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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