Tod Kennedy earned a B.A. from Washington State University, a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a D.V.M. from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University. He is the pastor of Spokane Bible Church (Washington) and a member of the Governing Board of Chafer Theological Seminary. Dr. Kennedy’s email address is tod@todkennedy.com.
Introduction
Pastors seem to face a common occupational hazard: they teach and shepherd people who, like sheep, tend to wander off and get lost after professing great interest in living the Christian life. There is a story about three pastors who got together for coffee one day and found all their churches had bat infestation problems. “I got so mad,” said one, “I took a shotgun and fired at them. It made holes in the ceiling but did nothing to the bats.” “I tried trapping them alive,” said the second. “Then I drove 50 miles before releasing them, but they beat me back to the church.” “I haven’t had any more problems,” said the third. “What did you do?” asked the others, amazed. “I simply baptized and confirmed them,” he replied. “I haven’t seen them since.”
The unrealistic expectations the people in the pew place on their leadership are another problem that pastor-teachers face.
Somewhere between the call of God and the heart ward of the local hospital there exists a specialist in everything, variously called a “minister,” a “preacher,” a “pastor,” a “clergyman.”
He is a hero to his wife, a stranger to his children, a fine boy to his mother, an “easy touch” to down-and-outers, a name on the mailing list of hundreds of agencies and organizations, an an example to his flock.
… to some he’s a guy who has nothing else to do but get ready for a twenty-minute sermon once a week. To some he’s the person in whose presence you must not cuss, drink, or smoke.
To others he is a dear friend, a “johnny-on-the-spot” when death’s angel hovers near; he’s the one whose ministry continues when the medics have done all they can do; he’s the man who can mend marriages, but who can’t find time to fix his wife’s toaster; he’s the nice man at church who pats the babies’ heads, even though he’s not running for a political office. He’s the one who marries young lovers, prays with the sick, and buries the dead.
He is a financial expert, a public orator, janitor, errand boy, typist, file clerk, writer, public relations expert, poor golfer, professional tea-sipper and punch-drinker, journalist, reformer, evangelist, pastor, business executive, counselor, prophet, bookworm, diplomat, human being, sinner, … bass, tenor [whichever is needed], planner, and a tee-totaler …[2]The Role of the Pastor and Teacher
All of the above are more often true than not, but what really is the job of the pastor-teacher? The pastor-teacher has two aspects of ministry. We tend to understand the second, teaching, better than the first, pastoring. The teacher focuses on communicating the Word of God, the spiritual food, to the congregation for understanding and application—by lecture, questions, discussions, explanations, and demonstrations. The spiritual food makes normal health, growth, and living possible. There are various styles of teaching, but the task is always the same: to get the Word of God into the lives of the congregation.
The pastoring aspect of the pastor-teacher’s ministry emphasizes care for his congregation. A pastor-teacher leads, feeds, guards, comforts, encourages, rescues, and heals the sheep, which can be extremely draining. He cannot do it by following his own agenda or relying upon his own ability or ingenuity.
Timothy Kavanaugh, the fictional pastor in Jan Karon’s Mitford series, struggles with this failing. Tim’s ministry emphasizes caring for his congregation. He repeatedly tries to extend God’s grace to Morris Love, a recluse who lives across the road, but Mr. Love rejects all overtures of help. Tim’s thoughts, as he ponders his efforts to reach this lost man, echo those of many real pastors:
Life was a roller coaster, that simple. Joy and healing here, desperation and demolition there.
With all his heart, he desires healing for Morris Love’s brokenness. There are times when he does not like being a priest, always on the front line for justice and mercy and forgiveness and redemption, trying to figure out the mind of God, giving the Lord his personal agenda, and then standing around waiting for it to be fulfilled. Tim abandons an agenda for Morris Love, giving up his self-seeking and willfulness. He acknowledges that neighbor belongs to God and that it is His responsibility to get the job done. Tim had schlepped in a paltry sack of victuals when what the man needed was the awesome, thunderstriking power of the Almighty to move in his heart and soul and spirit like a great and consuming fire.The point is that the Lord must do the work, not the pastor. Whatever we attempt to do, God must do it; we are the vessel through whom He works. Any other way guarantees failure.
The pastor’s working title is pastor and teacher or pastor-teacher. Paul gives us this title in Ephesians 4:11. Acts 20:17–28 indicates that pastoring, or shepherding, and overseeing are two functions of the same person. In 1 Timothy 3:1–2 and Titus 1:7, Paul calls this person an overseer, while he calls him an elder in 1 Timothy 5:17 and Titus 1:5. Paul equates elders and overseers in Titus 1:5 and 7. Peter, in 1 Peter 5:1–3, calls elders to shepherd the flock and exercise oversight. The conclusion is that the shortened title of pastor refers to the man whom the Lord gifted as pastor-teacher and whom the Scripture calls elder, overseer, and pastor-teacher. Pastor-teacher emphasizes what he does; elder emphasizes his rank and authority; and overseer emphasizes his supervisory capacity.
