3 Reminders for Worship Pastors
You have nothing to prove, no one to impress, only Jesus to please. Last summer, I had the […]
3 Reminders for Worship Pastors
You have nothing to prove, no one to impress, only Jesus to please. Last summer, I had the […]
The Pastor’s Health
Pastor, how are you doing? If you’re like me, when people ask how you’re doing, you have a ready-made, default answer along the lines of, “Pretty good…just hanging in there.” But how are you really doing? How are you feeling physically? How are you doing mentally and emotionally? What about your spiritual health? How long has it been since you assessed how healthy you are?
7 Helpful Takeaways from the 2022 Christ-Centered Exposition Workshop
I had the privilege of attending the 2022 Christ-Centered Exposition Workshop last week with some men from my church. We attended the workshop to better understand the overall message of the Book of Revelation and how I, as a pastor, and our other attendees as lay leaders, can better handle Revelation in our teaching and preaching. Our expectations were exceeded as we were immensely blessed by the teaching of Drs. Benjamin Merkle, Ken Keathley, Dwayne Milioni, and Professor Ronjour Locke. The following are seven helpful takeaways we received from the workshop.
Dealing With the Unique Stress of Pastoral Ministry
At the time this article was written, the music video for the song “Stressed Out” by the band […]
15 Reasons People Walk Away From the Church
Most, if not all, of us know someone who attended church but then simply walked away from God’s people. The pandemic, I believe, has only increased that number. Based on my work with churches and the unchurched, here are some of the reasons I’ve heard:
6 Reasons All of Us, No Matter How Old We Are, Need an Older Mentor
The older I get, the more I recognize that accomplishing what this title suggests is not easy. Eventually, we become one of the very old—and the number of faithful Christ-followers older than we are becomes increasingly hard to find. Nevertheless, I think we should try.
5 Ways Your Church Can Support a Theologically-Driven Student Ministry
Students are often capable of far more than we expect of them. They are used to studying challenging topics in school like Algebra, Trig, and British Literature. Yet, student pastors are frequently critiqued for not being theologically deep enough. These critiques often prove true. But many student pastors are hesitant to adopt a theologically-driven model of ministry because the environment they were hired into is not willing to sustain a discipleship-focused, Bible-driven student ministry.
Leading Your Church Through Change
If you have ever been whitewater rafting, you know how important the role of the guide is. The responsibility for getting the rafters through the rapids safely falls to the guide. A rafting guide must know the river well, aware of the shallow and dangerous sections that might stop the rafts or even cause them to flip.
Bold or Broken?
On October 19, 1856, Charles Spurgeon was preaching to an overflow crowd of several thousand people at the Surrey Garden Music Hall in London when he experienced perhaps the greatest tragedy of his life. As thousands crowded into the building with thousands more waiting outside, someone shouted that there was a fire and the balconies were collapsing.
What Can Pastors Learn From Nick Saban?
Pastoring is a lot like coaching. I am not sure if you have noticed the similarities or heard others talk about them, but I know for sure that pastoring is a lot like coaching. In coaching, you must help people come together around a common mission, you must help people find their role in that mission, and you must continually help them see the bigger picture of that mission.
Guarding Your Joy in Ministry
According to the Barna Group, 38% of pastors in the United States have considered walking away from ministry in the past year.[1] Maybe this number should surprise me, but it does not. I have heard firsthand about the sadness, grief, and disappointment from friends in ministry. To a certain degree, I have even experienced these emotions myself. But as I reflected on my conversations with other pastors and my own experiences, I began to see that it is not just the difficulties driving pastors to quit—difficulty is a part of ministry. Instead, it is how the difficulties and frustrations steal our joy that causes us to throw in the towel.
Pastoral Ministry and Persons with Disabilities
“Shepherd the flock of God among you,” says Peter to pastors (1 Pet. 5:2). Similarly, Paul exhorts those in ministry to “Equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Eph. 4:12). If we pastors want to be faithful in shepherding the flock and equipping the saints, we must know our people...including those not like us.
For Pastors: A Unique Seat in the Audience of Your Life
Every Sunday, you stand on a stage to share God’s message to people who are engaged, indifferent, or not physically present. You walk through the audience shaking hands, listening with concern, and loving those who may not love you back. You hear heart-wrenching stories of loss, life-changing sin, and gossip from angry people who have forgotten the mission and vision of the gospel. You may not complain, but sometimes you wonder if what you do makes a difference.
Preaching After a Rough Week
An airplane cuts through some clouds without the slightest jostle. Other clouds jolt the plane with such turbulence that people lift out of seats as in a school bus barreling over railroad tracks at 60 miles per hour. Like clouds, the trials that generate a rough week come in all shapes and sizes.
The Long Road of Discipleship
Our world has developed an obsession with speed and efficiency, and at times, it seems as if everything in life has been affected in one way or another. Major League Baseball instituted an assortment of rules aimed at speeding up games. Fast-food restaurant chains compete to get customers their food as quickly as possible. Businesses regularly push workers to maximize efficiency by completing the same amount of work in less time.
Preaching to Short Attention Spans
In a world of endless distractions, it can seem that attention spans are getting shorter. We see how digital media is designed to cater to short attention spans by feeding people with snack-sized news stories, tweets, and videos, in order to keep their gaze captivated for as long as possible before they get bored and move on.
Heart-Orienting Truths for Navigating Conflict
It is inevitable. At some point, probably soon, you will encounter some form of conflict in ministry. Maybe it will come in the form of a disagreement among your elders, pastors, or deacons. Conflict may arise from a misunderstanding between you and your spouse. It could be that there are a few sandpaper-people in your life, and when they come around, discord follows behind them. It is not a matter of if, but when. Conflict will come.
Tips for the Trial Sermon: Preaching in View of a Call
A few months back, our church called a student pastor to join our pastoral team. Like many churches, ours formed a search committee to seek after God’s man for this particular role. After months of diligent searching, they unanimously landed on a recent graduate from Southeastern Seminary. He came highly recommended by his past professors as well as pastors at his then-current place of ministry.
Pastoral Lessons from John Bunyan and The Pilgrim’s Progress
Pastors are always on the lookout for the next book to help us be more effective and faithful in ministry. Some books help us shore up weaknesses, others teach us how to effectively carry out the everyday tasks of pastoral ministry, and then, there are those that inspire us to persevere through the challenges of shepherding God’s people.
The Temptation of Lesser Opportunities
For a brief time, I had the fanciful idea that a life in the political arena might somehow be in the cards of my future. In college, I worked for several politicians and led the college’s conservative political organization.While I enjoyed my work, it was certainly not the calling I know the Lord had placed in my heart as a teenager. One election cycle was enough for me. Political work is certainly important work and like so many other professions, we need believers in this profession to be light in the darkness.
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