We all know the blessings of being in pastoral ministry—the blessing of knowing that your life is spent for the gospel, using your gifts, meeting wonderful people, receiving people's encouragement, and seeing changed lives.

We can't achieve these things, though, without paying a price.

In John 12, Jesus said, "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it stands alone. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." The "Law of the Harvest" is simply this: If we want to be productive for Jesus, there will be pain and dying.

I have learned there are specific costs to being a leader. Here are five prices of pastoral leadership.

The price of people's projections

Because church leaders are in positions of authority, some people will project onto us negative feelings from authority figures in their past. One of my friends calls it "being presented with another person's bill."

Rita sat down in my office. We'd had only a few superficial conversations before, ones I considered friendly. ...