These statistics speak to the realities of stress, weariness, and emptiness that are part of serving people. But not every pastor falls by the wayside of statistics. So what is the difference between a pastor who becomes a statistic and a pastor who presses on through the struggles and completes his race still in the ministry?

One of my dear friends once told me of a time when she and her husband were first married. During their first few years of marriage, their home was a simple, small apartment with hardly any furnishings. She went on to tell me that they were just as happy then as they are now, many years later, living in a large house on five acres of land.

As a missionary, I would like to recommend an app to you that could be a great blessing in organizing your deputation or your furlough. I use it all the time, and it has made this process easier. If you are like me, you have a list of churches that looks like a spreadsheet. This contains churches that you know pretty well, and also many churches about which you know almost nothing.

The human occasion for the writing of Paul’s final epistle was a preacher’s tears. The preacher was Timothy, his “dearly beloved son” in the ministry and in the faith, whom he wrote during hard times “being mindful of thy tears.” The tears of Timothy are instructive to us, both because of their cause and their cure, and are put in the Bible to open our eyes to little-understood aspects of the Christian ministry.

Teachers have the responsibility and privilege of impacting lives for eternity. While many cower at this task, there are ways to leave a lasting impact on your students in the years to come. Here are some practical tips for developing the next generation:

The problem with myths is their sly way of embedding themselves into your assumptions. They just become part of your thinking without your realizing it. Some of the myths below are commonly-held pastoral beliefs that we pastors have held without comparing them to Scripture. Others are commonly-held beliefs that we would never give voice to, but nonetheless, we act as if we do indeed believe them.

“The little things become the BIG things.” Have you ever heard that quote? A few years ago, I emailed some of my friends and asked them what they remembered about their childhood. I have reproduced many of their answers below, and I hope that you notice the things they remembered really were the little things.

In the latter part of Acts chapter fourteen we see the activities of Paul and Barnabas as they are finishing their first missionary journey. Churches were established in several cities. The disciples were taught, and converts were trained to lead the churches. After this they returned to Antioch.

Giving is not a minor topic in Scripture. In fact, the word give in its various forms is used 2,162 times throughout the Bible—that is more than believe (271 times), prayer (268 times), and love (714 times) all combined! Of the twenty-nine parables Jesus told, sixteen deal with money or possessions.

The pastor who knows his people is going to communicate with his people better. Why? Because he knows their heart. Shortly after coming to Lancaster Baptist Church I was amazed at how well Pastor Chappell knows his people. I would bring up a name thinking, “He’s not going to know this guy in my Sunday school class,” but he would stop and tell me all about that guy or his family, and I would just stand there amazed. But that is what makes a preacher effective.