As a pastor it may be difficult for me to elevate this kind of teaching, but if I don’t I am being disloyal to Jesus and what He has called our church to be. Some people may not like you if you work hard to create this culture of honor toward the pastor and his staff. Like the deacon Stephen in the book of Acts “leaders must be willing to be disliked by the many in order to loyal to Jesus!”

Some pastors are scared of “appearing prideful” if they talk about these things (including me), but in all reality it is PRIDE that keeps me from being true to the biblical text in this area. It is prideful not to speak of these things because I actually think that this “teaching is about me”, when it is not. Lifting up the pastor is about Jesus, who is the GREAT SHEPHERD (or the ULTIMATE PASTOR). Jesus is the Senior Pastor, and He appointed me to be His under shepherd. When we honor the pastor, we honor Jesus and His decision to appoint shepherds over His flock.

When we honor the pastor, we are honoring Jesus, the Great Shepherd (pastor comes from the Greek word “poimen”, which literally means “shepherd”).

By honoring the pastor we are positioning the church to become all that Jesus’ dreams. God always raises up a man/woman to lead the way for His church. Honor the man that God raises up!

Just like Moses had Aaron and Hur to hold up his arms during the great battle against the Amalekites (Ex.17:12) every pastor must have an exceptional “staff” to hold him up. Just like behind every great man there is an even greater woman, behind every great leader is a team of great leaders.

Just like Moses had a staff to “lean on”, the pastor’s staff is there for him to “lean on”. (www.tdjakes.com)

Honor your pastor and his staff and God will honor you! We honor God by honoring what is honorable!