In Sunday’s post at ThomRainer.com, Thom wrote, “I recently asked a few hundred laypersons to write down what they desired of a pastor. Their responses were open-ended, and there was no limitation on the number of items they could list. Though my approach was not scientific, these laypersons did represent more than 60 churches.
“Here are the top 10 responses in order of frequency. Because many of them gave one or more sentences as a response, I can provide a representative comment by each of the responses.
1. Love of congregation. “If we know that our pastor loves us, everything else falls in place. If he doesn’t, nothing else matters.”
2. Effective preaching. “I don’t have any expectation that my preacher be one of the best in the world, I just want to know he has spent time in the Word each week to teach us effectively and consistently.”
3. Strong character. “No pastor is perfect, but I do want a pastor whose character is above reproach on moral, family and financial issues.”
4. Good work ethic. “I don’t want either a workaholic pastor or a lazy pastor. Unfortunately, our last two pastors have been obviously lazy.”
5. Casts a vision. “Our church has so much possibility; I want to hear what we will do to make a difference in our community and the world.”
6. Demonstrates healthy leadership. “Most of the pastors in my church have demonstrated a good balance; they have been strong leaders but not dictators.”
(Click here to read the rest of the top ten responses.)