Crazy People
Heather Zempel, our Pastor of Discipleship, just listened to the Leadership Uncensored CD put out by creativepastors.com. She shared one thought that I thought I'd share with you :)
Ed Young said, "There are about 10-15 crazy people in every pastor's life."
That totally cracked me up! Here's the funny thing...
I was walking down the street talking on my cell phone about an hour later and a woman started screaming at me by name. I kid you not! I had to put my call on hold. She started ranting and raving! It took a second, but I recognized her. She is homeless and if memory serves me correctly she's caused a disruption at church.
Sidenote: we have a great ministry called InService led by John Hasler that ministers to the homeless every week. Our family makes sandwiches. We really want to reach up-and-outers and down-and-outers. It's part of our DNA.
Long story short, I think this woman is crazy. I don't say that with any anger or vindictiveness. She is either demon-possessed or mentally unstable. I was literally on the phone and she launched into a tirade. That has never happened to me before. I hope it never happens again.
What a timely reminder from Ed Young via Heather Zempel.
Crazy timing!
One more thing. Ed Young says, "Don't let the whiners run your ministry."
Here's my advice: tune out the naysayers.
I'm not saying we don't listen to constructive criticism. But we need to be very careful. I heard Erwin McManus say something a few years ago that I've never forgotten. He said, "Don't let an arrow penetrate your heart unless it first passes through the filter of Scripture." That's good stuff!
Ed Young said, "There are about 10-15 crazy people in every pastor's life."
That totally cracked me up! Here's the funny thing...
I was walking down the street talking on my cell phone about an hour later and a woman started screaming at me by name. I kid you not! I had to put my call on hold. She started ranting and raving! It took a second, but I recognized her. She is homeless and if memory serves me correctly she's caused a disruption at church.
Sidenote: we have a great ministry called InService led by John Hasler that ministers to the homeless every week. Our family makes sandwiches. We really want to reach up-and-outers and down-and-outers. It's part of our DNA.
Long story short, I think this woman is crazy. I don't say that with any anger or vindictiveness. She is either demon-possessed or mentally unstable. I was literally on the phone and she launched into a tirade. That has never happened to me before. I hope it never happens again.
What a timely reminder from Ed Young via Heather Zempel.
Crazy timing!
One more thing. Ed Young says, "Don't let the whiners run your ministry."
Here's my advice: tune out the naysayers.
I'm not saying we don't listen to constructive criticism. But we need to be very careful. I heard Erwin McManus say something a few years ago that I've never forgotten. He said, "Don't let an arrow penetrate your heart unless it first passes through the filter of Scripture." That's good stuff!
5 Comments:
This is hilarious! Such good timing. By the way, I would submit that you can scale up the "crazy people count" for pastors of discipleship. I would venture to say there are about 20-25 crazy people in my life.
hahahaha....That cracks me up!! I don't know what my reaction would be if someone started yelling at me. So, did you just keep on walking after your initial surprise?
people yell at me/us all the time...
then the next time i see them, they are totally civil to me. mental illness is a major problem on the streets-
mostly on sunday mornings, with my amazing team who facilitates the handing out of lunches- i just walk around the perimeter of the mob, praying for protection. we rarely have any penetration of such disturbances.
don't be surprised if you get people who come up to you on the streets a lot more often. like i wrote before, you have very high "street credibility." all of the homeless around union station know about ncc, many know your name, and most comment about how 'real' you preach it and how down to earth you are. they take pride in knowing who you are and how long they have attended ncc-
I Love That! they really take ownership of ncc.
keep on-
*hasler
I hope I am not on your crazy list :)
Kyle, if anyone is on PM's crazy list it's me! :)
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