Excerpt From The Interview
“I don’t want to sound like we’ve got the toughest job in the world. That’s not true. The problem with the pastor is the dimensions. One day you’re doing a funeral, the next day you’re doing a wedding. One day you’re preaching on this, the next day you’re being pulled in this way. The problem with pastoring is you’re getting paid weekly to tell people how bad they are.
You’re to reprove, to rebuke, to exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. And so our calling is really unique. It’s very different because of the dimensions of the emotions of what you’re dealing with. You’re also dealing with preaching things that you’re not personally experiencing that day. You may get up to talk about the power of prayer and you haven’t had an answer to prayer in weeks.
You’re always faced with your own shortcomings, even preparing a message. You’re thinking, now can I say that from the pulpit when I know full well that I’m struggling with that myself? There’s a feeling of hypocrisy. This is why I used to always tell our people, ‘Right now folks, I’m going through a particularly difficult time in this area, but because I’m expository and I’m going through a particular book, I’m coming across something that I really don’t want to preach on right now, but it’s still true.”
About Mike Minter
Mike was born in Providence, Rhode Island to a Navy family. He then went to the Naval Academy, but he traveled to Europe, and during 1970 he came to Christ. That experience moved him for a longing for ministry. In 1970 he went down to the Florida Bible College where he would graduate in 1974. He would marry Kay along the way, and he and Kay started a home Bible study in Reston, Virginia. That home Bible study would move the following year to a hotel in 1975, and Mike would then find Reston Bible Church, where he pastored for over 45 years. He’s now retired from Reston and resides with his wife in Franklin, Tennessee. He’s an assistant teaching pastor at Rolling Hills Community Church. He has four children and six grandchildren.
Links Mentioned
Stay The Course by Mike Minter
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