Preach the Word - II Timothy 4:2

In the modern Church the responsibilities of pastoral staff have often been segregated into distinct responsibilities (such as youth, outreach, visitation, etc.).  This varies of course with the size of the church.  In a small one staff member church the pastor becomes a jack-of-all trades; doing whatever needs to be done.  The average size church often has someone responsible primarily for the youth as well, and larger churches are able to assign staff to specific needs.
What do all of these manifestations of the role of a pastor have in common?  Perhaps the words of II Timothy 4:2 will help remind us what the core of the pastorate is: "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction."  In the end, no matter what the job description happens to say, a pastor's first job is to Preach the Word.  To be a conduit for the Word of God to his church in whatever times and places are available, with both correction and encouragement, and all of this with great patience and care.
I'll always remember the words of Ed Dobson (at the time, pastor of Calvary Church in Grand Rapids) as he explained why he routinely spent 30 hours each week working on the Sunday sermon; Dobson explained that it was the most important thing he did and that even though he had lots of other responsibilities too, they came second to preaching the Word.
I've certainly never been able to spend that much time on a sermon, but I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment.  Our responsibility to our flock is multi-faceted, but in the end we'll be held accountable for how we preached God's Word because that Word is the Word of Life.