According to Ephesians 4:7-16, the gifted church leaders whom we typically call “pastors” are gifts of the risen, glorified Jesus Christ to his churches. According to Ephesians 2:10, each of them is a custom-designed “masterpiece” and Acts 20:28 adds that each one has been appointed an overseer by the Holy Spirit himself. The great pastoral […]
How We Can Do Better With The Coming And Going Of Pastors
I mentioned last week (Six Reasons Why We Struggle With The Coming And Going Of Pastors) that: After twenty centuries of struggling with the coming and going of our pastoral leaders, we’re still not very good at pastoral transitions. The grieving which pastors and church members experience when a beloved pastor moves on is only […]
Six Reasons Why We Struggle With The Coming And Going Of Pastors
The recent home-going of Dr. John MacArthur, senior pastor of Grace Community Church of Sun Valley, California, has reminded us of a perennial challenge which I call the coming and going of pastors. After twenty centuries of struggling with the coming and going of our pastoral leaders, we’re still not very good at pastoral transitions. […]
The Last Temptation Of “Pastor Last”
Years ago, LEADERSHIP Magazine published a cartoon which depicted a grumpy looking pastor asking a colleague, “Ever have one of those days when you just HAVE TO rebuke someone?” Many pastors experience “one of those days” just after they’ve announced their resignation. They feel like they have to rebuke their church’s board, staff or maybe […]
Ten Temptations Of The Departing Pastor
I wish this post was a short one: “Two Temptations Of The Departing Pastor,” or something like that. In truth, departing pastors have all sorts of temptations. All sorts. I’m going to dive right into my subject, and you’ll see what I mean. These are not exclusive to pastors who are leaving in disgrace or […]
The Seventh Danger: Vision Frustration
It’s an awful picture isn’t it? The ancient, venerable leader Moses, who had been through so much and was so special to God and so needed by mankind, loses his temper and strikes the rock, a picture of Jesus Christ, with his precious shepherd’s rod, a symbol of both his God-given authority and his God-given […]
Six Ways Your Vision Can Be Dangerous
Donna and I just watched a documentary film called Titan, about the ill-fated deep-sea submarine of that name in which five people lost their lives on June 18, 2023. The key figure in the story was visionary entrepreneur Stoddard Rush. As with so many great dreamers before him, Rush was brilliant, charming, passionate, fiercely devoted […]
The HEART of Church Revitalization
A few months back I did a lot of studying and thinking about what church revitalization actually is. It’s not a “Bible” term of course, but it’s derived from an important Biblical concept: the teaching, quite simply and astonishingly, is that the one and only triune God Himself indwells His people, and in, what we […]
Help For Frustrated (or angry) Pastors
If you’re not a pastor, you may have been surprised by my title. “What? Pastors, frustrated or angry? He must mean, ‘frustrated by their golf games, their cars, their lawns or even their kids’ but surely he can’t mean ‘frustrated by their churches or their ministries!’” But frustrated by their churches or ministries is exactly […]
What An Outward Focus Actually Looks Like
Nowadays, just about everybody knows that churches should have an outward focus. The average evangelical church member has heard the term enough times to know that, when cast as a “Sunday School question,” as in, “Does your church have an outward focus?” the orthodox answer is “yes.” I’m realizing that if I really want to […]
Some BIG Advantages Of SMALL Churches
I have the privilege today of writing about a very good movement within the American Evangelical world. With all our issues, there are also some healthy trends in Christianity in the US today, and here’s one of them: A whole new (and old) attitude toward small churches. By “small” I also mean “average,” as the […]
Why Pastors Should Commit Themselves To “Extended Stays”
Pastoral terms are too short. The average tenure of three to five years1 is not working well for anyone. There are, of course, no Bible verses that say that this is too short, for the pastorate as we know it today was not yet commonly practiced when the New Testament was completed. So I’m not […]
Ending Pastor Abuse
Pastor abuse is a serious problem, but there’s nothing new about it. Old Testament prophets – spokespersons for God – and even Old Testament-era Jewish kings, who were shepherds (“pastors,” in Latin) of God’s people, endured harsh treatment at the hands of those who should have respected them. Mocked, thrown in pits, beaten, stoned and […]
We All Need A Monitoring Pilot
I’ve mentioned before that my wife and I are fans of airline disaster podcasts, particularly, the Mentour Pilot, Petter Hornfeldt. Petter’s great stories have frequently highlighted the importance of the monitoring pilot. Before they get into the cockpit, the commercial airliner’s captain and co-captain make a decision regarding which one of them, on this particular […]
Twenty Ways (15 wasn’t enough) To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Conclusion
Over the past three weeks I’ve shared fourteen ways in which we might move towards solving our pastor shortage in the evangelical world. While I’ve done some bemoaning of our situation, your responses have been encouraging. I have not felt like a “voice crying in the wilderness.” I’ve found that many of you share my […]
Twenty Ways (15 wasn’t enough) To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part Three
For the past two weeks (see 15 Ways To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part One and 15 Ways To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part Two) I’ve been bemoaning our evangelical pastor shortage. Like most of my readers, I didn’t much care about theologically liberal churches suffering their pastor shortage, but now that it’s closer to […]
15 Ways To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part Two
The idea of a “pastor shortage” is a perplexing and troubling concept for us evangelicals. We don’t mind the idea of a pastor shortage among the other varieties of Christians; after all, they’re wrong (to varying degrees) and deserve to have pastor shortages! But it shouldn’t be happening in our camp. And I agree. It […]
15 Ways To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part One
The pastor shortage has become a serious matter in the evangelical world. A friend just told me that in his region of his evangelical (“Bible-believing”) denomination they will be losing one third of their pastors within the next few months. One third! My own thoughts about how we got to this point will become apparent […]
A Simple Secret For Better Evangelism
This will probably be the simplest post I’ve written for a long time. Not “simplistic” I hope, but simple, and maybe even short. I was talking to a pastor a few weeks ago about his excellent church. And it really is. It’s united, growing spiritually, growing by way of new converts to Christ and joyful. […]
Spatial Disorientation – Pastor: Do You Know The Condition Of Your Pastorate?
My wife and I have been learning about spatial disorientation by listening to airline disaster podcasts. The phenomenon occurs when pilots, unable to see the ground because of darkness or bad weather (pilots call it “goo”), become unable to determine their aircraft’s true position relative to the ground. Their senses tell them, for instance, that […]
A Special Offer For Hungry Pastors
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it” Psalm 81:10 Sorry pastor, I’m not offering restaurant gift cards today, but I want to talk to you about your hunger for a revitalized church and I do […]
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