How I Prepare Myself
Jack Hayford
A pastor, of course, must do many things to prepare to lead people weekly in worship. But before I attend to technical matters, I've learned to attend to spiritual concerns.
—Jack Hayford I was twenty-two when I took my first pastorate, a small congregation in Fort Wayne, Indiana. At best we averaged 47 people in worship. We had one rough stretch. As some members moved and others went away for the summer, our average attendance over a five-month stretch dropped steadily, from 47, to 44, to 33, to 22, and finally, by the middle of August, to 11. One Sunday morning only 8 people showed up. When my family came back for the evening service, nobody showed. No one. I sat discouraged in the front row next to Anna, my wife, and our baby, who was lying in a bassinet. I had already felt defeated after the morning service, but now I felt simply awful. What in the world am I doing here? I thought. If we had had enough money, I would have packed my family in the car and left town. But we didn't. Sitting there, I made what I later realized was a crucial decision. "Honey," I said to my wife, "you stay here with the baby and kneel. I'm going by myself to pray. If we don't pray right now, this will beat us." While praying I saw a mental picture of the church building on fire—not burning up, but flames were going up from the building, and the cinders blew east of the church and came down on top of houses and ignited them. I felt as if the Lord was telling me he was still intending to bring his "fire" to that church. I was strengthened and encouraged to stay at the church, and did so for another two years. I can't say the church exploded with Spirit-filled enthusiasm after that. In fact, it never became much larger than it was at its peak. But in those ...
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