Command and teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because
you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love,
in faith and in purity. —1 Timothy
4:11-12
Pastors and elders must set the pattern and pace
for the congregation. If we’re going to have a healthy church, we need healthy
families, and if we’re going to have healthy families, we need to be
absolutely sure that the pastor and the elders are modeling for the congregation
what it means to have a spiritual home.
When I grew up, my father was an elder in our
church. Every morning we got up and had devotions. My father gathered us in the
living room before school, and often kids that were going to go with us to
school would join us in a short devotion and time of prayer. My father would
pray with our friends, he would pray about things we needed, and he set the
example for praying about everything, anywhere.
Later in life, one or two of my friends shared with
me, “John, we were trying to break the door down and get into your house where
we could pray with your family because it was a place of comfort.” My father
modeled what it meant to be a man of prayer. Leader, your home should be a house
of prayer, and pastors particularly must show the fitness of their own homes.
What a joy to be able to set an example of prayer, to be able to pray always,
about everything, to pray everywhere!