loving those that are hard to love

My church has been going through a rough time recently. There's alot involved but to boil it down to something manageable for this post I'll say that the pastor and staff had proposed some changes to the structure of the church and some additional steps for membership. We had met and prayed over these changes before ever presenting them to the church and felt that this was the direction that God was leading us to go. There was a backlash of opposition to the changes and it quickly degenerated to personal attacks from people on both sides of the issue. The pastor and his family have had to endure attacks on their character for several months now. I say all that to say that I have never met anyone who gives a better example of the character of a minister as laid out in 2 Timothy 2:24-26, than my pastor, Bill Pruitt. Throughout the entire ordeal, with accusations flying on both sides, I have never heard him utter a negative word about anyone. I have watched him love on people and had my human mind screaming out "Kick them out of the church" (which, by the way, he doesn't have the authority to do anyway). But he has followed the command to love the flock that God has called him to serve. This has been an incredible, and humbling example to me as a young minister just starting out and learning what it means to be a servant leader. I pray that when the trials and attacks of Satan come in my ministry, as I know they will, I will exhibit a small part of the character that I have seen exhibited here.