I am a member of one of the world's most elite groups. While highly skilled, informed, and cultured, we are also one of the most burdened, insecure, and tormented group of people. I did not choose this life for myself, I was born into it. Even when I wish I could go undercover, even my speech betrays who I am. My world is a fishbowl, and my private life on display. My familial relationships are complicated due to the multiplicity of their offices. Persecution has sharpened a skillful, skeptical observant eye. I Am a Preacher's Kid.
Growing up a PK certainly had its privileges. Though we joke about the tortures of day-in-day-out ministry, it molded who we are and prepared us for things other people certainly couldn't handle. If you've been to more weddings and funerals in a year than most people go to in a lifetime, you might be a PK. If you can sum up a person's life and integrity by a two minute conversation with them...you might be a PK. But all jokes aside, it's a tough life with its own unique challenges.
My heart breaks as I read tweets and texts from fellow PK's who will probably never enter the ministry because of what they have been through. The church has allowed their pastor's family to become embittered and stressed, where that this girl could say, "I'm tired of it."
Everyone deserves a pastor and confidant. If you're a lay person, you have that leader you can unload the secrets of your life on. But, the pastor's kid can't always discuss those inner struggles with their parents. Even those who have that tightly knit relationship feel bad unloading their personal problems on their burdened parents who are carrying the church member's problems home.
Truth, at times those pastor's kids can be a burden. But statements like that of Landon Schott are sending our pastors kids to hell every single day. Have we ever stopped to ask WHY the Pastor's kid acts the way he does? Maybe if we loved on them a little bit, and treated them with some respect God could get ahold of their heart. Shame on us for publicly ridiculing the children of God's man. Often, people feel that due to the public nature of the pastor's office that his and his children's personal life is up for discussion. Guess what, it's not. And it's time someone stepped up to stop men like this, and defend those ministry kids who go through more than most could ever imagine.
To @YS_Scoop, I would like to say, "No matter how annoying the pastors kid is, always remember that the weight of your church is carried on their shoulders. When they act out, take some time to love on them and pray for them. You don't know what they are going through."
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