When Not To Complain or Criticize to Your Pastor Part Two

Here is part two of when not to complain or criticize to your pastor.

When do pastors least need to deal with complaints and criticism...

2. Saturdays

As Perry Noble says in his blog when to pray for your pastor, "There needs to be complete peace in and on the pastor’s house the night before church…and I believe that this comes through people passionately praying to God on his behalf." Let me add to that and include all day Saturday.

Our minds are focused on Sunday and anything that adds stress to Saturday really wears on us and becomes a distraction. We need peace on Saturdays as we prepare mentally and spiritually for Sunday.

I am going to share something with you so that you can understand a little bit of what we go through. The worse email I have every received came...can you guess when...you guessed it, Saturday. A couple who was close to Alisha and I emailed us and told us they were leaving the church. We had no idea this was coming.

How did this affect our Saturday. My wife is laying on the couch crying and I'm trying to get in touch with them to talk with them. Now, where do you thing my thoughts were now? Not on the message. We were hurt, confused, and upset. I did not sleep hardly any that night. What do you do when you are up all night on a work night? Guess what I did Sunday morning. I stayed in bed....not! I got up and preached like nothing was wrong. Was it hard? Yes. Did I want to be there? No, I wanted to crawl in a hole and just lay there but I couldn't.

This is just one of the examples of criticism or complaints I have personally experienced on a Saturday. I have received other emails on Saturdays and people have called me with things that absolutely could have waited until Monday or even later.

I guess people sit on home on Saturdays and say lets email the pastor and complain about something. They do not realizing and are not being sensitive to the fact that he is under a tremendous amount of pressure and stress because in the morning he will step in the pulpit to deliver a word from God that can change many lives (Most people can not understand this). Here is the catch. It can change many lives for the negative if it is delivered out of hurt or an overstressed, distracted, troubled mind and spirit.

Listen, the devil would like nothing more than to have every pastor distracted, stressed, or even worse hurt by a complaint or criticism from someone on Saturdays. They can come through emails, phone calls, at Wal-Mart or even stops by the church when the pastor may have come by to pray or check on something before Sunday.

What we need on Saturdays is a little understanding and lots of prayer. Pray for peace for us and in our homes. Pray for clarity in our minds and a fresh anointing on our spirits. Pray for a good nights rest for the whole family and pray against distractions.

My prayer is this helps you understand your pastor and what he goes through a little more. Thank you for your prayers for me and my family!