When Paul described the burden of ministry that God has given us, he concluded by asking the question, “Who is equal to such a task?” (2 Cor 2:16) After reviewing the challenges of leadership in the church, we might ask the same thing. We must remember, however, that wherever God calls, He also enables. God…
In your opinion, what are the 5 best things about the church? What would the average person in the church say is the best thing about the church? In your opinion, what are the 5 biggest problems in the church right now? What would the average person say is the biggest problem in the…
Leading God’s people is unlike any other task in the world — which is why it requires a calling of the Spirit.
Why would people today want to study the life of George Whitefield (1714-1770)? He started no denominations, as the Wesley brothers did, and was best known for a preaching style that highlighted emotional responses. A traditional disdain for such a “manipulative” homiletic practice suggests he should be forgotten. Yet those who would take such…
In the following videos Dan Dumas discusses expository preaching and how it’s changed with John MacArthur. You and see part one of this series here. 4. When you look at your expository ministry in total, are there any regrets or things you would do differently? 5. What has been the fruit of a long expository…
The following post is part two in a series of posts titled: Can Jesus heal mental illness? by Heath Lambert. You can read part one here. “Mental illnesses” are spiritual issues In my previous post I tried to demonstrate that mental illness is not a concrete object like a wheelbarrow, but is an abstract…
Many dying churches refuse to see the diminishing influence of their churches for the good of the Kingdom and do nothing about it. Denial means more and more churches will be closing their doors.
[tweetable]The church desperately needs a new generation of pastors and preachers who are ready to be kind and courageous shepherds of Christ’s flock.[/tweetable] Do you remember the conversation between Peter and our Lord after his resurrection from the dead? When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John,…
The young man who declared he wanted to be a pastor but didn’t want to deal with people was contradicting himself. You can’t be a shepherd without living among the sheep.
Editors note: Read also Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3 of this series. Read the Bible When I was 13 years old, my mother gave me a photocopy of a hand-written guide for reading the Bible through in a year. Thus began the most important part of my theological education – immersion in Scripture. [tweetable]In…
A pastor must never forget that God sent him to love the people, not merely to imbue them with biblical facts.
False teaching often comes from imposters who are not really Christians (2 Tim. 3:8). Sometimes error comes from those who are Christians (Gal. 2:11). At other times, it comes from those whose spiritual condition is not altogether clear. In any case, pastors have a responsibility to refute error whatever its source (Titus 1:9). But…
WASHINGTON — Mark Dever arrived on Capitol Hill in 1994 to pastor a church of primarily 70- to 90-year-old people that was weary after nearly a half century of decline and weighed down with pouring its limited funds into the maintenance of a block of real estate. It also had a deeper problem. Members of…
[tweetable]Preaching — the practice of expositing God’s Word to God’s people — has fallen on hard times.[/tweetable] On the one hand, the large number of evangelical pastors I know who remain committed to faithful biblical exposition greatly encourages me. These men know the purpose and the power of preaching God’s Word. On the other…
Recently I was asked how I was doing as a “creator.” I’ve been asked similar questions before, but this time it startled me because it was tethered to Genesis 1:26 and what it means to be made in the image of God. As spiritual beings, our creativity comes from being fashioned in the image…
Christian pastors find themselves in an odd position today. There isn’t really a clear model of how to engage the broader public conversation about morals, laws, cultural developments and the spirit of the age. Not many of the young and restless crowd aspire to be culture warriors, and the Moral Majority looms large in…
What are your goals as an artist and hymn writer? I’ve spent my life with twin goals. One is to try and let the word of Christ dwell richly when people meet together and sing. What we sing is as important, if not more important than, what we speak. And secondly, to try and…
All this assumes, of course, that the pastoral ministry is first rooted in the pastor’s own confession of faith — the pastor’s personal theological convictions. The faithful pastor does not teach merely that which has historically been believed by the church and is even now believed by faithful Christians — he teaches out of…
