Hey Pastor, Get Out of the Green Room
How Something So Insignificant Could Be So Significant
Today is a bit of a soapbox post so buckle up. This post is directed at pastors, but everyone should read it—and hopefully, post it or forward it to your pastor.
I’m deeply concerned about the current state of pastors in America.
A recent Gallup poll shows that only 32% of Americans trust pastors’ honesty and ethical standards.1 Did you catch that? Less than one-third of Americans trust pastors.
By contrast, those in the field of medicine are the most trusted. Nurses lead the way at 78%, followed by veterinarians at 65%, engineers at 60%, dentists at 59%, medical doctors at 56%, and pharmacists at 55%. Meanwhile, less trusted roles include police officers at 45%, college teachers at 42%, psychiatrists at 36%, chiropractors at 33%, and clergy at 32%.2
So just to be clear, the average American trusts their veterinarian more than their pastor.
This not only breaks my heart, but it's also embarrassing. This week, I am away in Colorado with my family. While hiking on the trails a few days ago, I met a man who asked me my profession. Honestly, I hesitated to answer. How embarrassing is that? The fact that saying, “I am a pastor,” might strike distrust in a casual conversation on a hiking trail is troubling. Shouldn’t pastors be among the most trusted professions?
Repeated betrayals and moral failures by pastors have created a deep sense of distrust among believers and non-believers alike. They say trust is gained by the spoonful and lost by the bucketful, and unfortunately, many buckets have been tipped over in the last few decades.
How did we get here? More importantly, how do we reverse it?
How Do We Reverse It?
Perhaps seminary reform could help reverse the trend by incorporating training in ethics, accountability, and real-world ministry scenarios to better prepare pastors. Or maybe it's investing in leadership development programs, starting early in a pastor’s career with mentorship, workshops, and training in ethical decision-making and communication. Ongoing professional development, including continuous learning, peer reviews, and accountability programs, could also make a difference. Encouraging pastors to be visibly active in their communities, adopting transparent leadership policies, and forming accountability groups for support and correction are other potential solutions.
Those initiatives might help, but today, from high atop my soapbox, I want to propose a much simpler, grassroots option.
Pastor, get out of the green room and into the lobby.
Now before you stop reading because of my oversimplification, hang with me for a few more minutes.
Little Things That Have a Big Impact
There’s a great book called "Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World." In it, Admiral William H. McRaven distills the wisdom he gained from Navy SEAL training into practical, everyday advice. McRaven argues that starting your day with the simplest of tasks, like making your bed, propels you toward accomplishing larger challenges. He emphasizes that greatness often begins with the smallest, most humbling tasks. While making your bed does not create the change, it serves as the launchpad toward doing so.
I propose that for pastors, our version of “making the bed” is leaving the green room and heading to the lobby. In the green room, one mindset is formed (pride and kingship), while in the lobby, a completely different mindset is cultivated (humility and service).
In the green room, you are served. In the lobby, you serve.
In the green room, you are king. In the lobby, Jesus is King.
In the green room, you are the priority. In the lobby, people are.
In the green room, people come to see you. In the lobby, you go to see people.
In the green room, your ego is fed. In the lobby, the sheep are fed.
Hopefully, you can see that over time, something as simple as where the pastor is after church can lead him/her down two drastically different paths. Consistently choosing to be in the lobby rather than the green room can shape mindsets, attitudes, and ultimately, the entire character of the leader. In the lobby, a pastor cultivates humility, service, and genuine connection with the congregation, reinforcing the idea that Jesus is King and the people are the priority. Conversely, the green room fosters a sense of pride, entitlement, and separation from the community.
The Scoop on Green Rooms
I’ve been in hundreds of green rooms. I am not against them—I have a green room! It is an important place where I go before church to pray and prepare myself mentally and emotionally to preach. It’s where Mama Lou, a prayer warrior in her late 80s, comes to take communion with me and prays over me. It is a place of preparation, a concept that can be found in the Bible in many ways.
The Holy Place: Only priests could enter this area to perform their duties, such as tending to the lampstand, the table of showbread, and the altar of incense (Exodus 26:33). (By the way, I am not saying the green room is a “holy place.”)
