10/11/2026
This month, we honor pastors.
We honor Pastor Jarrod, Pastor Dewell, and pastors throughout our county who have faithfully answered the call to shepherd, serve, and preach the Word.
To our neighboring pastors: we see you, we honor you, and we are grateful for you. We are thankful for the way so many of you faithfully serve your own congregations while still making room to encourage, support, and strengthen one another. We are especially grateful for the pastors who have come alongside Pastor Jarrod and Pastor Dewell with brotherly love, wisdom, prayer, and mentorship. We are deeply thankful for Pastor Walker Day and the way he has personally encouraged and mentored Pastor Jarrod.
There is something special about pastors choosing to cheer one another on, pray for one another, share wisdom, and remember that we are not competing churches — we are serving the same Kingdom. Even when our churches look different, our styles are different, or our assignments are different, we are grateful for every pastor who is faithfully preaching the Word and loving the people God has entrusted to them.
We know there is so much more to ministry than what happens behind a pulpit on Sunday morning.
People see the sermon, but they do not always see the hours spent studying and praying before it is ever preached. They do not see the late-night phone calls, the hospital rooms, the funerals, the counseling conversations, the emergencies, the hard decisions, the criticism, the moments of wondering if you handled something the right way, or the weight of carrying situations you cannot talk about publicly.
They do not see the Sundays when you stand up and preach while walking through something difficult in your own family. They do not see the times you pour into someone who eventually walks away, the conversations that keep you awake at night, or the burden you carry for people who may never know how deeply you have prayed for them.
They don’t see the constant pressure of being told you’re doing too much, not doing enough, too available, not available enough, too firm, too soft, too loud, too quiet, too traditional, too different, preaching too long, preaching too short, talking about something too much, or not talking about it enough.
There is always an opinion about how a pastor “should” lead, preach, respond, communicate, correct, comfort, or show up — and somehow, no matter what you do, someone will think you did it wrong.
And still, pastors keep showing up.
They keep praying. They keep studying. They keep leading, loving, serving, and pointing people back to Jesus.
Pastoring is not one day a week.
It is 365 days a year of loving people, praying for people, leading people, correcting when necessary, comforting when hearts are broken, celebrating victories, carrying burdens, and faithfully answering the call God placed on your life.
And sometimes you do all of that while carrying burdens of your own.
So to every pastor in our county faithfully opening the Word, loving your congregation, serving your community, and answering that call: thank you.
Thank you for preaching truth when it is popular and when it is not.
Thank you for standing beside families during some of the hardest days of their lives.
Thank you for investing in children, teenagers, marriages, families, and generations you may never fully see the fruit of.
Thank you for continuing to show up.
We may serve in different churches, under different names, and in different parts of our community, but we are laboring for the same Kingdom.
Pastors, we appreciate you more than you know.
And to Pastor Jarrod and Pastor Dewell, thank you for loving Family Church, faithfully teaching the Word, and giving so much of yourselves to the people God has entrusted to you.
Throughout Pastor Appreciation Month, we honor every pastor faithfully serving our community. We are grateful to serve alongside you.
So this month, take a moment to encourage a pastor who is faithfully serving today. Let them know their work is seen, their faithfulness matters, and their commitment to shepherding people is appreciated even on the days when no one sees what it costs.
