Leaders Following Christ Now Offers Pastoral Support
Our vision is for every ministry leader to foster healthy ministries and personal lives. We don’t just want to help pastors grow their churches. We want to empower leaders to live God-honoring lives that are healthy in a holistic way. After all, healthy ministries can only be sustained by healthy leaders. Our goal is for leaders’ personal relationships with Christ to grow deeper, families to grow healthier, hope to grow stronger, and joy to grow louder. That’s why we’re building a Pastoral Support Team for Leaders Following Christ.
Pastoral Support is now available to connect ministry leaders who are seeking support and guidance with a pastor on our team. We interviewed Matt Lundy of our Pastoral Support Team to share more about this exciting addition to our ministry.
Welcome Matt Lundy to our Pastoral Support Team
What is your role as Pastoral Support for Leaders Following Christ?
I have the pleasure of connecting relationally with pastors and leaders from around the world. It could be as simple as a pastor asking for curriculum advice or as complicated as a pastor on the verge of walking away from ministry because of burnout or emotional fatigue. No matter the need of the pastor, my role allows me to speak into their lives and listen to their difficulties.
What are common hardships or needs that pastors have been opening up to you about?
Pastors have a heart for people. They want to see people cared for, loved, and connected to others. While they constantly pour into others, many seem to be lacking a community to do the exact same for them. This leaves pastors feeling alone, disconnected, and unsupported. That’s where I get to step in. Some pastoral support calls may start as simple as “I need help organizing my volunteer structure.” However, most calls turn into pastors telling me they needed a listening ear, someone to relate to, or even just a friend.
How have you seen 1-on-1 support impact the pastors who reach out to you?
One of my favorite things about this role is the multiple ways we have been able to support pastors. We’ve had pastors realize that we could offer them resources to shift 5% of their time off of a mundane task and onto ministering to their church or their family. We’ve had pastors send text messages that said the support they received was a literal answer to prayer. Others have taken the opportunity of our one-on-ones to talk out a problem and arrive at a solution by simply saying it out loud to someone who wouldn’t judge their processing. One of my favorite compliments I have heard was, “You just sat here for 30 minutes and listened. No one does that.” These stories, emails, and text messages of “thanks” are what fill my tank.
What do you envision for the future of our Pastoral Support Team?
My hope and prayer for the Pastoral Support Team has a few layers to it. I want to see the community of pastors reaching out to this support structure to grow. Not for the sake of statistics, but because I truly believe this team and structure is something pastors need and can grow from. I would also love to see the group grow in cross-community opportunities. I do not have most answers that pastors need. However, someone that’s a part of our community may. I would love to see healthy mentorships grow out of this group. I want to see pastors not only be the best they can be on Sundays, but I want to see them become the best husbands, wives, fathers, leaders, and bosses they can be. I believe our community serving one another can make that happen.