Pastoral Leadership

For years, a small group of believers burdened for an independent Baptist church in the Oakland Bay Area prayed for a miracle.

Over the past thirty years, there are many types of activities that have come and over time been discontinued on our annual church calendar. But our January Winter Revival is not one of them. In fact, this Sunday began our thirtieth consecutive year of these meetings. Each year, our guest speaker has been Dr. John Goetsch, and the Lord has used his preaching to convict, stir, and renew our hearts.

As we gain momentum, Satan works to ruin it. And we can easily aid in that process if we don’t guard our hearts, serve as team players, and remain committed to serve. Here are some of the common ways a pastor or staff member can unintentionally ruin momentum on a church staff team:

One of the joys of ministry is striving together with others for the faith of the gospel. I’m thankful that I get to work and enjoy fellowship with pastors of all ages. Here at West Coast Baptist College, I have the privilege to invest in young men preparing for the ministry, and as I’m in conferences and meetings around the country, I am able to preach and fellowship with men who are seasoned, just getting started, and everywhere in between.

As preachers, our primary responsibility is to herald forth and publish God’s truth. One preacher put it this way, “The business of the prophet is to fill the pulpit, not the pews.”

For some reason, writers and preachers who should know better have said for many years (in one way or another) that a New Testament church runs pretty much as a pure democracy

Relationships are vital to ministry. Whether you are a pastor, a church staff member, or serve as a leader in any area of church ministry, cultivating strong relationships is a necessary investment.

If you’re like me, you’ve read plenty of books and opinions about church growth. People tell you everything from how many songs to have in the service to what types of doughnuts to serve.

Near the end of each summer, our staff pulls away from daily responsibilities for two days of training—usually at an off campus location. I greatly look forward to this time and spend many hours preparing for it. Although we have staff meeting each week, this annual staff orientation is a time when we pause, evaluate, adjust, and move forward as a team with renewed focus and momentum.

In the previous post I pointed out seven symptoms of one of the most dangerous spiritual diseases—apathy. A diagnose without a cure, however, is unhelpful. The direct counsel Christ Himself gave to the church at Laodicea was to humble themselves in repentance and recognize their need for Christ:

There are few things a pastor or spiritual leader fears more than apathy. (And if we’re wise, we fear it creeping into our own hearts as much as we fear it undermining the spiritual growth of those we lead.)

None of us start out in leadership with the intention of failing. But we all know people who have disgraced the Lord and hurt the people they lead through unfaithfulness. We all want, when we come to the end of our race, to be able to say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

How does a church not only stay intact, but grow so they are maturing in the Lord together?

Abraham Lincoln, in his First Inaugural Address, undoubtedly echoed the sentiments of most Gospel preachers when he said, “I am loath to close.”

One of the most dangerous aspects of success in any work of God is that it would lead to complacency. The truth is, it is easier to rejoice in a victory of the past and simply maintain going forward than it is to take continual faith-filled risks and build.

We started our first building when I was twenty-three years old. There was much I did not know. Thankfully, I received wise counsel. We had our share of issues, but the building projects went fairly well. Here are a few thoughts to consider as you conduct a building program:

As a Baptist pastor of a Baptist church, I believe that each of these distinctives are not only biblical, but they are vital. They are doctrinal. And doctrine matters.

Those who serve as spiritual leaders have the joy of investing themselves in the spiritual growth of others. You prepare messages, lessons, and events, preach sermons, teach classes, and give of yourself in all the ways that contribute toward building others in spiritual growth.

In every work of God, there comes a point when a leader must ask, “Am I content to move forward in maintenance mode, or will I continue to build?” In theory, this question sounds simple. Who wouldn’t want to continue building, especially when you are co-laboring with Christ in building that which He has promised to bless?

So often, when those we lead and love are hurting, we hurt too. We hurt for them, and, in many cases, we also feel the loss they are experiencing. When we are hurting with others, how do we, as spiritual leaders, extend God’s grace to them?