Pastor, Are You Successful?
Pastor, what is your personal definition of “success” as a follower of Jesus? This can be a tricky question, because, the line between your role as a pastor and follower of Jesus in probably blurry, like a chalk batter’s box after nine-innings of baseball. Often, you’re unsure where one role ends and the other begins.
Don’t Look at the Mud–See the Stars!
At Mayhill Baptist, I’ve been preaching through 2 Timothy. Recently, we landed on 2 Timothy 4:6-8, and I got hit between the eyes with a quote I read in one of my commentaries. I mean, right from the beginning of sermon prep, I was battling tears as a sea of conviction swept over me in my study.
Chapel Rewind: The Gospel and “Those” People
Josh Wredberg, Redeemer Community Church in Fuquay-Varina, NC, preaches on Jonah 4 about how seeing grace as only for certain people with certain sins is a misunderstanding of both sin and grace.
Meet My Neighbors
When the pandemic is over, will you be closer to those around you? Will you know more than just their names? Movies on the lawn, dinners, and front yard bonfires are what we look forward to now. Maybe that will become the norm instead of the exception.
Trusting God When Plans Suddenly Change
I’ve never been one to journal much. A few months ago, my wife bought me a journal. I had been wanting to begin writing in cursive again, so I thought, “Hey, this is a good opportunity to track things that I’m praying for.” I know, a very holy reason to begin to practice a discipline that has greatly benefited many brothers and sisters throughout history.
The Proverbial Pandemic
If there has ever been a time that pastors could legitimately say, “They didn’t teach me this in seminary,” it would certainly be now during this COVID-19 global pandemic. We’re all having to navigate new territory and uncharted waters, whether it be learning how to use unfamiliar technology or just finding an ample supply of toilet paper. Of course, there are people on the planet who are in much more dire straits. Nonetheless, it’s definitely a season in which all of us are having to learn stuff that we haven’t been taught.
For Pastors: How to Love Your Wife Well During the Pandemic
A lot has changed in the past two weeks. Not only has your church shifted services to a virtual platform, but your family most likely is in your space 100% of the time. Both situations bring inevitable stress on you, but these changes can also impact your family, especially your marriage. It's crucial during this time that you pay attention and love your family well. If, when the Pandemic is over, we lose those closest to us, then we lose. How can you protect and prevent that from happening? I believe one way is by loving your wife well.
What a Difference a Week Makes
Perhaps you’re familiar with the saying, “What a difference a week makes.” The saying highlights how much things like the weather forecast to the price of gas can change in a short period of time. But, considering the drastic effects of recent events, this traditional maxim has proved to be even more true. From public school shut-downs, extreme fluctuations in the stock market, stay-at-home orders, to the rapid spread of disease and death, our lives have been rapidly and completely turned upside down.
Should Churches Observe the Lord’s Supper Online?
With the COVID-19 pandemic making church gatherings unwise at best, many churches in recent days have moved to live-streaming or offering their services online. My own church has been one of those. Psalm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday are approaching. In many churches, these have been times when an observance of the Lord’s Supper has seemed especially appropriate and meaningful. But should a church observe the Lord’s Supper online, with members partaking in their homes? I think we can best answer that question by reflecting on the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. Why did the Lord command us to do this practice in the first place? What are we saying when we do this?
Parenting During a Pandemic
Parenting is hard. This is a statement that rings true to anyone with children in their home on even the best of days. What about when crisis strikes and the circumstances change? What happens when all the other people to whom we have been entrusting the care of our children are all of the sudden not able to be present in their lives? This is exactly the parenting predicament in which we find ourselves in the world of COVID-19 and the Shelter-in-Place regulations. Suddenly, we as parents find ourselves learning how to be teacher, coach and counselor in addition to being a 24/7 parent.
6 Reasons the Coronavirus Threat Won’t Likely Turn Churches Outwardly—And What We Might Do About It
I read about the hope many of us have that this current global crisis will turn our churches toward the Great Commission, and I genuinely hope that’s the case. I’m convinced, though, that won’t happen apart from an undeniable move of God in our midst.
Elevating Evangelists
There is much discussion on the challenge of evangelism in the North American church, particularly among church planters. Strategies and tools designed to aid the church in this work are seemingly a dime in a dozen, though most recognize that the problem has far more to do with apathy than it does aptitude. Only the Spirit of the living God can compel His church to live out their core missionary identity.
10 Evangelism Questions for Church Leaders to Ask
If you’re a church leader, you’re responsible for modeling evangelism for your congregation. Maybe asking these questions will challenge you to be more evangelistic.
How the Local Church Can Prepare Single Women for the Mission Field
Months ago, I sat in a coffee shop chatting with two other women who served on mission overseas as single women in difficult areas of the world. One of the women had recently talked with a missions leader at her church. That leader pointed out the high number of single women on the mission field and asked her how church leaders can prepare single women to go overseas as missionaries.
Mentoring for Mission
As a pastor of a small church, I feel pulled in a million directions. I have to disciple new believers, counsel couples, steward resources, build partnerships, prepare sermons, invest in families and do evangelism. If you’re a pastor, you can probably think of some things I left off the list. We all feel the pressure to excel at “just one more thing,” and we usually wonder if we have what it takes. And so, when someone says the church needs to focus on a new topic, like missions, we sigh (at least internally), because of the new demands upon our time.
Lamenting the Personal Pain of Ministry
“Where do you go when your calling collides with the corruption of people who call themselves Christians?” Mark Vroegop, lead pastor of College Park Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, preaches on Psalm 55 about how we must not cease talking to God in our pain of ministry. Lament psalms teach us this. We must keep talking to Him.
Praying God’s Purpose for the Text
You know the importance of praying for your sermon—or at least you should, because prayer-less preaching is powerless preaching. But, even though you believe this, my guess is that you sometimes try to “pray yourself hot,” but barely mange to “pray yourself lukewarm.” I know I do. I believe we can learn from the laser when it comes to praying ourselves hot.
When Justice Rolls Down… Like Molasses
When I was a pastor in Baltimore, I had a neighbor who was involved in a verbal fight with a woman in front of his house. In mere minutes she had a group of fifteen at his house hurling obscenities and bricks at his house. He ran into his house and called the police. He may still be waiting for their help.
The Trigger of the Spirit
The Spirit of God who indwells the preacher is the most powerful force in the universe. And God has ordained a system in His Trinitarian economy that provides every safety mechanism necessary to prevent us from accidentally hurting ourselves or someone else with His Spirit, but at the same time enables us to engage His Spirit in our work whenever we are ready to fire. He’s done this by ordaining prayer to be the primary way we engage His Spirit in the Christian life and work, including our preaching.
Personal Prayer in Spiritual Warfare
Jesus instructs us that the thief comes to “steal, kill and destroy.” Jesus, however, has come that we may have life, indeed, abundant life in Him (Jn. 10:10). Paul reminds us that his life in the Kingdom is “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). But the enemy comes and when he does his only desire is to ruin that which God is doing in the life of His sons and daughters. Among other things, the thief wants to destroy our ongoing testimony with God (witness) and to kill our communion with and dependence upon the Spirit and the Word. The father of lies wants to steal from us the tangible awe of who God is and the immediate remembrance of all that God has done for us practically and personally.
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