153. How I Write Pastor Blog
Last week I shared about my prayer life, to reveal part of my life as a pastor. In continuation, I would like to share how I write my weekly pastor blog. I wrote my very first pastor blog on 2013 Jan 6th. Since then, I have written one blog post almost every week for over six years. Based on my record, I have written 318 blog posts. It may not sound a lot, but it actually is, considering how much effort goes into it.
I usually have about 30+ drafts I can use any time. These are simple notes that I created whenever I got an idea about what to write for the future. This practice reduces my stress of finding something to write about every week. But this does not alleviate the actual burden of writing a post.
Writing a blog post is a pretty challenging task because writing itself is a creative process. I’m amazed by how bloggers can write multiple posts a week. Of course, I can quickly write something as a post. But writing quality content that” feels” right and coherent is challenging. Also, because I try to keep it short (under 450 words), I go over it multiple times to trim it down after writing an initial post. (I have no problem writing a long post!)
Despite the effort that goes into it, the main benefit of pastor blog is simple. Majority of church conflicts happen because there wasn’t enough communication, especially from pastor to the members. Many pastors assume that communication is happening because they are speaking every week. But that is not true. Without an intentional effort, a misunderstanding occurs naturally. So, I write a blog to prevent potential misunderstanding and conflict by continually revealing my thoughts and plans ahead of time.
It is undoubtedly a leader’s job to communicate clearly. But I also think it is members’ responsibility to give the leader a chance to be heard. Also, what is most discouraging to a leader is not being criticized, but being unheard.
So if you come to church on Sunday, please take time to read the blog. If you missed it, don’t worry. It gets published at precisely 3 pm on our website on Sunday. If you still missed it on Sunday, don’t worry. You will get to read it during house church meeting too! (if you are there) So, please remember that not only a lot of effort was put in to create the post, but it can prevent many unnecessary conflicts down the road.
