Matthew 9:35-37 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few."

We are continuing our series, Equipping the Saints, by looking at the role and gifting of the Pastor!

This word, Pastor, doesn't appear anywhere in the New Testament but is a Latinized form of the word for "shepherd."

In his seminal work, Pastor, William Willimon writes, "Before the altar of God, at the bedside of the sick, in conversation with troubled souls, befuddled before the biblical text is the pastor. In that fateful intersection between God's people and God, in that risky transaction between Christ and his body, the church, stands the priest. It is no small thing to be used by God in mediation between God and humanity, to offer the gifts of God's people, to intercede for the world's suffering in prayer, rightly to divide the word of God. With trembling and with joy, the pastor works that fateful space between here and the throne of God. This yoke, while not always as easy as Jesus implies, is often quite joyful. It is a joyful thing to be a pastor, to have one's life drawn toward dealings that are divine, to bear burdens that are, while not always light, at least more significant than those that the world tries to lay upon our backs. What a joy to be expended in a vocation that is greater than one's self."

The role of the Pastor is to shepherd, to guide, to lead, and to care, but the Pastor knows that ultimately all are Pastored even more thoroughly and more lovingly by the Good Shepherd.