Monday’s Ministry Encouragement: Written to encourage you, my friend in ministry, to be refreshed and renewed as we live for Christ and look toward the Bema.
“Pastor, do you have a busy week ahead of you?” was the question offered by a caring church member headed home after a great day of worship and ministry.
Busy week? Always!
But the question for me is, “Will I get it all done?”
Continue reading “The Busy of Pastoring”Monday’s Ministry Encouragement: Written to encourage you, my friend in ministry, to be refreshed and renewed as we live for Christ and look toward the Bema.
Before men’s prayer breakfast on Saturday morning, a real concern gripped my heart. The men arrived, filled their plates, and gathered around the firepit. On this cloudy, 34 degree morning, the roaring fire felt really good!!
Continue reading “Come Around the Fire”
Several years ago, I found the following from Pastor Bob Kelley who went Home to Glory on October 28, 2006. I believe these practical lessons wrought out of forty-three years of ministry will be of great help and encouragement to you as you begin 2023, a new year of living out the Christ-life in His ministry.
Continue reading “Greatest Lessons I Have Learned as a Preacher of the Gospel”Monday’s Ministry Encouragement: Written to encourage you, my friend in ministry, to be refreshed and renewed as we live for Christ and look toward the Bema.
Tis the season to be . . . extremely busy!! Well, the song as you know says “jolly” and not “busy,” but so many ministry events happen in this final stretch of the year that “busy” can and many times does eclipse “jolly!”
Continue reading “Monday Ministry Encouragement”Monday’s Ministry Encouragement: Written to encourage you, my friend in ministry, to be refreshed and renewed as we live for Christ and look toward the Bema.
The Lord seems to send him along at a most needful time.
Twenty years ago, he drove all the way to Atlanta, Georgia, to the hospice house to minister to us when my dad was dying with cancer.
Here and there, he sends an online note of encouragement that always comes at the right time.
Continue reading “Monday Ministry Encouragement”Monday’s Ministry Encouragement: Written to encourage you, my friend in ministry, to be refreshed and renewed as we live for Christ and look toward the Bema.
It’s time to celebrate the 66th Anniversary of the church where you are serving. You and others have spent considerable time planning. Music is prepared, the service order set, song lyric slides are sent, the sermon is ready, and the fellowship meal lurks around the corner. The day is here!
Then, Anniversary Sunday morning you receive a text—“Pastor, ___________ woke up sick this morning and cannot play the piano.”
Congregational songs, choir ministry, and other music ministry is affected. Changes must be made.
Is it the end of the world?
Will it be a good service?
So, what happened?
Continue reading “Monday Ministry Encouragement”
It’s Monday morning. Your tank is empty. You gave all you had for the Lord yesterday. Your family saw little of you as you were consumed with ministry, people, serving and leading. That comes with the territory and with joy.
Continue reading “Monday Ministry Encouragement”
Ministry friend, are you struggling? Do you want to quit? Are you carrying a heavy load? Do you feel all alone? Need a friend to help you, listen to you, care for you, and give you hope? Please read the post below and reach out to us. You are never too far gone that the Lord cannot restore and refresh you!!! Let us help point you to the One Who is our Living Hope!!
Nearly Two in Five Pastors Have Considered Quitting Full-Time Ministry
With pastors’ well-being on the line, and many on the brink of burnout, 38 percent indicate they have considered quitting full-time ministry within the past year. This percentage is up 9 full points (from 29%) since Barna asked church leaders this same question at the beginning of 2021.
There are many reasons for pastors quitting the ministry, but one I am concerned about is pastors in hiding.
Continue reading “Pastors in Hiding”
There she was, sleeping so soundly. After a very draining week emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually, my wife was snuggled securely in bed in a deep slumber.
“What time is it? What day is it?” Those were her words when I awakened her.
Slowly she crawled out of bed and began to make herself ready for the day.
What day was it? Sunday.
What time was it? Suffice it to say, she had overslept!! Didn’t hear her alarm either.
We have pre-service prayer meeting on Sundays at 8:30. As I watched the clock and began to fix her a to-go breakfast, she came down the stairs. My wife was ready to go to church on the outside, but I could see that she was not on the inside. And based upon my ever present “I’ll fix this situation” manhood, I declared, “I’ll go on ahead, and you can come in your Jeep.”