The church seems to have split the function of pastor-teacher into two distinct kinds of ministry. Either the man limits his ministry to teaching, or he labors in the pastoring mode to the exclusion of teaching. The biblical reality is that we should do both, and do both well.
The English word pastor comes from the Latin pastor, which means a herdsman or a shepherd. It is related to the Latin verb pasco, which means to cause to eat, to feed, to supply with food. [3] In the Greek, the word for pastor means shepherd or sheepherder. The Greek verb to pastor means to herd, tend, and lead to pasture. The English word pasture comes from the Latin pasco, which means to cause to eat, to feed, to supply with food. The English word shepherd is of Anglo-Saxon origin, while pastor is of Latin origin. The two are interchangeable, though common usage does not find a shepherd of sheep being called a pastor.
These words indicate that a pastor of a church is someone who pastors, or shepherds, the flock of believers whom God has entrusted to him. Had the translators used pastor instead of shepherd in their translation of Psalm 23, we would identify more readily with the job of a shepherd. Or, better yet, had they used the Anglo-Saxon word shepherd in our English translations, pastors would be called shepherds—a term closer to the English understanding of what a pastor is. According to Charles Ball:
It has been said many times that this side of the ministerial office would be raised to greater dignity if only someone had translated the twenty-third Psalm thus, “The Lord is my pastor.” Such a rendering might shock a few and yet would be absolutely synonymous with the accepted reading, for “shepherd” is simply the Anglo-Saxon word and “pastor” the Latin for the same thing. It might be greatly profitable in these lectures if I were to hang our whole discussion of the pastoral function on the great twenty-third Psalm. Certainly it would give us a lofty ideal for pastoral work today if we were to emulate the great Shepherd.
Here is the function of a pastor according to the twenty-third Psalm: “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures” (the sheep fed, filled and satisfied); “He leadeth me beside the still waters” (guided, quieted and comforted); “He restoreth my soul” (renewing me when I wander as a sheep); “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness” (watching for my welfare, guiding me into right paths); “Though I walk through the valley … thou art with me” (accompanying me so that I am not alone); “Thy rod and thy staff[“]. The rod, literally, is a club for defense, the staff a cane to lean on so as to support one’s weariness; so here is protection from the enemy, also support in weakness); “He prepareth a table” (feeding, nourishing me; that is sustenance); “My cup runneth over” (that is abundance). Each thought mentioned here tells of the pastor’s business. Each one might be enlarged upon and amplified with blessing. Surely in the light of this beautiful picture of the divine Shepherd our pastoral work must take on a new meaning and a new importance. For is not this exactly what is expected of a pastor to the present day? [4]Shepherds Were Common in Bible Times
Shepherds were very common in Bible times, and we have many illustrations of what a shepherd does from both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Isaiah 40:11 depicts the Lord God coming to rescue Israel. Like a shepherd, He will tend his flock, protect and care for the lambs, and lead the nursing ewes. These are figures of protection, compassion, sympathetic care, and feeding.
Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs, and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes. [5]Jeremiah 31:10 portrays the shepherd as one who watches his flock, so they do not become scattered, confused, and lost.
Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare in the coastlands afar off, and say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.”The Lord, in Ezekiel 34, gave Ezekiel a message of judgment against the shepherds of Israel who had failed in their task of feeding, strengthening, healing, searching for, rescuing, and protecting the people of Israel. The Lord then says that He will personally shepherd His people; He is very specific about what a good shepherd shall do.
Zechariah 10:2 notes that sheep (Israel) without a shepherd wander and suffer. They need a shepherd for their own welfare.
For the teraphim speak iniquity, and the diviners see lying visions, and tell false dreams; they comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.Isaiah 44:28 calls Cyrus the Lord’s shepherd, creating a picture of leadership, protection, and authority.
It is I who says of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.”In Psalm 23, David, a shepherd himself, speaks of the Lord as his shepherd. The Lord, the ideal shepherd, leads, feeds, refreshes, encourages, calms, protects, and comforts the sheep.
The New Testament portrays the shepherd’s ministry in a similar way.
Matthew 9:36 states that people who have no leader and no standards by which to live are like sheep without a shepherd: they become worried and discouraged. Mark 6:34 adds that Jesus began to teach the people. Jesus’ attitude in both cases was compassion.
