The Highs and Lows of Ministry

I remember a weekend where my pastor-father spent Saturday morning preaching the funeral of a long-time church member and close friend, then spent the evening officiating the wedding of a young couple who had been faithful in the church through their youth years, but in between, he made it to yet another one of my ball games.  On Sunday morning he preached on the power of the Gospel, then spent part of the afternoon counseling a couple seeking a divorce.  Later that evening he sat in his easy chair at the parsonage, put on a record, and listened to “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, Glory Hallelujah . . . Sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down, Glory Hallelujah!” Sometimes I wondered how he survived the highs and lows of ministry.  Now you understand why I asked God to please not call me to be a pastor, but as always, I added “nevertheless” to my prayer request.  After serving two churches as Pastor, three Universities as campus minister, one mission board as a national consultant, a Seminary as professor for twenty-two years, and twenty-seven churches as Interim Pastor, I finally understand how.  “This is my work, and I can do it only because Christ’s mighty energy is at work within me” (Colossians 1:29, LB). Call it the ”highs and lows of ministry” or the agony and ecstasy of ministry, but I recently experienced both.  I preached the funeral for a long-time friend of five decades, and three days later accepted the ministry challenge of serving as Administrative Connsultant for the Valley Baptist Education Center in Harlingen, Texas.  In between, I visited with some long-time friends, and made a few new ones. I’m not as spiritual as my dad was, so I did not end the week singing, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, Glory Hallelujah!” but I did recall an old Chubby Checker song that said, “Round and around and an up and down we go.”