The opinions about what a church should do and how a church should navigate the COVID-19 crisis are as numerous as the people who attend church. They include, “Let’s start back to worship at 100% capacity today,” “We should proceed with caution,” and “We should not attempt to gather indoors for worship until there is …
We’re all beginning to breathe a sigh of relief as it appears the lock-down measures are being slowly relaxed across our country. Many churches are worshiping outdoors, some are even beginning to return to indoor worship services. But experts across the country and the world urge us to be prepared to live with COVID-19 for …
On Sunday, March 8, 2020 I preached a sermon titled, The Apologetic of Fulfilled Scripture from Mark 14. On that Sunday, we forced ourselves out of bed after losing an hour of sleep to daylight savings time, gathered with our LifeGroups, shook hands, hugged friends, and crowded into our sanctuary shoulder to shoulder. We had …
Church member, you can help your pastor improve. You have the ability to help him grow as a pastor, as a preacher, and as a member of your community. But it may not be easy.
I know that some of you are reading this and the idea of opening your home to others seems like a terrifying chore. I want you to see it as a blessed opportunity. Our open-door policy has created numerous opportunities for us to show the love of Christ to others. Our house has been a refuge for the broken and a hospital for sinners. Our home has been a counseling office and a cooking school. It has also been a play-place for kids and an emergency bathroom. But, in each of those ways, God has used our home to bless others and in so doing has blessed our family.
“When did you decide you wanted to be a revitalizing pastor?” I had to think for a minute. I am blessed to pastor a church that has experienced good revitalization in the past twelve and a half years. We have gone from unhealthy to healthy, we have impacted our community, we have seen lives change, …
I try to not get caught up in the “who has a harder job?” debate. Many people lament the challenges of pastoral ministry, but I try to focus on the joy of being paid to study God’s Word. Nevertheless, one of the most challenging aspects of pastoral ministry is the responsibility to have a sermon …
As Paul languishes in prison expecting to die, he sends one final letter to his protege with some instructions and some requests. He asks Timothy to come to him and to bring some things. He urges Timothy to guard the gift that has been entrusted to him and to serve as a good soldier of …
Jesus is enough to carry and sustain the worn-out souls of your hearers. They come to the altar of God’s word week in and week out to be refreshed and encouraged. You have been given the gift of preaching for the edifying—the building up—of your local church. They come in beat-down and tired. The worries of financial strife, the struggles of wayward children, the back-biting of a secular workplace, and the thorns and thistles of sinful creation all work in a sort of unholy symphony to burden God’s image-bearers. Given the opportunity, this unholy symphony will actually drown out the siren call of Calvary.
Church revitalization is all the buzz in evangelical church life these days. Mark Clifton says a healthy or revitalized church is “one that has a reputation for making disciples who make disciples and whose community is noticeably better because of the existence of the church.”