The most irritating experience an artist can have is to have his work criticized before it is finished.
Andrew Wyeth

As we've seen, the ministry has an effect, both positive and negative, on a pastor's family life. But the converse is also true: family life can have a profound effect on ministry. In the next three chapters, we'll look at the burdens and benefits that family relationships can bring to ministry.

One of the toughest burdens can be family tensions. Consider the story of this pastor from California:

We were eating lunch in a favorite Chinese restaurant. My son was nineteen, good looking, and engaged to an attractive woman four years his senior, whom he had met at Bible college. We thought he was too young for marriage and had expressed our concern. "Give yourself and your relationship more time to mature," we said. But when you're nineteen and the future spreads before you …

"Dad, we're going to have a baby."

Time stood still.

"I'm sorry to hurt you like this. We're going to get ...