Why Use an “In-House” Church Membership Directory?
By Deepak Reju | 06.12.2014We have a “in-house” church data base that our staff manages so that we can regularly and often reproduce a church membership directory. While I’m sure there are a lot … keep reading…
How to Show Compassion and Avoid Pastoral Burnout
By Deepak Reju | 06.12.2014How can pastors avoid burning out as they compassionately care for their people? Here are thirteen suggestions to consider: You are not the Lord. The most dangerous thing about counseling is … keep reading…
Sermon Illustrations
By Thabiti Anyabwile | 06.12.2014Dee, thanks for both your question about illustrations and for your thoughtful response to Mike about how not to get burned out from giving counsel to the people. I found that … keep reading…
In Defense of Preaching Models
By Aaron Menikoff | 06.12.2014I think we need to be careful. As I read Scripture, I’m struck by a couple things that are pertinent to this topic. First, we should expect that a disciple … keep reading…
The Remarkable Ordinariness of Pastoral Ministry
By Mike McKinley | 06.12.2014When I started out as a pastor, I wanted our church to reach the lost. I hoped to see our ranks stuffed full of people who had been graciously called … keep reading…
One Thing I Remember from Preaching Class
By Kevin DeYoung | 06.12.2014This has helped me. I pass it along to any young preachers out there looking for free advice. When you come to a passage there are four things you can … keep reading…
Theological Pop-a-Lock
By Greg Gilbert | 06.11.2014Mark Dever and I are considering, someday, writing a book together about preaching. In one of the sections of this imagined book, there would be a transcript of one or … keep reading…
A. T. Robertson, the Book of James, and Dudes with Ambition
By Owen Strachan | 06.11.2014If you have not picked up Greg Wills’s recent The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1859-2009 (Oxford, 2009), you owe it to yourself to do so. It’s a huge book, it is an … keep reading…
The Scariest Word in Pastoral Ministry
By Mike McKinley | 06.11.2014Bifurcation. When I was in seminary, Diane Langberg came and spoke to one of our classes. In addition to counseling victims of all kinds of horrific abuse around the world, Dr. Langberg … keep reading…
The Value of a Fraternal
By Mike Gilbart-Smith | 06.11.2014Off the back of the conversations about accountability, one of the issues that I think many pastors face is that they just don’t know others well enough to have such … keep reading…
Thinking Humbly About Changing the World
By Greg Gilbert | 06.11.2014I read James Davison Hunter’s book To Change the World several weeks ago. On the whole, I found it to be a really helpful contribution to the discussion about how Christians should … keep reading…
What Members Are Asking about Elders
By Aaron Menikoff | 06.11.2014If you are reading this blog post, you may very well be at a church that is already led by a plurality elders. You may, like me, be at a … keep reading…
Clearly Uncomfortable with Contextualization
By Ed Roberts | 06.11.2014Some people are really uncomfortable with contextualization, even though we all do it and benefit from it all the time. What is it, anyway?…well here’s one definition…Contextualization is “the … keep reading…
Critical Contextualization and Culturally Prevalent and Deep-rooted Sins
By Ed Roberts | 06.11.2014Appropriate or critical contextualization means that the Word of God is our controlling authority and that: -we do not accept another’s culture uncritically-the Word is our touchstone. -we do … keep reading…
Church Disciplines 575 Members
By Jonathan Leeman | 06.11.2014I recently asked David King, who is a pastor in Tennessee, about his church’s work of cleaning up their membership roles.
