I have found many pastoral counseling issues can be diagnosed with one all too common malady: many people wish they were someone else. They want someone else’s job, money, home, car, spouse, or family. They long for easier lives. They believe if they just had (fill in the blank) they would have purpose and meaning…
No doubt, there are other questions that may need to be asked, but some of these helped me make this solemn decision.
Podcasts are on the rise. When Serial took the world by storm at the end of 2014, many were exposed to this medium for the first time. Since then it seems like new podcasts are appearing every week. As many have discovered, podcasts are an especially accessible way to consume content. For pastors and other leaders…
Unless you plan on planting a church that steals people from other churches, in which case you shouldn’t plant, you need to grow as an evangelist.
Last night I watched Pastor Pete Briscoe give his rationale for leading his church to welcome female elders to their leadership structure. Briscoe pastors Bent Tree Bible Fellowship, a large congregation in the metro area of Dallas, Texas. His sermon amounts to a recitation of long-standing egalitarian readings of Scripture. I admire that Briscoe and…
Every church revitalizer must remember that new life comes about not by pushing all the right buttons, but by the grace of God.
I do not generally like Hallmark cards. When I get my wife, children, or someone else a card, I usually look for one that is attractive on the outside but blank on the inside. I prefer to write my thoughts inside the card because I never read what is written in Hallmark cards and think…
Pastors who try to reap the dividends of authority without making the investment of credibility will quickly find themselves in a leadership deficit.
The pastor’s inner spiritual life is critical to the spiritual development of his people.
Editors note: Dan Dumas has written a new book, Live Smart: Preparing for the Future God Wants for You (Bethany House). SBTS Blog editor Jeff Robinson corresponded with him on how he hopes to minister to the local church through his new work. In Live Smart, you trace out 14 principles from Scripture that…
I have a confession to make: I am a terrible evangelist. I do try, but I can’t seem to have much success or consistency. I often find myself hiding behind the excuse that “I’m an introvert.” But the real problem is that I am just not loving my neighbor as myself. The task is made…
Not all missionary organizations are created equal. In fact, while the Great Commission is surprisingly succinct as founding documents go, it has germinated a host of extremely diverse ministries and methods. Today, hundreds of international sending agencies exist ranging from those committed to curbing sex trafficking to promoting the gift of prophecy, all in the…
As Christians who exult in the evangel, the good news of God’s redeeming love for sinners, we rightly cherish above all else the cross of Jesus Christ. Good Friday services are among the most glorious of our annual gatherings as we reflect upon that sacrifice. We delight to read and pray and sing and preach…
Frugality is perhaps one of the most prevalent characteristics found in college students, young seminarians, and millennials. Ever since the financial crisis of 2008, rising prices for college tuition as well as growing concern for market validity have given millennials ample incentives to become frugal. Of course, we would affirm that frugality is a good…
If crisis does not lead to greater investment in community it will simply lead to deeper crisis. Often our inclination is to let crisis drive us towards isolation, but it is only within community that we can find real hope and help. So, crisis can become the entry point for many people into discipleship. Pastors,…
I couldn’t believe we were here. We’d flown in and out of Washington DC’s Reagan Airport more times than I could count, but never with Arkansas as the destination. In the past, God had called us to take what I had considered big leaps of faith by asking us to go places and do things…
The numbers are staggering. Experts estimate that approximately 1,000 local churches close their doors every year. What is even more disheartening about this statistic is that number only reflects Southern Baptist Churches — my denomination. Imagine how that number grows if you added the number of closing local churches from other established denominations, which some assert…
I have often said that I grew up a proficient sinner. My context encouraged it, and I was gladly spurred on by peers. I grew up in Maine, where cultural Christianity died a long time ago. It wasn’t until I was a 21-year old in the Navy when I first turned from that sin and…
