(Leaders/Pastors, if you get anything out of this leadership blog series I hope that this is it.)

Learn to PASTOR...not MANAGE.

Let me say it like this; Pastors, you aren't there to FIX the church. You are there to LOVE it. The church isn't a machine. The church isn't business. The church is the Bride of Christ. God likens the church to a wife.

Men...when was the last time you FIXED your wife? That's what I thought! (Ladies the same goes for you.) So quit trying to fix the church. Jesus is the only one that is going to fix the church. As a matter of fact...if you asked Jesus today, He'd probably tell you that He's already done it on the cross. So quit trying to fix it...instead, try focusing your efforts on LOVING the church and being PATIENT with the church. I like the word that the King James Version uses for "patience"...it uses the word, "long-suffering". Isn't that a better word? Sometimes being patient with people can cause long hours of suffering...but that's where love comes in...

1 Peter 4:8
"Above all, LOVE each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins."

Endurance in ministry is accomplished through LOVE!

Here is a rule of thumb that I heard at the North Texas Leadership Conference that brings this all into application...

"See everything...overlook alot...correct a little."

I promise you if you'll practice that in "LOVE", you'll go a long way in ministry.