"My daughter Leia the other day...." my father begins to state as the entire congregation lays eyes on me. That was pretty much my life every Sunday. The most perfect testimonial examples all start from the pastor's home. Both of my parents are Senior pastors of the church I was raised in. We experienced our good days, and not so great ones. I am a pastors daughter; I have seen things that no one else even knows about. I have known future plans about the church that would not be announced until months later. People have come and gone my whole life for different reasons. The purpose of this post is to not discourage all the pastor's kids, but to let you know that I am relating to you; you are not alone.
When being raised by the leaders of a ministry, one must know that it is not the easiest of lives. It is filled with favor, and the blessings can be abundant, but for those who have not gone through this, it is not filled with rainbows and unicorns all the time. In particular, I was raised in a very small church. Everyone knew everyone. Growing up, I saw the same people who I loved very much. I knew them, and they knew me. I felt, and still feel loved to this day every time I visit home from college. What I experienced growing up though was something I never talked about in public.
When it comes to leading a ministry, one could compare this to raising a child. New born-again people are a blank slate. They need guidance, they need prayer, and a spiritual leader. I shared my parents a lot. This, I did not realize until I was much older. The ministry always came first, and that is something many do not realize when it comes to the pastor's family.
My parents, even to this day, put their 100% in everything they do for the ministry. They have made countless sacrifices so that the church could stay alive. When people didn't tithe, we had to trust God to fill our needs. He never failed to take care of us though when we needed it most. They dedicated themselves into this because they had a calling. Many do not realize that when something affects the church, it affects the pastors. When it affects the pastors, it affects their family. This can either be a good, or a bad thing. We, as a family, have experienced all emotions when it comes to this.
It is not just a heavy calling though, my life growing up had fun moments as well! I recall spending every weekend at the church trying to self-entertain as my mother lead practice for the worship band for Sunday morning's service. I was always picked to sing and dance along for our youth groups on Wednesday nights. I was always excited to answer questions in Sunday school because I knew the answers so well. At six years old, I would have considered myself a bible scholar because the word was my parent's go-to book on how to raise a child. Now, whenever I tell people that I am a pastor's kid, they look at me and say, "Oh, you're the worst...". I resent this statement because simply this: what makes my type any worse than yours? We were all born into sin, and we can either choose forgiveness or not. That was what I was raised to believe.
I am a pastors daughter, and that will be one of my labels for the rest of my life. Even though I witnessed the best and the worst, the sacrifices that my parents made WILLINGLY were all made in the name of love.
