CATEGORY: Church Leadership & Ministry
HOW TO REALLY LOVE YOUR PASTOR
Pastors typically have a strong sense of calling to ministry. Many experience deep satisfaction in seeing lives change and knowing they’re investing in eternal realities. Yet serving as a pastor is more pressure-packed than church members realize. According to a...
An Alarming Word
Please pray that you don't become too familiar with the word around which I am framing this post. There is a kind of darkness far worse than major depression. "Oh Lord, use my reflections on this one alarming word to keep us out of that darkness." The Heart...
A Reassuring Truth for a Tense Father-Daughter Relationship
Do you recall a time when unrestrained joy filled your soul to the brim? Who or what generated such exuberance? Have you gleaned a truth from God's Word that burst through your mind, flooding your heart to such extent that you cried aloud with joy and uttered...
Divine Curriculum: Sharp Turns, Steep Hills On God’s Racecourse
Can stress that's caused by work overload and schedule imbalance turn out for our good? How does God redeem burnout? What can we learn from mental, emotional and physical exhaustion? In what sense is a stressful situation a means of God's grace? Those questions...
Is My “Public” Christian Life Eclipsing My Private World?
What happens on the inside is far more important than external attractiveness. In the late spring of 1999, I was the teacher of record for a European tour that offered college academic credit for recent high school grads. The students had just received their...
5 Ways To Listen To A Sermon
Do I listen to my pastor's sermons, or do I just hear them? To listen implies engaging the mind and processing the preacher's words. To hear means the sound waves are entering my ear canal but I'm not concentrating on them. What a privilege I’ve enjoyed to take...
A MESSAGE FROM THE GRAVE: Can God’s Blessings Become A Snare?
Sobering Lessons from the Ravi Zacharias Scandal (Part 1) Stimulating lectures on university campuses serving as bastions of a liberal worldview. Stirring debates with prominent atheists and scholarly representatives of other faiths. Soul-strengthening sermons...
An Unlikely Source of Encouragement
Discover how an attack of spiritual warfare should encourage you! A Reassuring Perspective I am not someone who looks for a demon behind every bush, who sensationalizes every setback as a satanic attack. Often Satan gets blamed for things for which we should...
CONTRASTS: Has Your Thinking about Life and Ministry Changed?
Can you identify with any of the ways my thinking about life and ministry has changed over the years? Topics in this post include persistent praying, public weeping as a Bible teacher, a broken heart, temptation, indwelling sin of a believer, sources of identity,...
3 Principles for Change in a Church
Integral to leadership is serving as a change agent. Yet leaders often fail in the way they implement new ideas. Unwise approaches often sabotage great ideas. Applying the three principles that follow may expedite acceptance of your changes. I’m aware of a...
3 REASONS NOT TO LOSE HEART IN MINISTRY
Feeling incompetent for required tasksDoubts about fruitfulnessConflicts/oppositionWeariness from overworkPhysical infirmitiesPersonal burdens or family tensions Those are just some of the reasons we get discouraged and our motivation for ministry wanes.Here are...
5 Reasons to Read FAIL: Finding Hope and Grace in the Midst of Ministry Failure (by J.R. Briggs)
I’m gearing this post to pastors, associate staff members, pastoral students in Bible College or Seminary, members of church boards, and parachurch leaders. Wives of pastors will also benefit. If you don’t fit any of these categories, this book will instill within...
