Lift Your Leader

The unseen role of the pastor’s ladder holder

By Sam Chand

A Pastor without support is already falling.

I’ll never forget a pivotal moment in my life that changed the way I understood leadership. I was a featured speaker at a conference at Evangel Church in Queens, New York, waiting for someone to call me into the auditorium. Staring out the window, I meditated on the points I wanted to cover. Suddenly, something in the street below caught my attention.

A painter stood on a ladder—not that uncommon a sight. I smiled, remembering my student days in college. I had spent my summers doing that kind of work. Yet I couldn’t take my eyes off the man. For several minutes, I watched his graceful motions as he moved his brush and roller across the surface.

As I watched, I noticed this painter was only covering a limited area. He stretched as far as he could to the left, then to the right and even reached above his head. It also occurred to me that he was only going to the height he was comfortable with, even though the extension ladder he was using could reach much higher.

Why can’t he paint all the way up? What would allow him to go higher? I asked myself. Then I saw the reason: no one was holding his ladder. By himself, the painter couldn’t go any further. No matter how graceful his motions and how much he strained, he had done everything he could by himself. He needed help.

That’s when it hit me: pastors look a whole lot like that ladder climber when no one is there to hold the ladder. “That’s it!” I cried out. “Those who hold the ladder control the ascent of the pastor!” It is the ladder holder that determines the height of the climber.

A pastor can have vision. Calling. Anointing. The desire to go higher. But if no one is holding their ladder, they’re stuck. Stagnant. Limited.

Your pastor’s ability to climb higher isn’t about their capability. It’s about their support. It’s about who’s holding the ladder.

That day, the painter was painting more than just the wall of a building. He was painting the perfect picture of the pastor’s dance—a dance with such intricate steps and shifting rhythms that without the right teachers and dance partners, stumbling is almost inevitable.

A pastor is a shepherd. He guides, nurtures and equips the church to grow in faith. His responsibilities are vast. He preaches, teaches and provides pastoral care. He leads ministries, develops leaders and oversees church operations. He carries the weight of both spiritual and administrative decisions. He stands as a moral and spiritual example. He prays, discerns and seeks God’s will. But no pastor is meant to lead alone.

Without the right people holding his ladder, he is vulnerable. Burnout creeps in. Discouragement takes hold. Isolation becomes dangerous. Without trusted leaders, accountability and a strong support system, he is at risk. The higher he climbs alone, the greater the fall. He cannot do everything. He is not meant to.

A healthy church shares the weight. It surrounds the pastor with prayer, encouragement and strong leadership. It upholds him like Aaron and Hur upheld Moses. When a pastor has the right people holding his ladder, he can lead with strength. When he doesn’t, both he and the church suffer.

That day in Queens, I craned my neck trying to see the street level, but I never could see who held that ladder—a dangerous position for the painter and an equally treacherous reality for a pastor. It’s quite simple: those who hold pastors’ ladders are as important as the pastors themselves.

Pastors who insist on doing everything themselves can still paint—but not very high, not very effectively, not very safely and not very sensibly.

In churches, it’s the ladder holders who determine how high the pastor can go. Without strong, steady, reliable support, the pastor will either stay low or risk falling, bringing the whole leadership team and congregation down with him.

Understanding the three ways pastors approach ministry can help leadership teams become great ladder holders:

They do everything themselves. That’s too much work.

They hire it out. That’s too much money.

They develop others. That’s too much time.

Yet, developing others is the only way a pastor can climb higher and lead well. The question is, who is holding his ladder? A pastor without strong, steady hands supporting him is at risk—he may fall down only to walk away, convinced the weight is too heavy and the journey too lonely.

A ladder holder’s role is more than showing up. It’s more than completing a task. It’s not just about doing a job but carrying a vision. A strong church doesn’t depend on one person leading alone. It depends on a team to step up, hold steady and ensure the mission continues.

Ladder holders aren’t a suggestion or option—they are vital for pastors. They need people who understand their purpose, who see the importance of their role, who can navigate setbacks, and who stay passionate about the vision. This isn’t just about ministry—it’s about people. And when you commit to holding the ladder, your pastor doesn’t have to climb alone.

PASTORS SEE IT ALL!

Of all professionals, pastors see more of the underbelly of life than any other professional. You can’t hold a pastor’s ladder if you don’t understand the inner life of a pastor, what they encounter on a day-to-day basis and the weight of spiritual, emotional and leadership burdens they silently carry.

Your role in your church is not an accident. You are not just a spectator. You have a calling—to support, strengthen and uphold the vision God has given your pastor. Your effectiveness as a ladder holder determines how high your pastor can climb and, ultimately, how far your church can go.

