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.
3 Ways Spiritual Leadership Conference Replenishes You
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?
5 Dynamics Present in Churches Where Young People Surrender to God’s Will
Every pastor longs to see young men and women of the next generation serving the Lord in the ministry. What are the elements involved in that taking place? Why do some churches regularly see God calling teenagers and then those teens being trained and serving in ministry as young adults?
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.
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.
11 Suggestions When You Are Transitioning to a New Ministry
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.)
5 Ways to Benefit from and Work through Differences
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.