Our week-end off - part III: honoring a pastor

At the center of this trip is the fact that our church wanted to honor its pastors. This is quite a "hot" topic in our community of believers. What does it really mean to honor a pastor?[1] I have much to say on the topic, but for this post let me focus on how this trip honored me, much more than a salary ever would.

Scripture states: Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine - 1 Tim 5:17 (NKJV) From this passage, it seems to me that this honoring comes as a response to a job well done.

This is exactly how this trip was honoring to us. It was given to the pastors to thank us for all the work we have put into pastoring this family of believers. It was a gesture of appreciation and honor for the work that we did, not a way to hold us accountable or to free up our schedule. In addition, before we left, we were presented with gifts for our trip. The neat thing about these items is that they were the result of people knowing us. You see, this part of the honoring was personal. Just as Paul told Timothy to honor (personally) elders, so these people honored us in a personal way beyond the corporate gesture.

I do want to thank our body for honoring us in such a way. It meant so much to us.

[1] For some great throughts and conversation on the topic see:
*Theron's Honoring Elders post, posted on December 13, 2006 at 11:19 AM
*Alan's On Being Honored ... post, posted on December 16, 2006 at 10:52 AM