The Importance of Expectations in Ministry

Ministry is messy. The sheep bite! The grassy valleys you envisioned can be scarce, and shepherding often isn't living up to the expectations. You had unquenchable vigor in the barracks, but then the war rages on and you seem to be losing ground. How can you keep focussed when even your own heart is busy manufacturing all manner of distractions, bent on betraying you and the ministry? Meanwhile, that other pastor across town (the one who doesn't study as hard as you do) is achieving results with just "a few small tweaks to his program".

You have unmet desires (with some good motives attached), unrealized expectations, and your trajectory appears tethered by the inadequacies in your resources, your model, your circumstances, other people, and finally yourself... all of it leading to one place - the Slough of Despond.

But what does God think about all that? Is your ministry philosophy really off-target? Is your methodology underbaked? Are your circumstances really to blame? Or did you simply forget who the church really belongs to?

Pastors Jerry Wragg and Daron Roberts have a conversation on the heels of the Churchmen Conference. After 3 years of hearing men discuss what endangers their flocks from within, it has become clear that the issue of discouragement at the leadership level must be addressed. Pastor Jerry and Pastor Daron deep-dive this topic, and let a figurative panel discussion of New Testament Apostles deliver answers to our hearts on this critical topic straight from the Word of God.