“I see too many pastors over-functioning for their people. They make way too many decisions for them.” I haven’t been able to stop thinking about these words that a professor of mine spoke over two months ago.

Add that to the following passage from Mark Batterson’s latest, Wild Goose Chase:

“I’m afraid we’ve turned church into a spectator sport. Too many of us are content with letting a spiritual leader seek God for us. Like the Israelites, we want Moses to climb the mountain for us. After all, it is much easier to let someone else pray for us or study for us. So the church unintentionally fosters a subtle form of spiritual codependency.”

Wow. How refreshing that some of the leaders in the church are willing to come out and name the elephant in the room. People in the church, myself included, depend entirely too much on their leaders to spoon feed them morsels of spiritual truth. The office of the pastor and preacher, to my conviction, is much less “spoon-feeder” and much more “spoon-teacher” – as in, “teach you how to hold the spoon!”

I try to always stress to my leaders that I am “no better and no different” than they are. I happen to be in a place of leadership, yes, but they have an equal part to play in what God is doing through our ministry. I do not want to be exalted as a “spiritual guru,” nor do I think it would be good for my spiritual health. (Trust me, I am that weak!)

I wonder if the problem we’re seeing with leaders in the church is the same problem we’re seeing in the schools? Parents depending on teachers to not only teach them but to also raise them, teaching them everything from morals to mathematics. I wonder if it’s the same problem we’re seeing in our homes, depending on our televisions to watch our children as a more convenient (and less expensive) babysitter.

Are you seeing any of this? If you’re a church-goer, do you feel like your congregation depends too much on your leaders?

I’ve been on a Craig Groeschel kick lately.

Maybe it’s due to the fact that we have similar backgrounds (out-of-control frat guys, partying our brains out any chance we got who were radically changed by the Spirit of Christ). Or maybe it’s the fact that he has a knack for saying semi-inappropriate things that most people think pastors should not be saying (besides incredibly profound insight in his book, “It”, he’s also generous with “poo” and “pee” stories from his children). Either way, I think Craig has some really good stuff to say.

Below is a list he compiled for Outreach Magazine, a list of advice containing bits of wisdom he wishes someone would have given him 20 years ago (he’s now 40). Here are a few of my favorites from “Advice For Young Pastors”:

Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Ministry is a marathon, not a sprint.

Jesus cares more about the church than you do.

You can’t please everyone…so why try?

People will criticize you. Quit whining. Get used to it.

You can’t do it all. Stop trying.

If you blame yourself for the bad results in ministry, you’ll likely also take credit for the good results.

Become close friends with other pastors in your town (as many as you can).

Your kids will be grown before you know it. Don’t sacrifice them on the altar of ministry.

Your ministry isn’t your god. God is your God.

You know how to give and how to minister to others. If you don’t learn how to receive, you’ll burn out and/or die.

Believe in people that others overlook.

Your integrity matters more than you can imagine.

Take care of yourself. Eat right. Rest. Exercise. Take time off. No one else can do that for you.

If you don’t take much time off, it’s because you’re proud, and you think you’re more necessary than you really are.

Talk about Jesus every time you preach.

Love your wife more than you love the church. The church is Jesus’ bride, not yours.

Compliment, encourage, and build up your staff and volunteers.

Hand write thank you notes.

Any older pastors out there have anything to add to the list? Let us know in the comments.

The following comes from LifeChurch.tv’s Craig Groeschel:

“For some reason, when someone schedules an appointment with a pastor, they generally assume it will be a one hour appointment. Most one hour appointments could be handled in much less time. Years ago, I shortened my appointments to 45 minutes. We’d explain ahead of time that I have 45 minutes allotted for the meeting. No one complained. We got to the important stuff a lot faster. After some time, I shortened most meetings to 30 minutes and some to 10 or 15. It is amazing how much important ground you can cover when both parties understand how much time you have to work with and you get right to the important issues.”

Can anyone relate? Seems as though those of us in ministry (and even those not in ministry: Anyone ever had a corporate staff meeting that went forever? Yeah, you feel my pain.) like to have meetings about meetings, meetings to schedule meetings, and meetings to meet about when we last met about meeting! Can I get an “Amen”?

Point being, very few things any more require more than 30-45 minutes of my time. I am really not that important.

What about you? What strategies do you have for cutting down your “non-productive” time? One tip I’ve implemented lately is the “Always-On Away Message”. I keep my away message on and tell people when I’m answering emails that day. For instance:

That way, people know when they are going to get a reply from me. And not a second sooner. (And if I get an incessant emailer, for every one email they send me, they get one back!) What about you? Let’s hear it in the comments.