Is church leadership reserved for males only? What does scripture teach? Are you sure? This is probably the most crucial question you will face during your entire ministerial lifetime that will affect your congregation for years to come. During the podcast I mentioned some resources for further reading. Click here or here . I also mentioned the study guide, How To Discover Your Ministry for use in your church....
We are often guilty of seeing the world the way we want to see it rather than how it truly is. Innovation helps us interact with culture to better serve them if done with the right heart. Ecclesiastes informs us that there is nothing new under the sun. Innovation can be communicated through just about any variety of means. Innovators, who think outside the box, see how to utilize inventions and methods from other communities in ways to advance the Kingdom of God. During the podcast, we offered a...
Jack shares part two of his extraordinary journey from hospitalization to joining a church and eventually planting a church in Rocky Hill, CT. You can contact him about his book or their church here . During the podcast I mentioned MileIQ. You can get the free app here .
Jack shares an amazing testimony of his recovery after a horrific accident left him as a paraplegic with no hope of regaining the use of his body. Currently, he is the pastor of Oasis of Life Christian Church in Rocky Hill, CT During the podcast, I mentioned the book, How To Discover Your Ministry . This study guide is ideal for individuals or groups to explore what genuine ministry entails while driving them toward serving in the local church. For additional resources, visit ministerstoolbox.co...
Starting a new congregation out of thin air takes a special kind of calling. To ensure that Christianity grows and flourishes, new churches must form. The "normal" way churches form, is heavy sponsorship from a larger congregation via a satellite network. This method has proven effective, but what about the pioneer church planter? What about the person who feels called to start a church without any of the normal resources many have come to expect? Shane and Maria Priebe share their story of plan...
Your character is the strongest sermon you’ll ever preach. Much more is caught than taught. Choices confront us every day. We can do the right thing or the easy thing. As a pastor, one of your main jobs is to do everything in your power to grow the influence and size of your church. The integrity challenge is how you invite people to join. A phrase pastors used years ago was sheep-rustlin g. A sheep rustler sneaks onto the farm of a neighbor and takes one or more sheep. The term came to mean pas...
The second offering used to ordain Levites was a burnt offering. This is not designed to pay for or address sin but a sacrifice required by God in order to become a minister. Burnt offerings happened when every part of the animal was completely consumed by fire. They represented submitting to total loss as part of your worship toward God. Similar to the Levites, you cannot just call yourself into ministry. I am sure that many of us have seen individuals who strongly believe they have a calling t...
We all know the verse, Without vision the people perish. That also applies to pastors and church leaders. How do you get your vision back when ministry has dealt you harsh blows? To get further resources, visit www.ministerstoolbox.com. To leave an honest rating or review, go here .
Pastors by far are under-compensated for the work they do compared to other professions. One of the top three reasons pastors quit the ministry is over money. Church boards try to save money by paying the pastor as little as possible. That is a key reason churches don’t grow. Church boards should do all they can to bless their leaders financially and in every way possible for the work they do. People often forget that pastoring is not only a calling but also a job. People in the church work to g...
Does it ever frustrate you when you see members of your congregation continually fall into the same problems? You’ve preached your heart out week after week with answers to solve their problem. Somehow, they never get free. Benjamin Franklin once said: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” To bring our pulpit ministry to the next level, we need to define what God considers teaching. If I were to ask you what teaching is, most of you would immediately bring ...
People come to us with minds jam-packed with misinformation, wrong ideas, beliefs and opinions. How do we influence them to change their thinking towards following the ways of Christ? During today's show, I talked about Sticky Church . You can investigate this book here . This is a video of the television show I mentioned during the broadcast....
Do you encounter fellow believers who don't fit your preferences or opinions? Do you still offer them the right hand of fellowship or distance yourself? Due to our denominational affiliations, theological background or political views, we can easily disassociate ourselves from other Christian leaders. In one instance, they asked Jesus for permission to burn people up like human French fries because they did not like their attitudes! During the podcast, I share some personal stories highlighting ...
Our church receives one or two calls each week from someone in desperate need. So, how does your church discern between the poor and those trying to scam your ministry? As a general rule, never be rushed into providing assistance to anyone. During the podcast, I share practical resources your church can access to help those who are poor. I also share a personal story of how good intentions can go awry. During the podcast, I offered a free guide to establish protocols for giving in your church. Y...
During the podcast, I referenced two books: Crazy Love by Francis Chan and Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. Have you given us an honest review yet? Click Here .
Can demons influence sermons? What are the doctrines of demons? Probably not what you imagined. Today we look at Paul's warnings to those who teach scripture. On the podcast, I mentioned that you could get a copy of my recent book, When a Good Church Goes Bad that includes a free audio series and workbook.
The vast majority of Christians are gravely misinformed about demons or the demonic realm. Jesus dealt with and taught extensively about dealing with demons as a regular part of Christian ministry. His followers continued this practice as a normal part of doing ministry in their generation. Jesus was mocked because a normal part of his ministry involved casting demons out of people. The religious leaders of his day, similar to those of our day, tried to belittle him as a crude attention-seeker c...
