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I'm reminded as I read Day 40 that my mother has always said if she wrote a book about her life she would title it, "No Continuing City." As missionaries, Mom and Dad never lived in one home more than five years consecutively until they retired. Even then, it took them three moves to settl...

Day 39 relates to two pastoral experiences from yesterday. Thursday is generally my study day. I retreat into my old office, now used as a Sunday School room, and concentrate on exegesis, commentaries, and sermon outline if not manuscript. That's the goal for Thursdays - to be at least 50-75% ready ...

It seems to me that this is another one of those areas where careful attention to balance is needed. Perhaps it is my own bias toward structure and planning (I hate "interruptions" and have to ask the Lord regularly for grace in this area) but this chapter seems to be written with a slant ...

In about three weeks I will celebrate 15 years at my current church. A significant amount of assumed authority comes with the territory. A frightening amount, actually. That is especially true in a polity where all lay leaders serve a maximum of three years and the Consistory (board) President serve...

We pastors like to think of ourselves as accountable only to God, but it's not true. As a pastor, I am accountable to my congregation. Not as individuals, but as a group (and through formal channels), they have a right to inspect and evaluate whether I am skilled, hardworking, and trustworthy. We fo...

Today is one of those readings that parallels right where I am in the ministry setting. As of next Sunday, we are changing our 8:30 service from a traditional worship format that has been in place for most of my 15-year pastorate to more of a blended service - at least on a 6-week trial basis. That ...

I sometimes wonder whether the concept of "breeding season" might not be a piece of the pastoral metaphor we should adopt. In my observation, churches seem either to treat every Sunday as having an evangelistic thrust (probably influenced by the Second Great Awakening) or to ignore evangel...

To piggyback on your observations, Jamie, perhaps the hidden danger of success is the delusion of divine validation. This is true of any success, but it is especially true when success is measured statistically. We tend to think, "The numbers are up, so I must be doing something right." Th...

The difficulty in pastoral leadership, at least at times, is discerning which indigenous leaders are helpful but occasionally annoying (goats, rams) and which are subversive and self-serving (wolves in sheep's clothing). Jamie, you're absolutely right that the discernment begins with a little honest...

I'm very blessed with a family-like team. The core parts of that team have now been together for about 7 years. We like each other and work well together. But it hasn't always been so. I inherited a team 15 years ago that had some significant dysfunction, some of which would not be exposed for a few...

"Ruts" should primarily be related to the faith that is common to believers in Jesus Christ across the years and around the world. Anything else that becomes a rut leads to the danger of permanently establishing my own or my generation's preference or even blind spots. How do we discern wh...

I remember where I was sitting the first time I read John 3:22-30. Or at least the first time the impact of what I was reading hit me. Every good Baptist (which I was at the time) can tell you all about John 3:1-21. But I was reading John's gospel as a college freshman, sitting on my dorm room bed w...

I remember where I was sitting the first time I read John 3:22-30. Or at least the first time the impact of what I was reading hit me. Every good Baptist (which I was at the time) can tell you all about John 3:1-21. But I was reading John's gospel as a college freshman, sitting on my dorm room bed w...

My favorite quote in Tim Laniak's first shepherding book, the biblical theology of pastoral leadership titled, "Shepherds After My Own Heart," is this: "the divine preference for human agency is amazingly resilient." Tim makes a reference to that quote in this introductory medita...

I did a quick Internet search on Andy Stanley's work week, and I think the number is 45. But that's still impressive for a megachurch senior pastor. My sense is that from the beginning Andy had a staff to work with - his name and background probably means that he never started "from scratch.&qu...