Pastoral Ministry

Face Reality: You Are The Leader

The most important task of any pastor is to clearly and carefully communicate the Word of God with his people on a regular basis. So important is the task of teaching and preaching that it occupies the vast majority of our ministerial training. In my own personal library, my collection of books on preaching takes …

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7 Lessons from 17 Years in Ministry

Seventeen years. That is how long I’ve served in vocational church ministry. That number caught me a bit by surprise this week. I really don’t feel like I’m old enough to have been doing this for so long, but the calendar doesn’t lie. Here are a few lessons I’ve learned that make my ministry stronger …

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Cultivating Critical Thinking

We are saturated with a lack of critical thinking in our culture. The lack of critical thinking and engagement leads people to rush to conclusions, avoid real conversation, and to demonize those with whom they disagreee. Lack of critical thinking also leads to a lack of discernment. For most people critical thinking is not a …

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Making Time For Ministry

In January I’m beginning a sermon series on the book of Mark, so I have been spending a ton of time reading through the second gospel in recent weeks. One word out of Mark’s gospel continues to jump off the page: immediately. In the ESV the word immediately occurs 36 times in 35 verses. I read …

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The Patient Pastor

So, the church voted unanimously to call you as their new pastor. You’ve been on the job now for six months. They bought you new office furniture, they have delivered meals to your home, and have helped your wife and kids to fit into their new church family. They are eager to hear your preaching …

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The Shepherd Leader

What is a Pastor? In 1 Peter 5, the apostle Peter shows us that a pastor is a shepherd leader who eagerly and willingly loves and cares for the flock of God under his care.

 

Pastors and the Lone Ranger Syndrome

I don’t know if Lone Ranger Syndrome is real. I didn’t research it at all (not even on google). But I do know that pastors have a bad habit of getting all by themselves in ministry. Single staff church pastors have an especially tough time because they are alone in their study at the church …

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Short Steps for Long Tenure

I have recently celebrated my ten-year anniversary as the pastor of Malvern Hill Baptist Church in Camden, South Carolina. Ten years anywhere is a long time, but ten years at Malvern Hill was not expected by anyone. Our church had a history of short tenured pastors, but through God’s grace, I have been able to …

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Pastor, Share Your Faith

I enjoyed my time at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix, AZ this year. I was reminded this week how much I love being a Southern Baptist. They are my family. Just like my biological family we don’t always get everything right, but warts and all I love the SBC. Several things …

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Preaching: The Middle School Boy Syndrome

Nothing else smells like middle school boys. They begin middle school with a particular odor, forgetting deodorant as often as they remember it. They end middle school smelling just just as strongly, but no longer of body odor–they have discovered their body odor and now work to mask it in gallons of cologne and body …

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