The Best Gift My Husband Ever Received for Pastor Appreciation Month (and a Giveaway for Your Pastor!)

by Sally Matheny

Best Gifts for Pastor Appreciation Month

My husband answered the call to pastor his first church in 2004. Eleven years later, we’re still serving the Lord alongside the same sweet family of believers. Nestled in the foothills of North Carolina, you’ll find our little church bursting at the seams with some of the most compassionate and generous people.

October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Perhaps some of you are contemplating ways to bless your minister. Be sure to post a comment at the end to enter the drawing for a gift card for your pastor. And just in case you don't win, I’ll share some suggestions including the absolute, best gift my husband ever received for Pastor Appreciation Month.

Throughout the year, church members bless our family with thoughtful gifts. Fresh produce from their gardens is always a favorite. Honey, homemade soups, and my husband’s favorite chocolate-oatmeal cookies also top the list.

Gift cards to restaurants have pleasantly surprised us. My husband is a bi-vocational pastor. His 8-to-5 job, in addition to the ministry, keeps him quite busy. One thing he struggles with, as do many pastors, is juggling his time between ministry and family. A bi-vocational pastor especially carries the discerning weight of how to disperse their time after they leave work. He must decide between visitation, counseling, preparing sermons, spending time with his wife, investing time with his own children, or catching up on yard work and home maintenance. When someone gives him a gift card to a restaurant, it’s a clear message. “We want you to spend time with your family or plan a date night.”

Pastors Struggle With How to Disperse Their Time

Words of encouragement strengthen your pastor more than you’ll ever know. PastorBurnOut.com states 90% of pastors feel unqualified for ministry and 50% feel unable to meet the needs of the job. Every humble pastor is acutely aware of his own shortcomings. Quite often pastors question their abilities to lead a church. The only way they survive is through a continual process of surrendering their inabilities and trusting in the power of the One who is able. God uses people in the church and the community to encourage pastors to persevere. The words they speak and write are often a healing balm or an energizing boost for the soul.  

No matter what the size of your church, your pastor ministers to a multitude—his family, his church, and his community. Quite often, people outside of our church call and ask for godly counsel. My husband’s trustworthy reputation draws heartbroken people to come share an evening of coffee and conversation out by our fire pit. Members from other churches, who aren’t quite ready to expose their pain or their faults to their own pastors, are welcomed into our home. I’m sure other pastors experience this as well. A pastor who loves the Lord yearns to help people find their way back to Him—no matter what church they attend. He longs to point the lost, the sick, and the weary to the eternal hope of Jesus Christ. While it is his heart’s desire to do this, it comes with a price. The burdens people have shared in confidence weigh heavy on a pastor’s heart. He must continually carry those burdens to the Lord and seek wisdom on how to counsel people.

The best gift my husband ever received from our church was a five-week sabbatical. A pastor who continually brings water to those in the trenches soon discovers he’s parched as well. After several years in the ministry, life events were taking their toll on my husband. Years of unresolved family issues, the passing of both of his parents, serious health issues of loved ones, and work-related stress caught up with him. He was running on empty. He will tell you while he loved ministering to others; he had failed to obtain ministering for himself. Battle fatigue set in and the spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study waned. Then our family life began taking hits.

We knew we were in a spiritual battle with the enemy and we cried out to God. We were weary and heavy-laden. God impressed upon us to ask for a five-week sabbatical. This was a difficult thing to do because we love our church and we love the ministry. My husband’s problems did not stem from church-related issues and he didn’t want them to think so. Satan began throwing darts of fear—what if people think this or what if people think that.

Pastors Need Prayers and Time Away 

Nonetheless, under God’s leading, we asked. Without questions or judgment, our church family granted the sabbatical. My husband also asked for a change of hours for one month at his other job. By God’s grace, for one month, his employer reduced his five-day workweek to three days a week. Every Sunday, we attended different churches and sat under the teaching of various ministers. During that time, our own church family sent cards with words of encouragement and prayers. And, while we certainly weren’t expecting it, they blessed us financially.

Diving deeper into God’s Word, we filled the unfettered days enriching our relationship with Him and with each other. Slowly, God used the retreat to bring rest and the healing of mind, body, and soul. God also used that time to gently, but painfully, hammer out imperfections, which ultimately brought new strength.

It was one of the most difficult, and yet one of the most amazing, five weeks. Even now, when we talk of that time in our lives, we remember with awe God’s power and the depth of his love. Without a doubt, God used that sabbatical to change my husband in a way I’ve never seen before and it’s been a lasting change. You can see it in his life and you certainly can hear it in his preaching!

It was early one October when my husband asked for that sabbatical. I guess you can say we made a special request for pastor appreciation that year. I want to encourage you not to wait for your pastor to ask, because more than likely, he will not. 
It doesn't have to be for five weeks. I've heard of pastor sabbaticals lasting anywhere from a couple of weeks to a year. The key for the pastor is to use his gift of time wisely. 
The best thing you can do for your pastor is to pray for him. Consistently and earnestly pray for him and his family. And then, consider offering him some time away to refresh and strengthen his armor of God. It will be one of the best gifts ever.

*Post a comment and your name will be entered in a drawing. The prize is a gift card for you to give to your pastor. The winner, selected at 3:00 p.m. (EST) October 23, 2015, will have a choice between a $25 gift card to Family Christian Stores or to a restaurant of your choice.

(You may want to subscribe to the blog so you won't miss the announcement. 36 hours without a response will result in the selection of another winner. You can subscribe by entering your email in the space provided to the right of this post or use the "Subscribe" button.)

Your comment can be about anything. You may want to share why you appreciate about your pastor!