Did You Know that Pastors only Work on Sundays?

Doing What? Growing up in a home where my Dad was a pastor and a missionary my friends often said: “Your Dad has the best job in the world! He only has to work on Sundays!” As I got a little older my friends and I were trying to figure out what to do with our lives. My friends would want to know if my Dad had to have a degree to do what he was doing and what exactly did he do during the week after his work day was over? 

Some do not understand the word “deputation” or the purpose of what we are planning to do. On our deputation travels I have been asked these very same questions. Have you ever wondered these same things? I’m sure if I had not grown up in a home where my Dad was a pastor and then married a man that was in full time ministry for the Lord I would also be curious to know just exactly what a pastor or missionary’s job description is!

Christianity depends upon its leaders being spiritually mature. When my husband decided to go into full time ministry he made the decision to study at a seminary so that he could become better equipped in God’s Word. He also gained maturity in ministry by completing several internships at churches that were in their church-planting phase of their ministry. Even though the formal courses and internships are past Deon continues to learn. I don’t believe that ever stops for a pastor or any believer that is a sincere student of God’s Word. 

At this stage my husband is busy communicating our ministry goals and financial needs to the churches and individuals prepared to support evangelism and missionary outreach through their finances and prayer support. Our “deputation” ministry takes place both in South Africa and the United States of America - visiting churches, traveling from town to town, sharing our vision for winning lost souls in another land.

Vacation? Now that we are on deputation Deon’s week is filled with preparing sermons for upcoming appointments we have with churches. He works on fine tuning our ministry presentation video. Creating and printing our prayer cards. Writing prayer letters to keep our prayer supporters updated with our latest prayer requests and praises. He works on contacting new churches that we can visit in the coming months. He keeps our vehicle that we travel many miles in clean and running. He works on bookkeeping. He drives long hours as we make our way to a church that we can share our hearts desires- sharing God’s Word and the Good News to South Africa. 

My husband is my pastor! My pastor also works hard at being the husband the Lord would want him to be and a godly father to his children. I’m blessed to be able to call my pastor my husband. His responsibility to me and to his flock is huge. 

Although it may seem to some that pastors and missionaries don’t do much … don’t be fooled by what you don’t see them do  - the things “behind the scenes”. They are faithfully serving the Lord and their flock by all that they do on all seven days of the week. Pray for your pastor, pray for missionaries because they are doing the Lord’s work they are targeted by Satan in all that they do. Pray that they can stay faithful to the Lord and keep strong spiritually as they serve our Lord and Savior. 

I am thankful to the Lord for the pastors He has placed in my life over the last 29 years since I accepted the Lord as my Savior. They have all worked hard for the Lord and have stayed faithful to His Word. Please keep my husband in your prayers as he desires to serve the Lord with his life, doing God’s Will. Without the encouragement of our fellow believers Deon would not be able to do what he does. Thank you!