There are times in ministry when a pastor looks back and realizes he should have handled something better. Yesterday was one of those moments for me. In my sermon, I had to pronounce “Antipatris,” but because I do not usually listen to an audio Bible or read passages out loud during my study, I struggled with it in the moment. I had assumed it was pronounced “Antipras,” and that mistake caught up with me. It is a reminder of an ongoing challenge I have to grow as a speaker who communicates clearly, accurately, and with care.

I found myself worrying about the distraction it may have caused, and afterward it took a hit on my confidence. I thought to myself, I have a Bachelor’s degree in theology, I should have caught this in my preparation. But moments like this happen because I assumed I had the pronunciation right, or simply did not catch the issue. Even in the second service, after struggling the first time, I still had difficulty saying it correctly. At that point I even read the text out loud beforehand just to make sure I had “praetorium” right as well. LOL.

This is what we used to call a “dummy move” back in my day. A “dummy move” is something we have all done at one point, when we could have prevented a problem with a little more care beforehand. It is like a student waiting until the last minute to finish a paper they had weeks to work on, or someone sending an important email without proofreading and later noticing obvious mistakes. It can look like a driver ignoring the low gas light and ending up stranded, or a person showing up late because they did not plan ahead for traffic. Sometimes it is assuming you understand instructions and not asking questions, only to do the task wrong, or failing to save your work and losing hours when the computer crashes. In each case, the situation could have been avoided, but it happened because of assumption, lack of preparation, or not paying close attention.

That was me on Sunday. I misread a word, thinking I had it right, but when I said it out loud in front of the congregation, I realized I was wrong. At one point, I even had to ask the church how to pronounce it. Moments like that are humbling, but they also remind me how thankful I am for our church and the grace they show me as a pastor. In a real sense, this is where the congregation pastors the pastor, caring for those who have been called to serve and lead. I have felt that care deeply. Even when I struggle, I remember the encouragement I receive after stepping down from the pulpit. I am grateful for a Christ-exalting church like ours that continues to love and support me, even in my weaknesses.

In the last couple of weeks I had recieved some encouragement from others about my serving the church through preaching. Example:

“Pastor Los, the Lord used that sermon to minister and convict me. I went home right away and just prayed. I needed that, just thinking about how unloving I’ve been and how I’ve been following my heart and all of its pride and carelessness. “Tether yourself to the truth. Is it lovely, pure, & glorifying to God.” That convicted me a lot. Just wanted to encourage you and praise God for how he used you to minister to me.”

“You may not remember me, but … I visited Christ Alone back in November. Although we attend another church, I still often watch your sermons online. I’m sharing with you an article that I read today that made me think of you. It is regarding preaching to the sins that our congregations struggle with, and not avoiding the hard topics. I’ve been saved for almost 37 years, and I’ve rarely encountered a pastor that so faithfully, and lovingly, challenges the body the way you do.”

“Hey Los, just wanted to pass this forward from my friends who visited today. ‘Great and timely message we heard from your church. It is as if it was written for us’” 

There were other encouraging comments as well that helped me while I was struggling to communicate clearly from God’s Word. I could have shared those too, but these are simply examples of how the Lord uses His people to encourage and strengthen their pastor. A pastor should not depend on the encouragement of others for strength, but encouragement is still a help. I try to be careful with compliments and the praise of man, because relying on those can turn a pastor into a people pleaser. At the same time, encouragement should be received when it is given, and we should be willing to receive it. Refusing it can become another “dummy move,” where we end up relying on our own strength and forget that we are called to glorify God in preaching for the good of His people who also should encourage the pastor.