Captains Joel and Kama Lyle are pastors of the Concord Corps in New Hampshire, in The Salvation Army’s Northern New England Division.

Captain Joel Lyle

We like to call the Concord Corps our “trifecta,” made up of the corps building, the McKenna House homeless shelter, and our Salvation Army thrift store. Having all these buildings under one corps keeps us on our toes. Sometimes two of them will be running well, but the third is having an issue that it’s struggling with. It’s easy to get wrapped up in maintaining that trifecta. But we remember that sometimes, we need to put them to the side and make time to engage with the members of our Bible study. We visit the families that stay in the shelter. We enjoy a cup of coffee and talk with our employees. Our ministry is our people, and we must take care of them first.

Pastors are always in the Word of God; we write sermons, teach Bible study, plan vacation Bible school, and Sunday school for kids. But all that is preparing to share the Word with others. If you don’t have a sense of discipline to make your own time with the Lord and fill yourself with His Word and the Holy Spirit, you are going to struggle as a pastor. It’s a beautiful blessing to be a pastor and fill others with His Word, but without being filled yourself first, you’re giving out from an empty vessel.

I challenge anyone who is thinking of answering the call, to ask themselves, “Where are my spiritual disciplines right now?” If you haven’t developed them before you become a pastor, you will struggle to develop them as a pastor.

Captain Kama Lyle

At one of our past appointments, we met a single father who was battling addiction and alcoholism. He lived with his young daughter and one day, she came to the corps with him. She started coming to our youth programs and became involved in the Army, with her dad accompanying her. Now he’s an Alcoholics Anonymous leader at the corps, and she enrolled as a junior soldier, a senior soldier, and even worked at a Salvation Army summer camp. We saw God’s power of transformation as we got to know them, minister to them, and were there for their highs and lows. We’re all still in the same division and see them at Army events. It still feels like we’re on that journey with them, seeing God work in their lives.

Our boys attend a Christian school, and some of their friends have parents who are pastors in other churches. When we talk about our own ministries with them, they are surprised to learn that being a Salvation Army pastor is not just preaching and leading worship on Sunday. It’s also picking up people for church, janitorial duties, preparing for Emergency Disaster Services, administrative work, event planning, and more. That’s why discipline, time management, and flexibility are all so important as pastors. When we’re asked how we handle all those responsibilities, we tell them that our strength is in the Lord.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”

—Romans 10:14

October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and we’d like to thank our Salvation Army officers — pastors — for their faith, their dedication, and the hard work they do for their communities and the Lord.