And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)
When He went ashore, He saw a great multitude, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. (Mark 6:34)Jesus, in Mark 14:27, states a common-sense principle about sheep (they scatter when they have no shepherd) and says that His disciples will also scatter at His crucifixion.
And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’”John 21:15–17 relates the incident at the Sea of Tiberias after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Note that He told Peter to take care of the sheep for which he was responsible. That was an important job.
So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.”Luke writes in Acts 20:28 that Paul instructed the elders from Miletus (Acts 20:17) to shepherd God’s flock, the church.
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.Paul writes in Ephesians 4:11–12 that God gave gifted men to equip believers for ministry, so that the church would be edified, or built up. Apostles and prophets ceased to be given in the latter part of the first century. Pastors and teachers (one person gifted to do both jobs) and evangelists continue to serve to this day.
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.Hebrews 13:7 and 17 do not specifically mention pastors or shepherds, but the author does refer to his audience’s leaders. In context, these are men who teach the word of God and keep watch over the souls of believers. Obviously, pastors are included in this group. To watch over the people means to be vigilant and alert, so that danger does not overtake those for whom one is responsible. The leaders teach the word and watch over souls, fulfilling their great responsibility joyfully.
Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.
Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:1–4 that elders (overseers, pastors, and teachers) are to shepherd the specific flock that God has given to each of them, and to do so willingly and eagerly—not for corrupt gain. They are not to act as heavy-handed and proud dictators, but to serve as examples of how Christ, the Chief Shepherd, shepherds them. When Christ comes for His church, He will reward the diligent and faithful shepherds with an unfading crown of glory.
Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.Jesus, Our Shepherd, Cares for Us
Not only does Jesus do the job of a shepherd, but He also has many shepherd titles. He is the good shepherd in John 10:11, 14; the great Shepherd in Hebrews 13:20; the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls in 1 Peter 2:25; the Chief Shepherd in 1 Peter 5:4; and the Lamb who is the shepherd over the Tribulation martyrs in Revelation 7:17.
I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. (John 10:11)
I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me. (John 10:14)
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord. (Hebrews 13:20)
For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. (1 Peter 2:25
And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (1 Peter 5:4)
For the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7:17)A Summary of What Shepherds Do
- Feed, rescue, give sympathetic care, and protect (Isaiah 40).
- Gather together and watch the sheep, so they do not become scattered, confused, and lost (Jeremiah 31:10).
- Feed, strengthen, heal, search for, rescue, protect (Ezekiel 34).
- Lead and protect, so they do not wander and suffer (Zechariah 10:2).
- Authoritatively lead and protect (Isaiah 44:28).
- Lead, feed, refresh, encourage, calm, protect, and comfort (Psalm 23).
- Have compassion for those who had no shepherd, teach them (Matthew 9:36; Mark 6:34).
- Prevent them from scattering, because without a shepherd sheep scatter (Mark 14:27).
- Feed and tend, i.e., teach and care for (John 21:15–17).
- Guard from false teachers, oversee, and shepherd the flock (Acts 20:28).
- Equip for normal life and service (Ephesians 4:12).
- Lead, teach, and be examples of the faithful life (Hebrews 13:7).
- Lead and use authority wisely; closely guard and build up the spiritual life of each member of the flock—and do so joyfully (Hebrews 13:17).
- Oversee and shepherd willingly and eagerly, not for corrupt gain, and not as heavy-handed and proud dictators, but as examples of how Christ shepherds believers. Christ will give each diligent and faithful shepherd an unfading crown of glory (1 Peter 5:1–4).
A shepherd must feed, guard, doctor, and lead the sheep. When there is an attack, the shepherd gathers the sheep together and chases off the attacker. If a sheep becomes injured or sick, he tries to repair the damage and heal the sheep. When they tend to be afraid, such as in a storm or potential attack by an enemy, the shepherd gathers and comforts them. The shepherd of people has similar tasks. He leads, feeds, guards, comforts, encourages, rescues, and helps the spiritual healing of his congregation.
Teaching the congregation, which is comparable to feeding the sheep, is the most prominent and most important function of the shepherd. It is listed foremost among the shepherd’s functions in Ezekiel 34, Psalm 23, and John 21. John 10 has the same emphasis—the shepherd leads the sheep to pasture. Acts 20 speaks of guarding, and in the context, guarding is done by teaching truth and warning against error. 1 Peter 5 stresses that a shepherd must have the eagerness to shepherd his own flock and warns against the heavy-handed, dictatorial attitude.
