Pastor Michael Dent On Tips For Young Men Called To Be Pastors

Earlier this morning I had the opportunity to pick the brain of Pastor Michael Dent. Michael Dent is Pastor of Campus Church of God in Cyclone, West Virginia. While we sat down and talked, I asked him what advice would he as a pastor that has been in ministry for several decades, give to a young person feeling called to one day become a pastor. After conversing and taking notes for around an hour, all of Pastor Dent's advice could be condensed into four tips. Here they are: 

1. Manage Your Time Wisely: Time is fleeting. As the Lord's half-brother James said, your life is "just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." (James 4:14). How you use your time matters. Plan ahead. Don't just wake up in the morning with out a plan of how your day is going to go. If you allow yourself to go throughout your day in a reactive posture, you're more likely to feel overwhelmed which will lead to stress, aggravation, and can allow you to drift aimlessly throughout the day. Resolve early in your ministry to set aside time each day to plan your days accordingly. Whether your write it out on paper, your iPhone, iPad, in your mind, whatever, make sure your days are planned in advance!
2. Get To Know The Back-End Of Things: As a pastor, you're going to be in charge of more than just crafting and preparing messages week in and week out, and visiting people that are are no longer capable to make it out to church. Get acquainted with the nuts and bolts of what it takes for a church to operate. Pastor Dent recounted to me some accounting classes that he had taken in college that helped him tremendously here and advised me to finding some resources that dealt with this area.
3. Take Time For Yourself:  When talking to Pastor Dent about rest and scheduling time for Sabbath, he said to me, "If you don't do this, you will not make it". Sabbath is essential. Now, I'm not saying "you must take observe the Sabbath!". Not at all. What I am saying is that ministry is a grueling job. According to Forbes, being a pastor is one of the most difficult leadership roles that one could take on. It may not be as taxing physically as a manual labor job, but spiritually and mentally, it is taxing. Pastor Dent recounted a recent Sabbath he took after preaching an exhausting revival. When you empty your bucket, make time for yourself to rest, reset, and meet with God and allow Him to fill your bucket back up. Operating on empty isn't good for you, your health, or the people around you. Sabbath is essential. 
4. Be Led By The Spirit: Most important of all, be led by the Holy Spirit. You cannot make it in ministry acting in your own strength; it must be in Christ's strength. Ministry is time consuming, and tiring. The battle isn't against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places (Eph.6:12). Though you are a preacher of the Gospel, it is the Spirit that regenerates and saves a sinner, not you. You must rely on Him for this. You are a vessel in which God uses to proclaim the Good News about His Son Jesus. The message that Jesus lived, died, was buried, and was resurrected to take away the sins of His people! 

I thank and appreciate Pastor Dent for his time this morning! I look forward to speaking with him again, and I look forward to hopefully discussing these types of things with others across the state of West Virginia in the future as well.