In high school, I was voted “most likely to become a rock star.” Okay, let me nuance that a bit; I...
Issues in the Church
Resetting Ministry Priorities with a Laser-Like Focus on Faithfulness to the Gospel
Recently I was in ministry leadership meeting at my local church. During this meeting, it struck...
When Christians Hurt You
As the culture war rages on, there is another battle raging to which we must turn our attention....
Five Ways to Prevent Ministry Burnout
It was a busy day of ministry. Five thousand people covered the hillside where Jesus taught, not including women and children. The evening was coming on fast, and the people were hungry. So Jesus fed them food from a boy’s lunch of two small fish and five loaves of...
Contentment in a Discontented World
Discontentment may be the greatest trap in our culture. It may be greater than lust, greed, and even lying because discontentment leads to all these other sins. It tends to be a well-spring of iniquity. I have yet to meet an individual who engaged in an affair without...
Gospel Motivations for Gospel Ministry
Competitiveness is the companion of quality, right? After all, that seems to be true of the role of competition in healthcare, technology, transportation, sports, restaurants, design, and construction. In all forms of production, men constantly seek to surpass their...
Boring Church Services Changed My Life
I’ve never really had a moment in my life—39 years—when I wasn’t going to church. My parents got engaged and married in the church. I was born into, raised in, and baptized in the church. My parents, first-generation Christians, were devout church-goers. We went every...
Learning to See the Beauty of a Gospel-Centered Church
I love the gospel and the church, and I can’t wait to teach them every Sunday. But it wasn’t always that way. How Do You See the Church? Admittedly, for me, I was slow to understand and appreciate the importance and beauty of the local church. In high school and...
Four Ways to Respond When a Ministry Leader Is Removed from Ministry
It happened yet again. A popular ministry leader fell into sin. Over the years, I’ve sadly seen this happen so many times. Each time a ministry leader falls and has to resign from his position it breaks my heart breaks. I’ve also sadly seen people who come down overly...
Fellowship Within the Church
I am a member of a church that has home groups that meet every other week. These groups are filled with many different people, and they come from different areas of life. But there is one thing that unites us. It is the gospel! It is through relationships like those...
4 Reasons for Biblical Leadership Qualifications
I’m thankful that God didn’t leave us to guess about the qualifications of church leaders. Both Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3 provide some basic traits that should characterize elders and deacons. Elders, for example, should be men who are “above reproach, the husband of...
Keeping Short Accounts
My family moved to St. Simons Island, GA in 1989. I was 12 years old. One of the first things that I distinctly remember about that beautiful, little secluded Island was the fact that we could walk into a store, write our name on a ledger and walk out with just about...
Pray for Your Church Leaders
The warning in the book of James to teachers is sobering, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (3:1). Some of that “greater strictness” is seen in the responses of church members...
‘Seedtimes of Tears’: The Goodness and Necessity of Tears in Ministry
When Paul called the Ephesian elders to himself in Miletus (Acts 20), he recounted his three years of service before them. His words focused on preparing the elders whom he loved and labored with for the challenges they would soon face. Just as Paul fought the beasts...
New Ministry Resolutions: Remembering the Old Convictions of Preaching
The old has passed and the new has arrived. The calendar has turned and we’ve entered into 2017. However, we know that the “new” will soon wear off and the fresh reminder of the “old” will define the plowing of pastoral ministry. If you’re like me you probably have...