Too many churches focus exclusively on the pastor’s leadership ability, forgetting that the greatest leaders in history didn’t succeed alone. Paul had Barnabas and Timothy. Jesus had the disciples. Pastors today are no different—they cannot carry the weight of leadership alone.

Unfortunately, many ladder holders don’t realize how crucial their role is. Some underestimate their importance. Others grow distracted, casual or even disengaged. And some, rather than steadying the ladder, actually shake it.

SHIFTS IN A PASTOR’S JOURNEY

Change is not the enemy. Stagnation is.

Every pastor faces moments of reckoning—times when their heart wrestles with a vision expanding beyond the confines of their current reality. They sense the pull of something new, yet feel the weight of what they’ve built. They long to simplify, yet the mission keeps demanding more. The paradox is unavoidable, but they are not alone.

This is the journey of leadership—one marked by shifts that demand recalibration. These shifts are not mere adjustments; they are thresholds. Cross them well, and pastors enter a new dimension of impact. Ignore them, and they risk burnout, disillusionment or, worse, irrelevance.

Pastors may wrestle with being overwhelmed, balancing their personal and professional life, and at the same time, their vision is expanding. They may experience a desire to cut back and move forward at the same time.

They are experiencing “ladder shifts,” the “growing pains” a pastor faces when moving forward. I have observed eight areas of struggle growing pastors have in common. Identifying, exploring and confronting these areas will forewarn and thus forearm them for the growth ahead. Understanding this shift in your pastor’s life will help you to better hold his ladder.

SHIFT #1: NEW PEOPLE

Who got them there may not be able to take them further.

Pastors: Your ladder holders shape your ceiling. The right people at the right time can accelerate your mission, but the wrong people in the wrong roles can stall or even derail it.

No pastor is immune to people challenges—they come with the territory.

The most painful lesson for pastors is realizing that not everyone who started with them is meant to stay with them. Seasons change, and so do relationships. The people who helped them plant, pioneer and push through the early days may not be the ones equipped to carry the weight of the next level.

Proper people placement prevents problems.

Agreement is not always positive, and disagreement is not always negative; pastors and people can disagree, and this will still add value.

Yesterday’s solutions have become today’s problems.

Who surrounds pastors matters. Look for four key factors: character, competency, chemistry and capacity. Misalignment in any of these will cost them time, energy and progress.

SHIFT #2: NEW PAINS

Their growth capacity is tied to their pain threshold.

Pastoring at new levels means feeling pressure at new depths. Every pastor faces the pain of making hard decisions, carrying unseen burdens and confronting their limitations. Leadership pain is not an exception; it’s the norm.

No growth without change. No change without loss. No loss without pain. These are growth pains.

Pastors are the CEOs, so they’re never off.

They will grow only to the threshold of 
their pain.

Their pain capacity defines their capacity as a pastor.

The pressure of always making the right decisions with higher stakes is extremely painful.

Great pastors may not share the same level of preparation or talent, but they all live with pain—personal, internal, organizational and external.

Things don’t often turn out as expected. The pain of disappointment is a frequent companion and can lead to perceived failure. The distance between expectation and reality brings disappointing pain:

EXPECTATION⇓DISAPPOINTMENT & PAIN◊REALITY

SHIFT #3: NEW PLACE

They must move from a landscape mindset to a seascape mindset.

Adaptability is strength. We often plan for stability in a world of constant movement. Effective pastors don’t anchor to the past. They anticipate the waves, adjust their sails and embrace the unknown.

We have a landscape mentality in a seascape world. Landscapes are stationary over extended periods of time. Seascapes—the world we live and function in—are unpredictable and constantly churning, taking us to new places.

Investing resources in where pastors are going is a choice.

Pastors must be ready to give up the familiar and certain for the unfamiliar and uncertain.

They must develop a level of comfort with ambiguity.

They must learn to dance in 
the moment.

They must be flexible in their direction and adjust to shifting lanes.

They must develop a clear vision of their destination: disengage with people and activities not headed in the same direction and connect with people who are already at their desired destination.

SHIFT #4: NEW PERSPECTIVES

Their thinking must evolve before their ministry can.

Leadership longevity is tied to a pastor’s ability to think differently. No pastor can grow beyond his mental capacity. Stagnant thinking leads to a stagnant ministry.

New perspective comes from forcing themselves to think in new ways.

They cannot be strong and smart in every area. Instead, they must become transdependent—staying rooted to their past to give them context for their present that will offer them perspective for their future.

Pastors with huge egos are detrimental to their organizations.

