If I were a young man just beginning to minister for the Lord, I would want to make sure I did these things (in no particular order)….

One. That I stayed close to the church.  Loyal to it, involved in it, faithfully preaching that the church is the only institution the Lord formed, and I would work through the local church. If I’m unemployed at any time, I will join a church where I live and serve the Lord faithfully.

Two.  I would get as much formal education as possible.  I would move my family to the campus just as we did the first time, and get to know the professors and students personally.  The bonds formed in class and in between class periods last a lifetime.  If some of my education was online, that would be fine.  But the basic seminary education, I would do on campus.

Three.  I would try to master all the electronics available that help with the work of ministry.  I would avoid gimmicks but would accept anything that could enhance my work. That’s why at this very moment this 83-year-old is sitting here at the breakfast table typing on his laptop with his smartphone 12 inches away.  I’m typing this for my blog which I trust will be read by a lot of ministers young and old.  Oh, earlier this week I was interviewed for a podcast directed toward helping small churches.  What I know about podcasts would fill a thimble, but if they help people, I’m all for them.

Four.  I would work to safeguard regular time for my family.  If I’ve learned anything from decades in the Lord’s work, it’s that for a pastor everything is urgent, every crisis demands his immediate attention, and failure to respond at once will result in someone criticizing.  But to surrender to that tyranny is bad for the preacher, hurtful for the one criticizing, not good for the church and devastating to a pastor’s home life.

The minister must plan ahead–safeguarding his days off, vacations, study retreats, etc.–and get the leadership team on board to help him protect that plan.  He cannot do this alone.  (Try that and you’ll soon be out of a job, pastor.  You will need to set up a system of people covering the hospitals and other crises while you are tending to your family.) The minister has to convince himself and then his leadership team that protecting his time away and his study time is not a luxury but essential for the work.

Five. I would ask God again and again–until He did it!–to give me a tough hide to endure criticism.  No pastor in the history of the world has ever pleased all his people.  It is to my everlasting shame that I sometimes tried it.  But no more.  Giving in was bad for them and terrible for me (and for mine).

Six.  In my pastorates, I would bring in the best guest preachers.  Not just the ones we could afford.  I’d go for the top of the line, the ones with something to say, a vision for the Word and the world, people who leave a church changed forever after one weekend. Oh, I am definitely not referring to celebrity preachers. Just the best ones.

If we could not afford to bring someone in, I’d try to make it happen anyway.  That involves sharing my vision with key leaders, asking the church to set aside funds for this in the future, and if necessary, pay for it myself.  One thing I’ve learned is that those special preachers/speakers/leaders will appreciate being told up front if the honorarium will not be up to the usual standards, but that you will be doing all you can to make that better. (A celebrity preacher might have a required guarantee, but in my opinion, you can skip those and go to someone else.)

How to find such preachers?  Ask around.  Stay in touch with your pastor friends who are serving outstanding churches.  Who have they used? Who would they recommend?  What advice would they give you?

Seven.  I would make our church a house of prayer, my people a people of prayer, and myself a man of prayer.  This is a big, big deal with our Lord (see Luke 18 and Isaiah 56:7) and it is with me.  If I were starting over, I’d not worry about praying like someone else and work at praying prayers of faith.  I’d pray far more in private than in public.

Eight.  I’d help my church to laugh more.  True, I did this in every church I pastored, but I’d still stay with it. Not everyone appreciates laughter in God’s people but the ones who do not are the very ones who need it.  Healthy laughter is a vote of confidence in the living God, a way of connecting with one another, and a tension reliever of the first order.

Nine.  I would encourage unemployed preachers, in particular those turned out of their churches by godless, thoughtless congregations.  (I chose those words carefully and mean them.  To heartlessly send a pastor away because you don’t like his preaching or feel he’s ill-suited for your church–or a hundred other flimsy reasons–shows the leaders perpetrating this nonsense to be unbelieving in God and/or uncaring about judgment.)

When one unemployed pastor complained to me that no minister was helping him, I asked, “When you were serving a church how many unemployed pastors did you help?”  He said, “I didn’t know it was a problem.”  I said, “They don’t either, so be kind.”

Ten.  I would get out of the church office more and visit my people on their jobs, in their homes, on the playground, at the school. The work of the pastor can be all-consuming, and if he lets it, the administrative demands will chain him to his desk. But he must be pro-active here, and make plans to visit with a deacon on his job, talk to people in the stores, and volunteer at the school.

Eleven.  I would train my people to appreciate each other, their leaders, their staff, and so indirectly, their pastor.  No church honors their leaders adequately without someone having taught them.  As the pastor, it’s up to me to see that this is done, even if it does seem to benefit me. By honoring key lay leaders on special occasions and celebrating staff anniversaries, we are teaching our people to appreciate God’s choice servants.  And when we do that, we honor our Lord.

Twelve. I would honor other ministers in my town who serve well.  I’m recalling a pastor of another denomination whom I assisted in a funeral.  His church was small and the suit he was wearing was threadbare. Because I had access to money to help people, I arranged for a men’s clothing store to contact that minister and invite him to pick out a new suit with accessories.  He never had a clue who had provided it for him.  The answer, of course, is that God did.

I love ministers and share the excitement of young preachers over the call of God. They are going to be uniquely situated to make an eternity of difference in so many lives. Anything I can do to encourage them, you can bet I want to do that.  And I know my Bible well enough to know that in doing so, I’m honoring the Lord of the church.  Hebrews 6:10 is a huge deal with me.

That is my list of twelve. I can think of additional things, but this is sufficient for today.

Final thought: If you have a young minister in your life, pray for him/her–constantly, in faith, believing, trusting.