This is a daunting responsibility. Actually, God must work in and through the pastor. God must provide the desire and the ability for the pastor to shepherd the flock that God has allotted to him. Our fictional Father Tim, like all pastors, sometimes has to be reminded that the responsibility lies with God, not with himself. Pastor Tim wants to make a quick trip back to Mitford to help Dooley, Esther and Gene, Louella, and Lace. He and his wife, Cynthia, have the following exchange.
“I feel we need to run home to Mitford,” he said.
“Run home to Mitford? Darling, you don’t just run home when it’s twelve hundred miles round trip and a hundred degrees in the shade. Dooley will be fine, I promise.”
“It’s not just Dooley. It’s also Esther and Gene and Louella and Lace and …” He sighed. “I feel helpless.”
“You want to help everybody and fix everything. But Timothy, you just can’t.”
“I’ve never been able to swallow that down.”
“Remember the sign I have over my drawing board at home? ‘Don’t feel totally, personally, irrevocably responsible for everything. That’s my job. Signed, God.’” [6]While the sheep eat and drink, the shepherd is, of course, always on guard—protecting, comforting, leading, and in some way making sure they have food and are calm, so they will eat, drink, gain weight and produce good wool. He also is continually on watch for sick or injured sheep. This may sound like an impossible job, yet much of his ministry can be best done from the pulpit and for the entire flock as a group. That is the nature of shepherding, whether of sheep or people.
How does the pastor determine what food his congregation needs and what kind of care the various sheep need? Some individuals require more attention. Some are prone to illness or injury. Some are consistent troublemakers. Some are very emotional. Each congregation has some of these people. They require more care than the rest of the congregation. They are high maintenance, just as some four-footed sheep are high maintenance for their shepherd.
Some Ways to Pastor Our Congregations
- We begin by walking and growing in the Lord, so that we have a foundation from which to pastor our flocks.
- We need to feed the flock, so we consistently study and teach the Word of God to our sheep.
- We warn the congregation about winds of false doctrine and theological and church fads.
- We warn, correct, and—if necessary—remove from the congregation those who bully, divide, or bother the rest of the spiritual flock.
- Through teaching and shepherding, we come to know our sheep. For example, we recognize their strengths and weaknesses and the level of maintenance they require.
- We watch for the spiritual illness of a member and attempt to treat it first by proper spiritual food in the public teaching ministry.
- We make ourselves available to encourage, comfort, and lead those with spiritual illness. We can do this by visiting with the individual, offering spiritual support and encouragement, listening to, and praying for and with the person. When pastors make themselves available to shepherd their flocks, they have more than an eight to five job.
It was nearly midnight when Hoppy opened the door. ‘I owe you an apology,’ he said [to Tim], “I could have asked you to pray at home, but all I could think of was having you here—on the premises.’
The rector had seen that look on his friend’s face before. It was utter exhaustion. ‘How did it go?’
There was a long pause. Hoppy looked up and shook his head. ‘We did everything we could.’
He sank wearily into the chair at his desk. ‘Every since we prayed for Olivia’s transplant and I saw the miracles that happened, I’ve been praying for my patients. One day, I asked Kennedy if she would pray. Then she told Baker, and soon we discovered that the whole operating room was praying.
‘I never talked to you about it, I kept thinking I would…. Anyway, we’ve seen some turnarounds. No miracles, maybe, but turnarounds. We felt something powerful was going on here, something we wanted to explore.’
Hoppy took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. ‘The bottom line is, we prayed, you prayed, and Angie Burton didn’t make it.’
What could he say, after all?7
Angie Burton died despite medical care and prayer. This happens, and when it does, it tests everyone’s faith. The pastor’s ministry is to provide the spiritual teaching to prepare his congregation for such tests, and then also to provide personal encouragement and support for those being tested.
- We can take the ministry of the church to those unable to attend. Help them to study the Word, take the Lord’s Supper to them, and observe it with them in their homes or hospital rooms. Larry, an elderly man in a congregation, is a recipient of such ministry. He has been taking care of his wife at home for over ten years. She is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Larry is a believer, but because of his responsibilities, he has not been able to attend church. A few ladies from the church go to his home at different times each week to sit with Sally so that Larry may shop, visit with friends, or just take a break from the long hours at home. They are extending Christ’s ministry to him and Sally. The pastor periodically goes by to visit, pray with him, and encourage him. He comes away blessed by Larry’s display of God’s love. [8]
- We can call them on the phone. This takes little time, yet those who are going through testing appreciate knowing that the pastor is interested in their welfare.
- We can take the church study notes and tapes to them.
- We can have periodic church suppers at which the congregation can have fellowship.