They must try not to be the smartest person in the room all the time by getting comfortable with people who know more than them in certain areas.

Healthy pastors see other’s ideas as gifts, not threats. They’re always asking others, “What do you think?”

Philosopher Eric Hoffer once said, “In times of change learners will inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

SHIFT #5: NEW PRIORITIES

Doing more does not mean leading better.

Peter Drucker once said, “There is nothing quite as useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.” The weight of pastoring is not about how much pastors carry, but how wisely they choose what to carry.

At every new level, what matters most must be redefined. Some responsibilities need to be delegated. Some meetings need to be eliminated. Some traditions need to be evaluated.

• Pastors must learn to gain strength 
 from doing the essential few 
 that define them.
• They must make their vision the 
 source of their priorities.
• Every decision and every business 
 activity are headed for obsolescence 
 the minute it begins.
• They must communicate their vision 
 by keeping it simple, memorable and 
 stable with patience.
• They can’t prioritize their 
 schedule; rather, they must schedule 
 their priorities.

SHIFT #6: NEW PASSIONS

Old flames may dim, but new ones can ignite.

What once set a pastor’s heart on fire may now feel like routine. That’s normal. The danger is not losing passion—it’s ignoring the signs that it’s shifting.

Dreams that were at one time compelling are now losing their intensity.

Gifted pastors become bored and restless in an administrative environment.

Visionary pastors need to slow down and listen to themselves.

Uncovering new passions will reignite the fire within them.

“The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I could be,” writer Mary Anne Radmacher notes, “because of all I may become, I will close my eyes and leap!”

Vision is not just about where pastors are going. It’s about who they are becoming along the way.

SHIFT #7: NEW PREPARATIONS

Opportunity comes to the prepared.

Success favors the ready. The greatest moments won’t wait for pastors to catch up. When opportunity knocks, they either step in or stay behind.

Forewarned is forearmed. To be prepared is half the victory.

They must realize they control very little.

Opportunities come to those who are prepared.

The opportunity of a lifetime must be utilized in the lifetime of the opportunity.

Opportunities are never postponed—they’re lost forever.

When they’re 100% sure, they’re too late.

Preparation + Opportunity = Success

A lack of preparation is the greatest thief of destiny.

SHIFT #8: NEW POSSIBILITIES

The future is not a path; it’s a place you create.

Walt Disney once said, “The future is not the result of choices among alternative paths offered in the present. It is a place created—created first in the mind and the will; created next in activity.”

What makes a pastor’s destiny so compelling? It’s not just any future—it’s their future. Pastors must alter their attitude and ask:

“What is it about me that I need to change?”

“What are the possibilities if I had a team I could trust?”

“What about me is holding the organization back?”

Pastors must transform their thinking and ask:

“How can I become a lifelong learner?”

“Since knowledge is currency and power, do I share it willingly?”

“Am I constantly futuring?”

Pastors have to make an uncommon commitment to scanning the horizon, forecasting trends and exploring new lands.

New possibilities can emerge from any situation.

The greatest pastors don’t just react to trends. They create them. Pastors who stop dreaming, stop leading.

SHIFTS ARE NOT FATALISTIC; THEY ARE CATALYTIC

The shifts pastors experience are not interruptions but invitations. Invitations to grow, to refine and to step into something greater than where they are now.

Growth is painful. Change is uncomfortable. Stagnation is unbearable or avoidable. Now that you understand your pastor’s shifts, we’ll take you deeper to look at your pastor’s pains.

In a world that often criticizes spiritual leadership, this is your chance to stand out. This is your moment to say, “Not here. Not our house. We honor our pastor.”

A blessed pastor builds a blessed church. That’s not sentiment—it’s spiritual principle. I’ve witnessed it firsthand: where pastors are honored, churches are strengthened. Where generosity flows to those who lead, vision flows freely.

Generous boards build generous churches. And generous churches become fertile ground for transformation.

Pastors don’t climb ladders to be celebrated. They climb because they’re called. But when the hands beneath them are strong and supportive, the entire body rises.

So bless them. Celebrate them. Speak honor over them. Not just during Pastor Appreciation Month—but because they carry the weight that no one else sees.

They preach through pain. They lead through loss. They carry the burdens of many while silently wrestling with their own.

They climb. And you hold the ladder.

Let that be the kind of church 
you are.

A church that lifts. A church that honors. A church that climbs together.

—

Sam Chand is a leadership consultant and the author of numerous books, including his most recent title, Who’s Holding Your Pastor’s Ladder?, from which this article is adapted. Sam is the founder of Dream Releaser Enterprises and the publisher of AVAIL Journal.