Don’t Pull the Plug on Your Association Yet
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Many say the local Baptist association is dead. It may have once the bedrock of Baptist cooperation, but why submit yourself to another mind-numbing meeting about irrelevant committees? Let’s pull the plug. It is time to end the misery.
Not so fast! I just left a meeting in which I was developing a plan for a church plant in an area of our county that has no gospel witness. We strategized together about training pastors in the Philippines. We discussed church revitalization in Scotland.
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Closer than a Brother: Why I Belong to Acts 29
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Why do I belong to Acts 29? Three words: Tyler, Jason, and Chris. But I get 1000 words for this article, so I’ll explain.
On August 1, 2010 the New York Times posted an article that started like this:
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Rescued from Isolation: the Columbia Baptist Minister’s Association
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Pastor, I’ve got good news for you: you are not alone! By God’s grace there are other pastors just like you on the other side of town, and profound blessings await if you simply make a habit of meeting together for lunch.
That obvious truth is easy to overlook. I certainly ignored it for too long.
PASTORAL FELLOWSHIP: RELIEF FROM MY SELF-INFLICTED MISERY
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Coming Together: the Pastoral Fellowship for Practical Theology
By Brian Croft
Discouragement seems to be an epidemic among pastors today. This stems from many factors, one of the most common of which is loneliness. Pastors are notorious for isolating themselves in their churches and ministries. As a result, they are continually tempted to think they are the only ones who face the pressures and demands of the ministry.
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The Birth of a Gospel Partnership: Evangelium21
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What can a kingdom-minded pastor do to promote gospel growth beyond his own church?
This was a question I asked myself as I returned to my home country Germany to serve as pastor of a local church. After nearly ten years at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, which brought close exposure to the work of 9Marks, T4G, and the Gospel Coalition, I asked myself if some of what is happening on a large scale through these ministries could be brought to my local ministry context in Germany.
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Pray for Revival—In the Other Guy’s Church
By Andy Johnson
What if you spent years faithfully and earnestly praying for revival to come to your community, and then one day, seemingly out of the blue, God dramatically answered your prayers?
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Wanted: Apostolic Pastors
By Mark Dever
I was in a meeting not too long ago in which a pastor said that he was going to lead his church to be the first church in history that fulfilled the great commission.
That’s a breathtaking claim.
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The Advantages of Curriculum
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One of the perennial challenges a pastor faces regarding Sunday school is the question of what to teach. That question is relevant not just to the week-by-week routine, but also to the longer-term life of the church. But whatever the long-term strategy, the question of what to teach every week is an acute one.
My simple goal in this article is to point out the potential advantages of using curriculum in your church’s adult Sunday school.
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Five Things Every Group Leader Should Do
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Last Sunday I walked into a classroom in our church’s building. There were 75 empty chairs and a dry erase board at the front, and I had the same thought I do most every week: “Help me, Jesus.”
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Sunday School for Dummies: How to Use and Develop New Teachers
By Jamie Dunlop
Do you have more teaching slots for adult Sunday School programs than you have teachers to fill them? More than a few pastors would say so.
In my church, we have 850 members, quite a few of whom are excellent teachers. But to fill our schedule of adult Sunday school classes we need 72 teachers each year, assuming no one teaches more than one quarter each. It’s a stretch to find that many men who know their Bibles well and are capable teachers and have the time to devote to teaching a class.
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