What is a pastor? Does going to seminary make you a pastor? Does not going to seminary keep you from being a pastor? Do you have to have a church to be a pastor? Or do you have to be hired to be a pastor?

"But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it ... It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up..."
Eph 4:7,11-12

From this passage, it's clear we all have been given spiritual gifts. And each one of us is to use our gifts to build-up the body. Some of us are pastors.

If you're gifted as a pastor:
1. You have a serious responsibility to pastor Christians. This does not mean you have to start a 501c3 & buy a building. Nor does it mean you have to quit your day job. But Jesus made it clear that will are held accountable for the talents/gifts given us, so you better use your gift for the edification of the body - there is more than one way to do this.

2. You don't have to go to Seminary. Do not underestimate the power of God to train you. The Holy Spirit has gifted you, God has equipped you. This doesn't mean you shouldn't study. You absolutely should know the Word, be walking by the Spirit & understand good doctrine. If you'll be teaching people regularly & pastoring is your full time job, then Seminary is probably a good idea. But God used the "uneducated" disciples to change the world. He uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Do not ignore God's gifting just because you think you need a Seminary degree.

3. Seminary does not make you a pastor. Having a degree, knowing Greek & gaining knowledge does not make you a pastor. You may be able to preach a great sermon, this does not make you a pastor. A pastor care's for, counsels and helps his sheep grow to maturity. This requires understanding of people, how they grow, what they need to grow, what they're problems are, what are some solutions, humility & obedience to train them to follow God. Any person that desires the praise of man or to be up front can technically become a "pastor" - don't let that be you.

4. You don't have to have a building or be full time. If you're gifted as a pastor, you can start by encouraging and caring for Christians around you. If God increases your ministry, great, but do not mistake a crowd of people & a non-profit organization for successful obedience to God's pastoral gifting. What matters is helping people to become godly, teaching them good doctrine & training them to love God & love others (this is the fulfillment of the Law). Whatever that looks like, do that.

Clergy VS Laity
There is a very unhealthy distinction in the Church right now between clergy & laity. This is unbiblical and the result is millions of Christians doing nothing for the Kingdom. We are all called to use our gifts to serve & build-up the Body. If you're just chillin as a pew sitter, git off your duff and start using your gift—God will hold you accountable.

"What Matters Now" is a new free eBook from Seth Godin.

He invited about 70 thought leaders to write a page for an eBook called What Matters Now. Every page is a brief article (no more than 200 words) with a single word title.

You can view it in the embedded Scribd player above or you can download it here. There are entries from:

• Michael Hyatt
• Chris Anderson
• Martha Beck
• Seth Godin
• Chip and Dan Heath
• Tony Hsieh
• Ariana Huffington
• Anne Jackson
• Mitch Joel
• Guy Kawasaki
• Tim O’Reilly
• Daniel Pink
• Tom Peters
• Dave Ramsey
• Tim Sanders
• Gina Trapani
• Gary Vaynerchuk

… and many others. Enjoy!

This is a guest blog post from Kent Shaffer. Check-out his blog: ChurchRelevance.com.

Developing your team into effective leaders requires more than just explaining how to do something. You must explain the why behind the how. Understanding the science behind a method is crucial to being able to effectively lead in times of unusual circumstance.

When it comes to systems, most rules have exceptions, but you can’t appropriately identify these exceptions unless you understand the principles behind the rule. Teaching rules alone creates carbon copy robots. Teaching principles creates leaders.

The Pharisees lived by rules with such rigidity that they missed the principles and the purpose behind the rules. Jesus knew the rules, but more importantly, Jesus understood the more important principles behind the rules. As a result, He made exceptions that made His ministry dramatically more fruitful and impactful than the office of a Pharisee.

Here’s the challenge – it is much easier to teach the how without the why. Teaching the science and principles behind it all requires the investment of a mentor. Often, it requires modeling. Managers teach rules. Leaders teach principles.

Pastor, blogger & leadership genius Ron Edmondson originally posted this on his blog. I am reposting it here by permission.

I was in a grocery store the other day as a clerk explained to another customer why certain things are placed where they are. People typically don’t look up to the top shelf or down to the bottom shelf. That’s why tomato soup goes on the bottom shelf. People who love it will find it. Items the store is trying to push the most go on the shelves at eye level, where people can easily find them without much effort.

I believe the church can learn much from private industries that invest thousands of dollars on marketing…far more than most churches could afford.

How do we translate the concepts of grocery store marketing to our churches?

One thing it means to me is that whatever we value most, needs to be at “eye level”, or promoted in a way that it receives the most attention. In my experience, sometimes churches, even in my own church, do better at promoting things that have lesser importance, and sometimes don’t promote enough the things that deserve the most attention. One example is that we often promote our programs more than we promote the person of Jesus.

At our recent staff retreat, it was decided that in 2010 we would analyze the way we do things to ensure we remain true to our strategy and ultimate vision of producing growing followers of Jesus Christ. We are going to make sure plenty of emphasis is placed on salvation, for example. We have tons of fun every Sunday, but we need to make sure no one leaves without the opportunity to know the person of Christ. We will continue to plan incredible services each week, but we want to make sure our main purpose is always at eye level.

Another example is baptism, which is important to us, but is often “difficult to find” in our structure. We need to find ways to talk about it more. Small groups and service are ministries we value greatly. We need to make sure we promote them adequately and how people get involved is easily understood.

With this line of thinking, because we have limited time each Sunday, we will bypass talking about some issues, so we can make sure we are talking about our main objectives. There are other things, such as membership, that while we have it, we’ve purposefully placed “on the bottom shelf”, because people that really want that step will usually find it.

Could grocery store marketing help your church? If something is valuable to your church and its vision, make sure it gets the most promotion.

For more thoughts on ministry, click HERE.