I will never forget the Thursday morning, when after a staff meeting, I asked my pastor and one of the elders to walk over with me to the building where much of our children's ministry was conducted. I wanted them to see first hand some building issues that needed to be addressed.
While we were standing in one of the hallways, one class from our academy walked by us on the way to their next class period. Child after child greeted me with a shrill in their voice as they said, "Pastor Billllyyyyyy". (The keyboard keys aren't stuck. It was just their joy and love bleeding into the voice.) Many of the boys and girls hugged me as they walked by. You could easily see that to them, getting to spend a few brief seconds with me was something special.
After the children walked by us, my pastor turned to me and asked, "What am I? Chopped liver?" He was jokingly referring to the fact that not one child greeted or hugged him. In my mind, I answered this question with, "No, they didn't purposefully ignore you. In all fairness to you, because they never see you, they don't know you. In fact, I could almost guarantee that most of the children don't have a clue as to who you are. To them, I'm their pastor. Some of them are in my children's church each week on Sundays and/or in our mid-week Bible clubs on Wednesdays. At the school, they see me walk through their class to be with them and they also enjoy the chapels that I conduct. Because I see them and spend time with them, I'm their pastor."
I'm not sharing this experience for ego purposes. Many reading this post can relate to my story and perhaps have personally experienced the same situation. I am sharing this post to let you know that, though your official title might be Sunday school teacher, children's church volunteer/leader, or Bible club teacher/leader, to many of the children in your church, you are their pastor. You are the one that they see week after week. Your arms are the arms that wrap around them to share God's love. Your voice is carrying perhaps the only gospel that they will hear all week. Your prayers are the ones that they hear. Again, you are their pastor.
Pastor (AKA Sunday school teacher, children's church volunteer/leader, or Bible club teacher/leader), be a pastor. Make each and every minute of your ministry time count. Destinies hang in the balance. I trust that as you and I stand before Jesus one day, there will be many who will greet us with a "Pastor Billllyyyyyy" (or whatever your name might be) and run to thank us because we were their pastor.
P.S. Do yourself and your church a favor. Please pass this blog posts on to all the fellow pastors who are ministering alongside of you....
