Great Blog By Steven Furtick

A lot of the time we’re scared
I bounce back and forth, basically addressing 2 audiences on this blog:
1. Church attendees
2. Other church leaders

Today I’m speaking to the 1st group on behalf of the 2nd.

Your pastor won’t appreciate you telling me this, because we preachers like to look cool and confident.
But if he’s a good pastor, here’s the deal:
Every single day he seriously doubts whether the heck he has any freaking clue what he’s doing.

That’s because if he’s a good leader, he’s always stretching.
Always living in the discomfort zone: the place between what God has said to do and the understanding of how to do it.

He wonders all the time if he has what it takes to do what God said to do.

And daily he asks God under his breath: “Did I get this right? Are we headed in the right direction here?”

And then as soon as he gets his legs under him and feels like “I can handle this” God leg sweeps him and changes the rules.
All so this can happen.

Every Saturday night he wonders if all the people will show up again.
And every Sunday afternoon he’s amazed and humbled that they did.

Oh yeah, you should also know that he feels like his sermon sucked a lot of Sundays. And he wishes he wouldn’t have said some of the things he said well into Monday afternoon.

I have been around some guys with very well known ministries lately, and it turns out they’re scared a lot of the time too.

One of them said he often feels like “a kid on a bike riding downhill on gravel”.

Another one said he stands up and tells the people “Let’s go!” and then gets in his car and asks God: “Where are we going?”

But mark this:
Your pastor wouldn’t have it any other way.
A vision that didn’t make him feel schizophrenic sometimes wouldn’t be worth sacrificing for.
A ministry that didn’t require uncertainty wouldn’t be worth getting out of bed for.

Here’s to being a leader who’s terrified a lot of the time.
And here’s to the corresponding peace and courage that only God can provide.

If the time ever comes when I’m not a little afraid about what God is telling me to do next…
then I have something to really be scared about.