09/23/2026
Its tempting to imagine that a “good” pastor is an influencer, celebrity, or super-smarty pants with lots of quotable memes to share; but the great majority of pastors know that the most honest and rewarding ministry is local. It’s particular. It involves ministering to people you know, with whom you share the joys and pains and strains of ordinary life in extraordinary times.
Pastoring is not a one-way street. It’s a relationship. Pastors get as much from our people as our people get from their pastors. We are formed through the exchange of sorrow, aspiration, celebration, and redemption. The Spirit shapes us all, in all we do, at all times and in all manner of ways.
We suffer for the Church (and sometimes from it), but we also glory in the Church (and often because of it).
It’s beautiful. It’s symbiotic. And it’s exhilarating and exhausting, heart-breaking and hope-sponsoring, ideal and disastrous all at the same time. Without a calling to a particular people in a particular place for a particular time, none of us would survive. And yet, those who respond to the call of God know that there is no place we would rather be than rooted in our communities, enjoying one another forever. ***
Fossores Innovation and Design is committed to resourcing people in ministry because enlivened pastors inspire people, and inspired people heal the world.
We host retreats onsite and cohorts online. DM us for more info.