The Priests' Chambers: There were various rooms and chambers in the temple complex used by the priests for storage, preparation, and other sacred activities (1 Kings 6:5-10).
Even Jesus often withdrew from the crowds, creating a separation of sorts from the people, to pray and have intimacy with the Father (Luke 5:16).
So please hear me: I am not arguing that green rooms are solely responsible for the decline in pastoral trust in America. That would be sophomoric of me to suggest. However, I would suggest that at some point, the green room went from being a place of intimacy with the Lord to a place of isolation from the people.
I Get It
To all my fellow pastors, I get it. I understand why you run to the green room after church. We can’t talk about it publicly because we would look like insensitive jerks, but I’m going to anyway. The lobby can be an exhausting place. Often, it’s the same 5-10 people who drain you every week. Here comes Bob again to critique your sermon and give you three verses you should have used. Susie needs money again because she lost her third job in two months. Jason is waiting in line behind Susie, furious that there is no visible cross on the kids’ auditorium stage, and Ethel is going to complain that the donuts have changed to donut holes. Okay, I might be exaggerating a little, but not much! And what’s even more frustrating is that while the line forms to talk to you, you see all the first-time guests and the people you would love to speak to heading for the doors, unacknowledged and unseen.
So please hear me: I’m not some out-of-touch pastor who doesn’t know what it feels like—I get it!
Quick note to all the non pastors reading this: you have no idea how much it would mean to your pastor if you would just encourage him/her from time to time.
Where Would Jesus Be?
Sometimes I ask myself this question: If Jesus were pastoring Victory Church, where would He be? You know what, I think He would be in the lobby! And I even think He would be with Bob, Susie, Jason, and Ethel. Remember, Jesus said He came for the sick, not the healthy. Jesus would walk right past your top giver to pray for Susie to find a job for the fourth time in two months.
Asking myself this question recalibrates my mind as a pastor. It makes me realize that the lobby is where the real ministry happens, not the stage. For a shepherd, the field is where caring for the sheep happens. For pastors, the lobby is where caring for our sheep happens. If I run to the green room after church, I miss the most profound, holy, and impactful opportunity I have as a pastor. The lobby humbles me. The lobby keeps me focused on what matters. The lobby is where I become more interested in faces than in "butts in seats."
I have found that I am a better pastor when I smell like sheep.
I have found it difficult to become arrogant and prideful when people critique my sermons to my face and ask me to pray for their dying cat.
I have found that the lobby is where I rediscover the joy of pastoring.
I have found that the lobby is where I am the best version of myself.
The truth is, none of us are a big deal—we were never meant to be a big deal. The green room lies to you and makes you think you are, slowly shaping you and molding you into a raging narcissist.
Will going to the lobby make America trust pastors more than they do veterinarians or nurses? I don’t fully know. But I think it’s a great place to start.
I think it’s our way of “making the bed” every weekend, reminding ourselves that we are not just called to be here FOR the people, but we are called to be here WITH the people.
Remember, you’re not that big of a deal, and you're better off that way.
Okay, that’s all. Rant over.
See you in the lobby!
https://research.lifeway.com/2024/01/24/public-trust-of-pastors-hits-new-record-low/
https://research.lifeway.com/2024/01/24/public-trust-of-pastors-hits-new-record-low/
Great perspective! Pastors are shepherds who happen to be responsible for bringing messages. Not the reverse. From my experience, Insecurity is one of Satan’s primary weapons against believers and especially shepherds/pastors. Insecurity is one Satan’s effective weapons against shepherds making them uncomfortable mixing with the sheep. Pastors should ask themselves and God; why am I so insecure and uncomfortable in the lobby? Then, allow Him to take them on a journey of revealing and healing allowing compassion to be the dominant force in the personality. When compassion rules, they’ll be compelled to flee the confines of the green room and move with love to survey the well being of their flock.
Pastor Jon. I appreciate you and thank you that your sermons are of great value in providing encouragement wisdom, and hope in my life. God Bless and keep you strong, courageous and humble. I also appreciate your humor.