How Are You Able To Be A Pastor?

Note: This interview was recorded several weeks ago

Benjamin Kreps:

Hey everyone. Welcome to the Mark Prater podcast where we aim to connect our global family of churches with our Executive Director. Mark, it doesn't look like you're in your office. Maybe you're in a prison cell or something like that, it appears. Where exactly are you?

Mark Prater:

It does look like a prison cell. The good news is I'm not in prison. I'm actually on a retreat, a pastoral team retreat with the guys that come to Fellowship Church. And we're doing that at Black Rock Retreat Center, which is near Lancaster.

Benjamin Kreps:

Nice. So while you are our Executive Director, you are also are an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church and that's why you're at the pastoral retreat. So I just wanted to ask you about what that looks like, serving as an elder in a local church as well, even while you take care of so many responsibilities as Executive Director and travel around the country. What are your responsibilities at Covenant Fellowship?

Mark Prater:

Thanks for asking. First of all, I'm so glad our polity requires that a denominational leader be an elder and pastor in a local church. Because I think what I do locally as a pastor and elder directly impacts and affects what I do in serving Sovereign Grace. Some of the things that I do here at Covenant Fellowship: I'm obviously participating in all the elders meetings.

We're having a great retreat here where we were able to pull away and have some big picture conversations. I’m participating in that. I lead a “Faith and Work” group Bible and Book Study for people of any vocation in our church. That's one way for me to be with the members of our church regularly. I also lead our prophecy team. And I'm actively pastoring probably three or four families in the church as well.

Benjamin Kreps:

So, with being away so much and traveling with your responsibilities, how do you seek to ensure that you actually know the flock (you know, you're actively engaged in caring for the flock)? Would it be things like those families that you're actively bringing pastoral leadership and care to?

Mark Prater:

That would be one way that I'm accomplishing that. I think the other one would be through the “Faith and Work” Bible and Book Study. I do those three times a year, and typically different members of the church will be in those studies based on their own work schedule. So, over the course of the last five years I've done them, it probably had 35 to 40 different members in the Bible study. That's one way.

Benjamin Kreps:

Do you do that online? Or is it by phone call or something like that?

Mark Prater:

No, it's live, face to face 7:00 AM on Friday morning, so we're up early, which is one of the reasons why maybe people don't attend every month. So I get that. The other thing that I do that I'm real intentional about is on Sundays at my church Covenant Fellowship I really try to be at the front doors greeting folks. And if there's somebody I had not met before, I'm introducing myself to them.

Benjamin Kreps:

So, while you're juggling the responsibilities of being a local church pastor and responsibilities of Executive Director, how do you figure out what to prioritize? What does that look like for you, prioritizing those different responsibilities in a very busy life?

Mark Prater:

Well, I begin with my time with Christ. I've just got to be in God's Word every day. I really do believe that if I'm not growing in my relationship with Christ, I'm not going to serve my family well or my church or our family of churches well. So, that's right at the top of the list.

Next is my family, and I'm making sure I'm getting sufficient time with Jill. And you know, we're empty nesters, so to speak, and we're talking about how to influence our grandkids and just trying to get time with my grandchildren as well as our adult children.

And then next are my pastoral responsibilities at Covenant Fellowship. And I tend to try to get a rhythm in my schedule where I'm making sure I'm giving time to Covenant Fellowship throughout a given week.

And then, obviously, what I do for Sovereign Grace. And actually, within that, since you asked, one of the things I've been doing for probably two or three years now is blocking time in my schedule for strategic thinking, which is typically on Friday mornings and then blocking time in my schedule for regular study and reading. I find if I don't do that, the tyranny of the urgent consumes my schedule and I just don't get time to really think about where we're headed as a family of churches.

Benjamin Kreps:

So this is just closing off time alone in your office, computer open, thinking, praying, planning, studying. What are you studying currently that's helping you in this?

Mark Prater:

Well I just finished a book called Gender Ideology by Sharon James. I'd highly recommend that book (we could do a podcast on that actually) just because of all of the gender-related issues happening in the culture that are now being pressed upon the church. So, we can talk about that in a different podcast. 

I'm also reading a book on parenting by Sam Crabtree that just came out that Jared recommended, because I think it's an area that we want to remain strong in as a family of churches, especially as we apply the gospel to parenting and specifically what I mean by that.

So I'm just trying to keep myself sharp there. So that's another thing I'm studying right now.

Benjamin Kreps:

Excellent. Sam Crabtree's book, Practicing Affirmation is essential in my view. I have handed out many copies of that. Well, Mark, thanks for taking a little time to share about your schedule and how you prioritize your responsibilities. And for everyone watching, thanks for watching, and we'll be back here soon on this podcast.