countering culture with the TRUTH of GOD's word
This morning there was a fun discussion happening on a friends Facebook thread. Basically, it revolved around a call to the church to focus more on character than charisma when it comes to church leadership. Below are some of the thoughts that came to… Continue Reading “Thoughts on Church Leader Qualifications (The Modern Church Vs the New Testament Church)”
Yesterday I posted an article where I began to raise some questions about the immense amount of focus that gets placed on the role of the pastor. If you haven’t read it, check it out HERE. I talked with my wife a little bit… Continue Reading “The Unexpected Familial Casualties of Being a Pastor in the Modern Church”
Over the years of my life I have noticed something that few like to talk about or question and that is this: why there is so much emphasis placed on pastors in the church? Especially when one takes a look through scripture and you… Continue Reading “Why is so Much Attention Given to Pastors Over all the Roles Found in Ephesians 4?”
Imagine with me, for a moment, a Church where… there is no paid staff, and the pastor and other staff do not rely on the local church to provide for their families. there is a pastor, and other leaders are organically raised up from… Continue Reading “All Has Been Stripped Away, But Will We Simply Come?”
Being the leader in a church is hard work. Church folks can be some of the most frustrating and difficult folks to work with. But, despite their flaws (and our own) and the amount of stress and frustration we may face as church leaders, beating the sheep should never be an option. God doesn’t take kindly to it, and we put ourselves in great danger when we ignore this fact and abuse the sheep for personal gain. Unfortunately, it happens more often than we may realize as beating the sheep isn’t just a physical act. In this episode we introduce another host of the Angry Christian Podcast (Robert Platt) and explore how easy it is to fall into the angry trap as a church leader. [Ezekiel 34:1-11]
Credits:
Intro Music – “Angry Dance” by Simon Panrucker
Other Music as it appears – “Oh Yeah” by Yello, “Sweet Georgia Brown” by Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard and Kenneth Casey, “Would Jesus Wear a Rolex” by Ray Stevens, and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” by Fred Rogers
My particular rod of choice was my tongue. I was (and still am) quick witted and could conjure up snarky unkind responses at the drop of a hat. All a church member had to do was corner me, or hit me up before the church service was beginning to complain about something, and the rod (that was my tongue) would get whipped out and promptly applied to the head of the unsuspecting sheep.
I used to be pretty critical about those who didn’t “go to church”. Clearly, they lacked something I didn’t because they didn’t want to be AT church. Clearly they weren’t as committed to God and the Church as I was…I who was on staff… Continue Reading “Don’t Just Judge, Judge Rightly: An Inconvenient Truth”
In recent weeks, months, and even years there has been a growing concern for the mental and emotional health of pastors (especially younger pastors) as we have seen far too many of them take their own lives leaving behind ministries, families, and friends behind… Continue Reading “A Pastoral Epidemic of Biblical Proportions (Part 1)”
I’ve been serving in the ministry in one shape or form for the last 15 years. Be it volunteer or paid, full or part time, or as a youth minister, music minister, or both at times. And while I certainly don’t have the track… Continue Reading “10 Lessons I’m Learning About Being in Ministry”
Psalm 18:2 ESV The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. When I read scriptures like this, that utilizes imagery to describe… Continue Reading “Attempting to move the immovable “
“It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.”… Continue Reading “Run to the Battle – 5 Important Points for Pastors Engaging the Culture | Guest Contributor Dr. Kevin Baird”