The Best Appreciation

Many of us pastors struggle with pastor appreciation month. We are extremely grateful for the words and kind gestures we receive from people we love dearly. But we are already in the spotlight so much, being on stage on the weekends, that most of us would rather deflect the attention. After all, it’s really the people working behind the scenes, the people who are rarely thanked and rarely recognized, who we should have a special month for.But this week, I received the best pastor appreciation gift ever.Someone left an envelope in our mailbox at home. Whoever it was, they dropped it off during a time when no one would be home. They did not even bring it to the office, because then others would tell me who it came from. When I pulled it out of the mailbox and saw the writing on the outside, “Pastor Scott,” I immediately assumed it was another card for Pastor Appreciation month. Little did I know that it was not intended to be, yet it was in the best way!Inside was a special and generous gift in the form of a gift card for another family in need in our church. The note was gracious and expressed the desire to remain anonymous. They just wanted me to pass the gift along. And I’ve never felt more appreciated!As a pastor, to see people in our congregation living out the teachings of Jesus means more to me than anything. And I know that all of our pastors here at The Bridge would agree. We feel the most fulfilled in ministry as well as appreciated personally when we see you following through on Biblical teaching by being Jesus in your every day lives. Seeing scores of hands lifted to acknowledge Jesus before others in our services last weekend, knowing that hundreds of men and women in our church are making sacrifices to serve every weekend, and the simple gestures our people make to show compassion to others in the name of Jesus, that does more to encourage me than anything.So I do want to thank the people of The Bridge for your kind expressions of appreciation. But I especially want to thank you for being the kind of church Jesus envisioned when he established it. Thanks for listening so eagerly to the teaching of God’s word, taking it seriously, and putting it into practice. It’s a joy to watch!