A Sunday With A Pastor
By Robert (Bob) W. Jones
A Sunday in the life of a pastor.
Awake at 5:03am – no alarm – just time to be up.
Praying at our kitchen table for what the day could hold.
Read the YouVersion Bible plan – “Digging Deeper Daily.”
A see-you-later kiss with Jocelyn before heading out the door on a surprisingly mild January morning.
Pulling into an already filling parking lot ninety-five minutes before service time.
Handshakes, smiles and hugs with staff and volunteers.
Good-natured ribbing on my return from a two-week holiday.
High-fives with pre-schoolers in the foyer.
Pictures with a family of Patriot football fans decked out in the colors, hours before the AFC Championship game kick-off.
Prayer with our ministry team before taking the platform.
Acknowledgement and appreciation for dozens of volunteers from our Family Winter Carnival the day before.
Feeling happy for a pastor new on staff as he delivers his first message to very warm receptions in all three services.
Anointing and praying for a five year-old, diagnosed with a rare, terminal genetic disorder – GAN.
Putting an arm around a newly widowed wife’s shoulders and feeling humbled by her grief.
Introductions to happy first time guests – invited by friends of North Pointe.
Meeting a newborn and their proud parents.
Signing up growth group participants for our annual Same Page Initiative.
Sympathizing with a wife as she shares about her husband’s attempted suicide.
Praying with a mom whose 35 week-old baby is still hospitalized since birth.
Viewing iPhone photos of a young couple’s brush with death a week earlier in a highway encounter with a moose.
Praying for our church family.
Thanking a new volunteer head usher in our 3rd service.
Collecting stats and drafting an agenda for our pastoral staff meeting on Tuesday.
Heading home for a cafe mocha and championship football.
Visiting a senior in palliative care whose attendants enthused that she perked up when hearing that her pastor and his wife were coming to see her.
Praying at the bedside of a mentor struggling through excruciating pain.
Texting with an out-of-town family celebrating their preemie baby’s first birthday.
Face-timing with a son, daughter-in-law and our one month-old grandson who reside one province east.
Blogging the story of a woman from North Pointe whose initiative to collect winter clothing for children has blessed the lives of inner city students.
An unfinished to-do-list that will wait for Monday.
Reading a few pages in a new novel before sleep at 11:10pm.
Grateful for a meaningful day as a pastor.
About this Contributor:
Robert (Bob) W. Jones is a recovering perfectionist, who collects Coca-Cola memorabilia and drinks Iced Tea. His office walls are adorned with his sons’ framed football jerseys, and his library shelves, with soul food. He has served as a pastor for 36 years and has enjoyed the past 26 years in leadership at North Pointe Community Church in Edmonton, Alberta.
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