Pastoral Leadership

In our humanistic individualism, we often feel that there must be more to ministry than this. But prayer is significant, so significant that the devil wants us to overlook it. We often minimize its significance, but we must remember that we can do plenty after we have prayed but nothing before we have prayed.

You’ve heard it said: “Use the church to build people, not people to build the church.” Of course, building people and building a church are not mutually exclusive. Both require partnering with Christ, the Master Builder, as He builds His church and His people.

A few weeks ago, I was told that my wife and I needed to take a break and rest. At first, I hesitated, considering how busy things have been at Shawnee in recent months. But after discussing it with Amanda, we agreed that we could use a few days by ourselves.

Over the years, I have learned that the term budgeting has different meanings for different people. I recently read a definition that described a budget as, “An orderly system of living beyond our means.”

What spiritual leader hasn’t drawn encouragement from Nehemiah 2:18? But for that encouragement to be more than an emotional boost, we need specific ways to put it into practice.

Nearly every pastor or church leader knows the burden of carrying the financial responsibilities of a ministry.

The local church does not get to choose whether or not it will have a ministry of counseling. Churches are made up of people, and people will always be encountering situations that require biblical direction and guidance.

I’ve known for some years that the Sunday evening service in Baptist churches has been on the decline. But I read a recent statistic by researcher Thom Rainer stating that only 5 percent of churches have a Sunday evening service. That number startled me.

For the Bible-believing Christian, anything that could be called a true advancement will be in a direction leading to basic, New Testament Christianity. So in a sense, it will be going back.

Many of us have dreams of going to our first ministry and staying for fifty years, but the Lord’s plan may be different. Numerous times in Scripture we see God commanding Spirit-filled men to move.

The best part of most new year’s goals is the first week of January. Adrenaline runs high, and success seems just within reach. And then the second week of January comes. And the adrenaline-based enthusiasm wanes.

Recently, I began thinking of the intangible gifts that staff members give to me on a regular basis, and I came up with a list of ten. (I’m sure there are many times more.)

We all know there are plenty of situations in which good people differ. But why do good people differ? And how can we understand and benefit from these differences?

Our church has been involved in a building project consisting of a 30,000 square foot educational/sports building. We are still in the middle of it, so only God knows how the final chapter will turn out, but here is our story up to this point.

I recently had a conversation with a deacon from a church in Colorado. His church was preparing for a new pastor, and he called to ask for suggestions on how to best make the new pastor and his family feel loved and welcomed.

Several years ago, I preached at a church about forty-five minutes away from where I pastor. The folks there learned that I was to preach at another church in the area.

It is a blessing to visit a church that is alive, and it is disappointing to attend one that has no excitement. Activity and excitement alone do not constitute the making of a good church; however, a church with no plans and no vision will be filled with boredom and apathy.

One of the great blessings of my life is serving with a team of servant-hearted co-laborers in ministry. In a previous post, I wrote on principles for hiring quality staff. But to develop a quality team, it takes wise hiring and continued investment.

When Terrie and I first came to Lancaster, we could do all of the administrative work in the church. That was back when the work consisted of mowing the parking lot (over the terribly cracked cement), cleaning the building, and preparing the weekly bulletin.

We know that Jesus had a great passion for the lost: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Christ’s main passion and overwhelming burden for the lost was that they would be saved.