This is my last post to this blog… For technical reasons it is moving to HERE.

If you access it from www.MikeThakur.com then don’t worry, everything will stay the same See you over on the new site soon…

Seeing as my column this week covered in a little more detail some of the points I have raised recently about Pastors and their state of mind here in the US I thought I would finish this subject off with one more post today. You might feel as though it is all ‘doom and gloom’ being a Pastor but I have some stats today that will surprise you, given what we have found out through the other posts over the last week or so.

• 86% of pastors said they’d choose ministry as their career if they had it to do over.
• 87% of pastors say a strong sense of God’s call is why they chose ministry as a career
• 91% of Pastors feel very satisfied about being in ministry (!)

That’s right! 91% of Pastors, given all the negatives that they struggle with still hold the overall view that they are satisfied with serving Jesus! That is a testament to their conviction of calling and is encouraging to everyone they serve because it shows a strength of character in them that we would want to see in our leaders.

Let’s continue to pray extra hard for them so that these numbers stay the same while the negative numbers go down

This weeks column is out. Take a read by following the link below:

Houston Community Newspapers

Email to a friend

I have known of a missionary couple to Haiti for quite a few years now and over the last 12 months or so the children’s ministry I serve has been supporting them also which has been great considering everything that has happened in the last few weeks.

To be able to show the kids that prayer really works, that they are still alive, partly because of our prayers if fantastic and I wanted to give Donna and Eldon a shout out here today for their lifelong efforts in Haiti. To be somewhere for 20 or 30 years in this day and age is a miracle in itself so go take a read of their website and see how you can help.

Their ministry out there encompasses EVERYTHING from sharing the message of Jesus’ love to putting that into practice through helping people with medical supplies as well as food and shelter. They’ve house families, kids, built schools and more…

Prayer is free (!), feed a child 3 meals a day for a whole month for only $20! Come on, you know you can

Feed A Child Haiti

Look to the right and at the very top is a link so you can subscribe to get my blog posts via email… Saves you coming to the site if you don’t want to so go ahead and sign up today

I bought this book for every one of my awesome ‘Life Changers’ that work in the Kid’s Ministry at the Church I serve at for Christmas. I firmly believe that for 2010 we needed more prayer than ever before and I thought a great place to start would be with some practical, realistic encouragement on prayer from someone far more qualified than I to talk about it.

This book by Hybels has been around for over 20 years and seems to be well received by most within the Christian community and I have to say, I can see why. It isn’t theological, it isn’t mind altering, it’s just simple, relevant, practical advice from a person who seems to be down to Earth and humble enough to recognize that where he is today, is the exact place that God made for him and not the place he made for himself.

Hybels talks through prayer, why we can be confident in it, why we should do it, how we should do it and much, much more. He gives personal examples from his own prayer life which really add to things and what was interesting to me was that I read this book only a month or so after finishing another book featuring prayer called ‘The Remnant’ by Larry Stockstill of the Bethany World Prayer Center in Louisiana. God has clearly been prompting me in this area for some time and I encourage you to broaden your wings also and read up a little more with either of these books, I think you’ll be glad you did.

Ok, so here’s part 2 of my Pastor stats for this month. Following on from my previous post about Pastors and the pressure they face that leads so many of them to irreversible breakdowns in their marriages, today I want you to think about the fact that today, 50 pastors will quit the ministry for a variety of reasons. 350 Pastors every single week this year will turn away from ministry and go into some type of secular work as a way to improve their life quality. In case you’re wondering why, here’s some stats to help with that!

• 80% of Pastors and 84% of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
• Pastors who work fewer than 50 hours a week are 35% more likely to be terminated than Pastors who work more than 50 hours per week (how many hours do you work in your job?).
• 50% feel unable to meet the needs of the job.
• 70% do not have someone they consider a close friend.
• 56% of Pastors’ wives say they that they have no close friends.
• 46% say that they’ve experienced depression or burnout to the extent that they needed to take a leave of absence from ministry.

WOW… If you thought the previous stats were mind blowing then these probably just blew your socks off.  EIGHTY PERCENT feel discouraged and unqualified (bearing in mind the majority of Pastors have graduated from some type of formal, theological training). 1/3 are more like to be fired simply because they work less than 50 hours a week. 70% have NO close friends! Come on people, are we praying hard enough for our Pastors yet? As if this isn’t bad enough check this one out:

• 80% of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter ministry will leave within the first five years.

Hopefully, I don’t have to say anything other than, read those stats again and ask yourself what are you doing in relation to them? Are you part of the problem or are you part of the solution? Are you helping to encourage your Pastor or are you happy in the knowledge that he probably feels inadequate, wants to quit and is fighting depression because no one else is supporting him either?

I know I know, I’m a Pastor so I have a vested interest in this but honestly, I don’t. This isn’t about me, it’s about the other 399,999 Pastors out there that don’t need another fake pat on the back, but need some real, genuine support and interest in their lives by the people they serve. I challenge you this weekend to do something you have NEVER done before to make sure your Pastor isn’t one of these stats.

This is my latest column from the Houston Community Papers… Follow the link below to read more!

Spring Observer

Picked up Toby Mac’s latest CD today entitled ‘Tonight’. Although he was in Houston throughout the day I didn’t get chance to actually go and hang out with him

What can I say… If you like Toby Mac, this won’t disappoint. Admittedly I have only listened to it one time but catchy, more of the good stuff and you really won’t be disappointed. It sounds just like some of his best stuff with a nice mix of slightly different stuff to make it a little interesting… Anyone that can write a song called ‘Funky Jesus Music’ gets some respect from me and the song ‘City on our knees’ is simply AWESOME!

Lifeway have it on sale for $9.99 so don’t pay more than that!

So I came across a list of staggering facts today relating to Pastoral work and generally being involved in ministry on a full time basis. Some of them are so stunning that I have decided to dedicate my next few posts to some of these subjects in the hope to spur on and encourage anyone I can to love their Pastor just a little more…

Now onto today’s stat. Considering the average divorce rate in America hovers around 50% it is amazing to me that the same number of Pastors also get divorced. You might not be as surprised as I am but nevertheless, the reasons behind the ‘why’ should be understood. Here are some more stats that help to answer that question:

• 50% of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.

• 70% of pastors constantly fight depression.

• 80% of pastors’ wives feel their spouse is overworked and wish he would choose another profession.

• The majority of pastors’ wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.

• 40% report a serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month.

Wow… Is it any wonder that so many marriages don’t make it? Can you imagine working somewhere, anywhere and having some kind of serious conflict with another person every single month? Is it a coincidence that half of the pastors surveyed would quit if they could? Exactly the same percentage as is getting divorced? I don’t know about you but I clearly need to pray for my Pastor more (and it’s not like I don’t already) and I would love it if you would join me because in my opinion, God must truly look down with a heavy heart when He sees this in real life.

Surely this pressure and poor quality of life isn’t good enough for people who are devoting their lives to serving the Church so let’s agree to encourage and pray more for them, and comment / criticize less!