9Marks Explained : A Letter From Mark Dever

Michael McKinley

Blog posts by Michael McKinley:

Six Ways to Help People Pray

By Michael McKinley | 2.8.2012

Pretty much everyone would agree that prayer is an important part of the Christian life.  And pretty much everyone would agree that most Christians don’t pray as much or as well as they could.  Here are six ways you as a pastor can help your people become more faithful and enthusiastic in their prayer life:

1. Set aside a lot of time in your gatherings to pray.

Elders, Protect Your Pastor

By Michael McKinley | 2.1.2012

Last Spring, Thabiti shared some statistics about pastors compiled by the Schaeffer Institute. These numbers emerged from research done from 1989-2006, and my guess is that things have gotten worse, not better, since then. The one that struck me most in the report was the fact that 1,700 pastors left the ministry every month.  That number is astounding to me. 

How Can Service Efforts Help a Church to Introduce People to Jesus?

By Michael McKinley | 1.27.2012

 

This article is simultaneously posted at leadershipjournal.net

There's a lot of discussion out there about how a church's service efforts fits with its mission to spread the gospel.  But in my experience, there are two simple ways that a congregation's acts of mercy can help with its gospel witness:

•       First, our deeds of mercy can create opportunities to share the gospel.

Marks of a Real Minister Audio

By Michael McKinley | 1.17.2012

On January 8th, Mark Dever preached at the installation our of church's new associate pastor, Hunter Powell.

 
Mark's sermon on I Corinthians 4, entitled "The Marks of a Real Minister", was very helpful.  It renewed my zeal for the ministry and it's well worth your time if you could use some encouragement!

God Accepts Even Your Mediocre Sermons

By Michael McKinley | 1.9.2012

I recently heard Phil Ryken talking about preaching.  He told a group of ministers that as long as he had been faithful, he didn’t spend a lot of time worrying about whether or not it subjectively felt like his sermon had gone well.

He pointed to the Westminster Larger Catechism, question 55:

Q: How does Christ make intercession?

Content in the Middle of the River Jordan

By Michael McKinley | 1.6.2012

In The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs explains why ministers and other people in positions of authority sometimes have to stand in a place of (presumably, spiritual) danger.  He also notes that this should make people who do not occupy positions of authority happy for their situation! 

Speaking of the Israelites crossing the Jordan in Joshua 4, he writes:

The Christmas Day Services That Were (or weren't)

By Michael McKinley | 12.26.2011

There's an interesting article in The Washington Post today about churches services that were or were not held around the area yesterday.

Highlights:

The Imperatives of Suffering

By Michael McKinley | 12.19.2011

When Christians suffer, they need the indicatives, the facts of the gospel.  They need to know the promises of God, the benefits of being in Christ, and the reality of the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Those truths are our comfort when we are wounded, slandered, or tempted.

How to Get Repentance

By Michael McKinley | 12.17.2011

Charles Spurgeon, Repentance Unto Life:

I have never known a man who has thought upon, and taken a view of the cross, who has not found that it begat "repentance," and begat faith. We look at Jesus Christ if we would be saved, and we then say. "Amazing sacrifice! that Jesus thus died to save sinners."

The Value of Repetition

By Michael McKinley | 12.16.2011

I tend to underestimate the power of repetition.  Repetition can be a useful rhetorical device in a sermon, I often try to come up with a key phrase that summarizes the point of the sermon and repeat it several times in the course of a message.