I'm sure some of them are lazy, I've seen preachers I didn't care for, for whatever reason. I've seen pompous ones, ignorant ones, ones who appeared disinterested in their congregation, arrogant ones. As I said, they're men.
But I know that in MY churches, they have (mostly) put in 35-40 hour work weeks, adn that's all that men in this country are required to do. Our current interim lives 50 miles away and spends aaaallllll day Sunday at our church, away from home, and doesnt' go home until late evening, after the evening service. There's 12 hours right there, and that's not counting drive time, so let's say 14 hours (it's a windy nasty road, too).
He's available all day and night by telephone, his sermons are loving, informed, and interesting, he responds immediately to any requests made of him and spends time among the congregation during the week. They visit him at his house continually, so he doesn't even rest at home. His wife is ill, his brother in law just came home to die (and died two weeks ago, he didn't miss church). When my children said they were interested in being baptised, he immediately sat down with them, and me, on the spot, and talked intently and insightfully with them.
And he's our interim. We're trying out a new guy...I'll let you know how that goes if you're interested. I am capable of counting, I know how hard he's working, and when he's working.
And I know exactly what goes into writing a piece that will last 45 minutes. I can tell if a preacher knows his stuff or if he doesn't; I can tell when they've not put much consideration into their sermons, because I've written for pay all my life. I know what a rush job looks like because I've pawned a lot of them off (and been praised for them).
I've left churches with pastors whose sermons annoyed me, and didn't speak (spiritually) to me...and I've refused to join churches when I thought the pastors were lacking in education, insight, or just capability. Thank you, I don't drink koolaid. I'm pretty discerning. And I'm pretty smart, too.
I know there are pastors who are lacking. But don't make the mistake of thinking they are all substandard. Apparently just the ones in the church YOU chose were. And that's as much a fault of yours as anyone's.
