A few years back, I was reminiscing and realized that at 36 years old I had been preaching for over half of my life. Now, within the year I will have been in vocational ministry for half of my life.

As I reflect on these milestone moments, I remember some of the preconceived notions I had as a young man. When I first answered God’s call on my life, I thought I would be a life long youth pastor.

My first staff role in a church was as a bi-vocational youth pastor for two years under pastor Larry Treadway at White House General Baptist Church. It was a surprise when I received a call to become a full-time youth and associate pastor at Halltown General Baptist Church in my mid-twenties.

I didn’t know that a full time role even existed in which I could focus on youth work. The thought of being able to minister to the next generation of leaders and being able to devote so much more time and energy was exciting.

Now in over 20 years of ministry I have served as a bi-vocational and full time youth pastor and senior pastor. Some of my early thoughts went along these lines:

• If I am full-time, I will be able to devote way more time to prayer.
• If I am full-time, I will be able to study the scripture and read the Bible all the time.
• If I am full-time, I have achieved a level of respect in ministry.

What I soon found out was these things are not necessarily true. Your prayer life and devotion to scripture have to be based on your commitment, not your availability. We make time for what we deem important in life. I found some other new personal realities very quickly as well:

• As a full-time pastor, I would have to take multiple financial pay cuts and lose my health insurance.
• As a full-time pastor, I would feel way more pressure to please people.
• As a full-time pastor, I would consistently hear church folks’ joke that all we do is work 1-2 days a week.

After coming full circle in ministry and being a bi-vocational senior pastor, I have learned a few things I gladly share with new people in ministry:

• If you plan to serve in vocational ministry in any form: try to live as close to debt free as possible. If you have car, credit card, and student loan debts it will complicate following the Lord’s lead. The borrower is slave to the lender, and it’s hard to serve two masters.
• Before entering vocational ministry, develop a consistent prayer and study routine. The hours that you plan for personal growth will easily become filled with new duties if you are not disciplined.
• Full-time pastors don’t have it near as easy as people think and the stress is real.
• Bi-vocational pastoring is not a lesser step, and for many it may allow you and the church you serve to better understand the biblical role of a pastor.

After serving the last four years as a bi-vocational senior pastor at Salmons General Baptist Church, it has allowed other leaders to step up and develop to fulfill needs in ministry. Time is always a struggle but the stress that goes along with pastoring has decreased greatly.

My wife often tells people that I am a different pastor, husband, and father now than I ever was when I was full-time. I am loving this season in ministry and cannot imagine being full-time in vocational ministry again.

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 NLT

About the Author: Andy Mathias serves as the Chairperson for the General Baptist Board of Overseers. He is the Pastor of Salmons GB Church in Franklin, KY and works as a realtor in the Portland, TN area. He has been married to his wife Julie for 20 years and they have two sons, Caleb and Drew.