Make your plans in pencil. This is good advice for your career, for your marriage and, yes, for your adoption. When my wife, Jane, and I adopted our second son, our inked-in plans blew up in our faces. There we were, expanding our family, trying to promote the gospel through adoption. And everything went…
Bring about change in your church through careful, patient, and intentional leadership.
Along similar lines today, countless churches desperately need revitalizing. And, in God’s goodness, the same prescription he gives for that ancient church is the same for today’s churches. Indeed, the early church at Ephesus is a case study in church revitalization with relevance far beyond its own time. In Acts 20, the apostle Paul…
One stunning building in Manchester, England, is now a climbing center. In Bristol, one is now a circus school, with trapezes hanging from the rafters. Others are now grocery stores, car dealerships, libraries and pubs. All over England, many are now Islamic mosques. What do these venerable buildings have in common? Until recently, all…
At the North American Mission Board (NAMB), our mission is to help Southern Baptists push back lostness in North America. Our primary strategy for doing that is called Send North America, and that strategy includes two primary goals. First, we want to help increase the church birth rate by helping Southern Baptists start 15,000 new churches over…
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.
In our terms, Paul sends Timothy to revitalize the church at Ephesus.
At the North American Mission Board (NAMB), our mission is to help Southern Baptists push back lostness in North America. Our primary strategy for doing that is called Send North America, and that strategy includes two primary goals. First, we want to help increase the church birth rate by helping Southern Baptists start 15,000 new churches…
One stunning building in Manchester, England, is now a climbing center. In Bristol, one is now a circus school, with trapezes hanging from the rafters. Others are now grocery stores, car dealerships, libraries and pubs. All over England, many are now Islamic mosques. What do these venerable buildings have in common? Until recently, all…
The church desperately needs a new generation of pastors and preachers who are ready to be kind and courageous shepherds of Christ’s flock. 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, do you…
[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,…
In Part 1, I discussed two of the five categories that I think of when answering young ministers about how to balance their family and ministry. This part discusses the rest of those five principles that, while not hard and fast rules, have been helpful for my family and ministry. 3. Unique Situations Beyond…
Over the last several weeks I have been pulled aside by several young pastors asking me for advice. They want to know how to balance the demands of ministry and the demands of their family. These are younger guys in their 20s and 30s and they are stressed out. They’re feeling the pull to produce and be…
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.
Rightly understood, marriage is all about permanence. In a world of transitory experiences, events, and commitments, marriage is intransigent. It simply is what it is — a permanent commitment made by a man and a woman who commit themselves to live faithfully unto one another until the parting of death. That is what makes…
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…
