The people who shepherd you are worth honoring …

In Enterprise, Alabama, you will see one of the most unusual monuments ever built. It is a monument to honor the boll weevil, the little insect that nearly destroyed the cotton on which the town’s economy depended.

Why a monument to so destructive an insect? Because before the boll weevil, every family depended on cotton for its livelihood. When the boll weevil struck, they diversified and began to plant peanuts with great success. The inscription reads: “In profound appreciation of the boll weevil and of what it has done as the herald of prosperity, this monument is erected by the citizens of Enterprise, Coffee County, Alabama.”

There is a simple reason the word appreciation belongs on that monument. To appreciate something is to recognize its value. And recognizing value requires us to look beyond what is immediately obvious and consider what something — or someone — has contributed to our lives.

October asks Christians to do exactly that for the pastors who serve their churches. Pastor Appreciation Month during October is an annual opportunity to consider the value of faithful pastoral ministry and, more importantly, the people who carry it out.

For many of us, a pastor has been present at moments we will remember for the rest of our lives. A pastor may have stood before us on our wedding day, prayed beside a hospital bed, baptized us or someone we love, sat with our family after a death, counseled us when we could not see a way forward, or patiently helped us understand a biblical truth that changed the way we lived.

Yet pastoral ministry is unusual because much of its value is accumulated quietly. There may be no single dramatic moment to point to. Instead, there are years of Sundays when someone has studied Scripture so that we can be taught faithfully. There are prayers offered when we never knew anyone was praying. There are phone calls returned, difficult conversations entered, hospital rooms visited, funerals prepared, struggling people counseled, and countless interruptions accepted because someone needed their pastor.

The congregation sees only a small snippet of this work. Some of the most difficult pastoral responsibilities must remain unseen because they involve the private lives of other people. A pastor can spend hours helping someone through a painful crisis and never be free to tell the congregation about it. The following Sunday, that same pastor may stand before the church carrying concerns no one else in the room knows exist.

Pastors also serve while living ordinary human lives of their own. They have families to love, bills to pay, decisions to make, disappointments to face, and days when they are tired. They can wonder whether their work is accomplishing anything. They can be wounded by criticism and strengthened by encouragement. The title “pastor” does not remove the human need to know that one’s work has been worthwhile.

That gives Pastor Appreciation Month a purpose deeper than simply observing another special occasion on the calendar. It gives us reason to consider whether we have benefited from someone’s ministry without ever telling that person what the ministry has meant to us.

If your pastor helped you through a difficult season, say so. If years of biblical teaching have helped you grow in your understanding of God, explain that. If your pastor cared for your family when you needed someone, remember it. If you have watched your pastor continue serving faithfully through difficult circumstances, acknowledge it. A specific expression of gratitude carries weight because it allows a pastor to see a result of work that can otherwise be difficult to measure.

There are practical expressions of appreciation as well. Give your pastor time with family without unnecessary interruptions. Look for responsibilities you can carry instead of automatically leaving them to church leadership. Pray for your pastor with the same seriousness with which you ask your pastor to pray for you. Extend the patience and grace you hope to receive when you fall short.

A monument makes appreciation visible for generations. Most expressions of gratitude will never be carved into stone, and they do not need to be.

But there are words worth saying while the person who needs to hear them is still standing in front of us.

Scotty