Before becoming a seminary dean and LifeWay president, I served four churches as pastor. Can I really be objective in evaluating myself as a pastor? I doubt it. Self-awareness is elusive.

But let me give it my best shot. On a scale of 1 to 10, I guess I would rate myself as a 5, right at average. Okay, maybe I'm being a bit too generous. A 3 or 4 would probably be more accurate. Forget it. I never liked those scales anyway.

The fact of the matter is that I really messed up a lot as a pastor. It's one of the toughest jobs in the world. I would not wish it on anyone unless he knew he was really called by God to this ministry.

Five Changes I Would Make

This list is not comprehensive. My mistakes in ministry constitute a much longer list than a brief article can contain. I would need a long book to write all the dumb things I did. Actually, it would need to be a multi-volume series. But here are five of the biggest changes I would make.

1.I would spend more time in prayer. It's a cliché, but ...