Wait a minute! It’s raining, she’s fighting off a migraine, and she is definitely not crusin’ along on all eight cylinders.
It was then and there that my first ministry captured my attention. Serving my wife was more important than being at prayer meeting on time. She had no business driving by herself. She needed her husband. She needed her pastor. She needed her friend.
Pastors, Christian leaders, missionaries, we are so prone to put the ministry above our wives, leaving her in the dust with her brood as she carries seven diaper/book bags, Bibles, a purse, and wearing her “running shoes” to keep up with you. I mean, after all, you are the pastor and you must be there to open the door and lead in prayer! What will people think if you are late!!!
Men, you know the words of Matthew 22:37-39 quite well. May I encourage you to remember that your wife is your neighbor. She is to be loved more than your church congregation (Ephesians 5:25). Your ministry to your wife, and your church member, I might add, is an example to all the other believers. She is your first ministry.
Fighting the urge to drive a bit more aggressively and take some of the curves on two wheels, we had a nice, easy and enjoyable journey.
Interesting enough, folks gathered for prayer as always, and . . . we were the second ones in the parking lot. No harm done. Compassionate, caring love shown to my wife.
Thank You, Lord, for stopping me in my tracks and reminding me what is of greater value.
“C’mon, Hon. Take your time. I’ll wait. Let’s go together.”
My dad had many sayings. When my friends and I got rowdy as a kid, he would sometimes utter, “You boys need to settle down.”
Now in my 60’s and having been exposed to so much in the Christian and religious world for these years, could we as pastors/Christian leaders just settle down?
My background is one of . . . growing up in a pastor’s home (My dad was Church of the Nazarene until his Army days in Korea, and then came to understand the security of believer in Christ, thanks to a godly chaplain who taught him the Word!); The Wilds Christian Camp (Doc Hay, Rock Royer, Major Brooks, etc.); Bob Jones University (college and seminary plus a host of its graduates including all of its presidents to date, Bible Conference speakers, faculty, etc.); Tennessee Temple University graduates; the Sword of the Lord crowd; my Southern Baptist grandfather who pastored in Kentucky and southwest Virginia; the GARBC; the many men who fellowshipped in what was for years known as the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship (Now Foundations Baptist Fellowship); Dallas Theological Seminary grads; being mentored personally by the likes of J.B. Williams, J. Robert Martin, Randy Patten, Reynold Lemp and many others; plus being influenced from a distance by the likes of Charles Stanley, Chuck Swindoll, Adrian Rogers, Henry Blackaby, David Jeremiah, and more.
In more recent years, my background continues to be of the many mentioned above plus Men’s Prayer Advance, 9Marks, T4G, CoRE Conferences, plus many, many books authored by Tripp, Ortlund, Wells, Bridges, Payne & Marshall, Thomas, Huegal, Ryrie, Walvord, Pickering, etc.
“What’s the point?’, you may ask.
Well, I want to say that for all of us in ministry, none of us have it all figured out; none of us knows all the facts about everyone or every situation; none of us know more than our God; none of us have the absolute right methodology; none of us are the standard; and none of us have arrived!
For all of us in ministry, none of us have it all figured out . . . none of us have arrived!
We all come from various backgrounds and are all influenced by a diverse group of people, churches, institutions and movements, but we are saved by grace through faith alone in the cross work and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are one in Christ. We are made complete in Christ. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit. We are children of the living God!
Therefore, understanding that there are clear, biblical points of separation and the application thereof, such as preeminently, the Gospel (Galatians 1:1-10), may I say that we need to . . .
Throw away your Pharisaical microscope.
In times past, I have jokingly said, for instance to a group of four men, “There are only four people in the world that’s perfect. That’s me and you three, and . . . I am doubtful about you three!”
Proverbs 22:4 recently challenged my heart again . . . By humility and the fear of the LORD (not man) are riches and honor and life.
May I suggest that we soak our soul often in the truths of Colossians 1:15-18 and go deep in meditation and prayer in Philippians 1:1-2:18?
Let’s join Paul in prayer . . . And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)
Let’s just settle down.
From A Pastor's Heart 