Ministers generally don’t talk about the demonic realm very much. Truth is, most prefer to ignore demons altogether because they are afraid their educated constituents or congregants will think they belong in the looney bin. I think most present-day ministers take a passive approach to the whole subject of demonology. We think that if we just ignore demons, they will ignore us. Paul tells us that we are not in a battle against other humans. In fact, if we get into a battle with other humans, we ...
In Luke 9:2, Jesus sent the twelve out to evangelize telling them to preach the gospel and heal the sick. Lest you think this was strictly a calling given only to the apostles, Luke 10:9 tells us he sent out 72 other followers with the same mission and command. There is a whole slew of books out about how to do things with the Dummy label. Writing for dummies; Car mechanics for dummies and so forth. The idea behind these best-selling books is to convince readers that with a little help, they too...
Pastors are called to the bedsides of people who are sick as a regular part of their ministry. Hospitals are opportunities for genuine ministry and leaders should not take this ministry lightly. There seems to be an absence of training for ministers about how to do hospital visitation. You are God’s representative to the person who is ill. While other professionals bring medical options, the family brings support and sympathy. You are the person tasked with bringing the Kingdom of God to bear on...
I’ve got to tell you that of all pastoral responsibilities, expectations, and duties, praying for the sick was my least favorite thing to do as a young pastor. Theologically, my beliefs about healing were all over the map. The New Testament, on the other hand, is pretty aggressive on the subject. Jesus and his followers throughout Acts of the Apostles prayed for the sick and experienced extraordinary results. When I look around today, there is little evidence of physical healing taking place in ...
What is a loser’s limp? It is any excuse you use currently to avoid conflict. Perhaps you need to have a discussion with your church board about your salary. Perhaps there is a deacon who is failing to fulfill their responsibilities. Maybe it is a member of your worship team who is engaging in questionable behavior. Many times, We often hope that the problem will just solve itself. Essentially and perhaps unknowingly, we develop a loser’s limp. During the podcast, I share some clear steps to ove...
What is something that just about every minister knows is absolutely essential but finds 100 ways not to do? That is the subject of today's show. Pastors want to do it but don’t. Why is that? 90% of churches throughout the world average out at 85 members. Some build a theology out of this phenomenon and actually teach that God wants small churches. We pastors do church work really well. We preach and teach. Pastors administrate and make decisions, counsel, strategize and do a hundred other thing...
Every church leader pastors or shepherds the people of God. We call church leaders ministers, “reverend,” “priest” and “bishop,” but the most common title of identification is pastor . As you already know, the term pastor is used only once in the New Testament. We find it in Ephesians 4:11-16. Pastor is listed among 5 ministry gifts Jesus imparted to his church after the resurrection. They are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. What if you really struggle with loving people ...
People in your church swing a hammer, go to executive meetings or manage children during the bulk of their working hours. They create houses, fix problems or train children. What do you do? Your assigned task is to communicate with God and then tell people what you’ve heard. People actually get up on their day off, come to our facility, sing a few songs and then settle in to see what God said to you. On top of that, they donate money to ensure you will do it again week after week after week. Wit...
Here are 4 easy tweaks to help you create better teaching and preaching
One of the titles given to Christ in Isaiah chapter nine is Wonderful Counselor. What sort of counsel do you give? Does counseling work, and is it an effective use of your time? Whether it works or not depends largely on two factors. First, the ground rules for the session. Second, the willingness of the counselee to be accountable. Some of Jesus’s counsel was very short and oftentimes abrupt. Telling a potential follower, “let the dead bury the dead” is pretty direct. During the podcast, we exa...
At first glance, it seems kind of absurd to think of accountability in a negative way, but there are pitfalls that can limit your effectiveness as a church leader. Accountability is high on the priority list of Heaven. Jesus warned his followers that every word spoken on earth would be recorded and accountable on the Day of Judgment. Sometimes, it becomes necessary for the good for the church to remove a pastor who refuses to answer questions over a period of time about things that matter to the...
It is very easy to measure ministry success by the numbers. Membership increases by 20% each year, you are successful. If they decline, you are not. Biblically these measuring sticks are completely inaccurate. According to John’s gospel, Jesus had a congregation of 5012 which everyone deemed successful. He preached one sermon and 5000 left. Churches today that are business, as usual, will be out of business tomorrow. Howard Johnsons became satisfied with its style, its menus its service and its ...
I participate in a weekly meeting of pastors in our region called, Gatekeepers. Every week, we get together for a no agenda meeting incorporating sharing, prayer and mutual encouragement. One of the pastors this past week spoke about a sermon he preached recently on the subject finishing well. It is difficult to find pastors or leaders who make it to sixty and are still filled with passion and drive to do ministry. If you take an honest look around you, it is difficult to find older ministers wh...
Diet is Latin for the general assembly of Worms, a city in Germany. In 1521, Martin Luther, (a Catholic priest and professor of moral theology at the University of Wittenberg) was called to give account. His bold and thoroughly unexpected stand against corruption in the church offended the hierarchy at the highest levels. Few of us grapple with issues that will impact the future of the world. Still, we grapple with issues that threaten the purity, direction, and effectiveness of our own churches...
