One of my favorite bloggers, Mark Batterson, is currently traveling, teaching lessons from his book, In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day.

In his most recent travels he hung out @ in the Pittsburgh area.

A fellow blogger, Jeff Leake, captured his notes… a great synopsis! (Click here to read them in their entirety)

Batterson says that five challenges that pastors face…

• The identity challenge – Batterson says, “Ten years ago I was trying to be a pastor.  Today, I am just trying to be myself.”

• The family challenge – balancing family and ministry… particularly challenging for Type A’s

• The criticism challenge – who are you offending and how are you dealing with the criticism?

• The creativity challenge – doing ministry out of imagination rather than memory (i.e. things that worked in the past)

• The growth challenge – How am I as a pastor/leader growing and how is my team growing?

What kind of challenges do you think that pastors face?