- We can let our congregation know that we as their pastors are interested in their welfare.
- We can gather others of the congregation into a group of believers who can, under our guidance, help in the shepherding.
- We can protect the individuality and the integrity of each sheep.
- We can work alongside the congregation in the church’s workdays and fellowship times.
The pastoring aspect of the pastor and teacher’s ministry emphasizes the care for the congregation. Most pastors overemphasize this part of the ministry and neglect the teaching aspect. If we do that, the sheep become undernourished and susceptible to a multitude of spiritual diseases. We as pastors and teachers must teach the Word of God to our flocks. However, we may have a tendency to err in the other direction: all teaching and not much pastoring. We should and can do a better job of shepherding our congregations. A good part of the shepherding ministry is feeding the sheep spiritual food, the Word of God. But the pastor also has the privilege and responsibility to shepherd his congregation—to lead, protect, encourage, rescue, heal, and comfort. This is nothing less than spiritual warfare. This warfare, though time consuming and often discouraging, offers great blessing to the pastor and the congregation.
Jan Karon’s fictitious Pastor Timothy Kavanaugh recognizes a God-given opportunity to listen, to encourage, and to point Olivia, a believer and church member, into a much needed ministry.
The beautiful, dark-haired Olivia Davenport did an odd thing. Rather than use the visitor’s bench like everybody else, she walked to Emma’s chair, sat down across from him, and said:
“Father Tim, I’m dying.”
He could only trust that his face didn’t convey the shock he felt.
“I’m asking you to help me find something to make the rest of my life worth living.
“Mother left me her winter and summer homes, and I have considerable property of my own. That means I could spend these last months being quite idle and carefree, and, believe me, that’s tempting. But I did not come to Mitford to join the club and sit by the pool. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s absolutely wrong for me.
“I came to Mitford to do something that will make a difference. And while I’m not smart enough to know what that something is, I believe with all my heart that you can tell me.”
The first time he set eyes on Olivia Davenport, he felt as if the Holy Spirit had spoken to his heart. This time was not different. He sensed at once that Olivia Davenport was the answer to a prayer he’d initiated two years ago.
“Olivia, I’d like to ask you to read something, if you’d be so kind.”
He handed her his open Bible, pointed to the twenty-seventh Psalm of David, and in clear, lucid tones, she read:
‘“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me upon a rock. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.’”
She let the book rest in her lap.
“If you were ill,” he said quietly, “with no one to sit by your bed, to hold your hand when you’re lonely, or rejoice with you when you’re glad, would there be anything, after all, to live for?”
Olivia looked at him steadily. It was a rhetorical question.
“It would give courage to a lot of people to hear the faith and victory in these words.”
She smiled and, without looking at the book in her lap, repeated something she clearly knew well. ‘“For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me upon a rock.’”
“He has hidden you in his pavilion?”
She smiled, tears shining in her eyes. “And he has set me upon a rock.”
“Would you do something to make life worth living for the patients at Mitford Hospital? Would you be willing to read to them each and every morning? It’s a big Job.”
“He’s a big God,” she said, with something that seemed like excitement.
In the space of precisely seven minutes, which he reckoned to be the full length of her visit, he had been told a terrible truth, discovered an answer to prayer, helped someone find a ministry, and been unutterably refreshed in his own spirit. Perhaps, he thought, we should all live as if we’re dying. [9]We know through our own experience that studying and teaching the Word of God to our congregations brings great blessing to them and to us. Shepherding our congregations can bring equal blessings. Let us concentrate on fulfilling our entire ministry, and not miss out on part of God’s purpose and blessings.
—End—
Notes
- Delivered at the CTS Teaching Pastors Conference, October 8, 2001, Believers’ Bible Church, Omaha, Nebraska.
- Russel Blowers, “What Is A Minister?” [sermon online] (accessed 8 December 2003); available from http://www.traviscase.org/Sermons/Pastors_Deacons/ WhatIsAMinister.html; Internet.
- Charlton T. Lewis, An Elementary Latin Dictionary (New York: Harper, 1891; reprint, Oxford: Clarendon, 1966), 585.
- Charles Ball, “The Minister as Pastor: Part II,” BSac 106 (October-December 1949): 468.
- All Scripture passages are from the New American Standard Bible (La Habra, CA: Lockman, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995).
- Jan Karon, A New Song (New York: Penguin, 2000), 166.
- Jan Karon, These High, Green Hills (New York: Penguin, 1997), 17.
- This is based on a situation at Spokane Bible Church. The names have been changed.
- Jan Karon, At Home in Mitford (New York: Penguin, 1994), 138–39.
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