Any way you look at it, bivocational ministry is tough. It is NOT part-time and it is not a 9-5 job. It takes away from the pastor personally, and it takes away from the wife and children.
It adds stress that only a bivocational pastor can understand. Like all pastors, We have a family, children, grandchildren and parents. We have hopes, dreams, desires that rarely come to fruition because we never stop giving to others.
The Bivocational Ministers and Wives Retreat allows bivocational pastors and their wives to spend time with someone who “gets it,”someone who knows you don’t go home at the end of the day and relax.
Too often, you go home, eat dinner in a rush, then back out the door to a crisis of some sort, trying to meet the expectation of those who think it is the pastor’s job.
Britton
Let me give you a “clip” of my personal activities since leaving the retreat in Pigeon Forge on Saturday. Jan. 27.
Kathy and I left the retreat and headed to Livingston to get our dog “Lady Bird” from our son Cody.
After eating lunch at 4 p.m., we finally made it home at 6:20 p.m. I sat up until 10:30 p.m., praying and trying to get my mind back on my sermon for Sunday morning. I got up at 6 a.m. the next morning to have coffee, my quiet time and to go through my notes for my sermon.
We arrived at church at 9:45 a.m for 10 a.m. Sunday School. We had an amazing day of worship and were going back home to rest, but we had a water pipe to freeze at church. Take a guess who needed to go in the attic and check on it? Right — Pastor Roger.
I went in the attic, crawled in the corner that was about eight inches high and found the pipe that had frozen and burst. Then a deacon, the head of the building grounds and I went to Lowe’s to get some parts.
Back at the church I realized I could not make the repair in the “tight” space, so on Monday we returned after lunch to connect at another location and bypass the bad place in the pipe. This was after I spent the morning working on my TBMB (job) responsibilities.
This is just an example that all bivocational pastors face. It is imperative for them to have time to get away, to be refreshed and encouraged and to revive their personal walk with Christ.
This retreat gives an opportunity for God to fill the voids from a pastor’s life. B&R
