Category Archives: pastor
Our Hearts Plead for Good Pastors
Within issues of vulnerability, there are usually great problems. These are tender areas: Alcoholism, drug abuse, mental illnesses, homosexuality, sex addiction, porn and chronic depression are all substantial issues of pain and conflict. Strugglers are very often intimidated by leadership in the Church. It seems all we can see is a position of authority, and [...]
Eldership is Crucial!
Our elders shelter us I’ve been asked to put down in print the message I shared when Pastor Dennis McNally was here in Homer, Alaska several weeks ago. So here it is, in a nut-shell. I first preached these concepts in Sheffield, England. Sheffield is good place, but it has a reputation throughout the UK. For [...]
Sophisticated Sheep
”Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. “What a huge [...]
Words of Hope for a Baby Born Blind
Words of Hope for a Baby Born Blind Dear John and Diane, Last night, as I prayed with Noel, you were heavy on my mind. I said, “Lord, O Lord, please let me be a pastor who preaches and leads and loves in a way that makes the impossibilities of life possible for your people [...]
The One Percent Solution
“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.” [...]
Churches Respond to Mental Illness
by Ken Camp, Associated Baptist Press — Living with depression — or any other form of mental illness — is like viewing life “through a glass darkly,” according to Jessy Grondin, a student in Vanderbilt University’s Divinity School. “It distorts how you see things.” Like one in four Americans, Grondin wrestles with mental illness, having [...]
The Church Collects Sinners
This following excerpt is from the devotional book, “Living the Message,” by Eugene H. Peterson. This pastor-professor is probably the person I want to grow up to be like; he has a gentleness and eloquence that is seldom seen–and highly respected. Author of many books, his translation of the Bible, titled “The Message” is a [...]
The Fishbowl and Your Pastor
Having been a senior pastor for three years, and in full-time ministry 20+ years, I have had to adjust to the constant surveillance of my life and my families. To be so visible, was wearying and maybe even demeaning at times. I was constantly “center-stage.” It’s funny but these two ingredients– the fishbowl and my Pastor’s [...]