As a pastor I focus a consistent amount of my time toward connecting the unconnected, and then deepening the connected, within the church body. I want to focus on the first piece of this today (connecting the unconnected), and specifically I have in mind people who are new to the Christian faith, or new to…
All posts tagged pastor
The 2 Ways to Produce Change in Others
As a pastor I do a lot of studying on communication, and how to be most effective with the Sunday morning sermon during our weekly worship gatherings. Thousands of books have been written on how to form a sermon, how to deliver a sermon, how to produce change in others, etc. Clearly the role of…
9 Areas of Focus for Effective Christian Ministry
I’ve been reading Richard Baxter’s The Reformed Pastor over the past month. It’s an incredibly long book, and an incredibly slow read due to his stiff language use. But within that has been many encouraging and challenging pieces. Baxter has a helpful perspective on where to focus your attention when it comes to Christian ministry. He…
A Top Heavy Life (or Why Bloggers Quit and Pastors Burnout)
I’ve watched Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel off and on since it started almost a decade ago. Partially because Rose and I have a family friend on the show, and partially because I like to imagine whether I could withstand the difficulty of the job. Just about every season there is an ice storm that…
A Lens for Viewing the World
One of the most difficult parts of pastoral work is trying to get people to care about things that will lead toward the abundant life God desires each of us to have. It seems the majority of my time is spent trying to get people to make an effort, rather than supporting those who are.…
Mr. Pastor Answer Man
I recently stumbled across an old Christian legend that makes little sense theologically, but connected with me nonetheless: “When the son of God was nailed to the cross and gave up his spirit, he went straight down to hell from the cross and set free all the sinners who were there in torment. And the…