Pastoring in the twentieth century requires two things: one, to be a pastor, and two, to run a church. They aren't the same thing.
—Eugene H. Peterson

One of the worst years I ever had was in my early days at Christ Our King Church in Bel Air, Maryland. Our building was finished, and I realized I wasn't being a pastor. I was so locked in to running the church programs I didn't have time to be a pastor.

So I went to the session one night to resign. "I'm not doing what I came here to do," I said. "I'm unhappy, and I'm never at home." The precipitating event was when one of my kids said, "You haven't spent an evening at home for thirty-two days." She had kept track! I was obsessive and compulsive about my administrative duties, and I didn't see any way to get out of the pressures that were making me that way. So I just said, "I quit."

The elders wanted to know what was wrong.

"Well," I said, "I'm out all the time, I'm doing all this administrative work, serving on all these committees, and running ...