ShepherdLeader.com

I grew up on a farm with my brothers, parents, great-grandfather and I living in one house and grandparents in another. Neither my grandmother nor my father had ever lived anywhere else. To my young mind, this home carried a deep sense of stability - almost permanence. Our house, farm buildings - an...

I appreciate Bob’s call for balance between adaptability and intentionality. In my growth as a pastor, I have learned to be less adaptable in some ways (trying to accommodate every suggestion posed at youth group meetings, for example, is a recipe for chaos!). At this point, my skills in strategic...

Like Tim, I find it a greater challenge to “think flock� than to care for individual sheep. When tending particular sheep, I can easily take a responsive stance: listening and addressing whatever agenda presents itself. Although these personal conversations require me to give leadership to some ...

I appreciate the emphasis in the day’s reading (and in the web postings) on the organic relationship between spiritual productivity and the activity of the Holy Spirit as we abide in Christ. As I read the first few pages of this chapter, I began feeling increasing internal pressure to ratchet up m...

I am blessed to serve a congregation with many goats! On the masthead on our Sunday bulletin, there is a designation “Pastor� where my name is listed and another line that reads “Minister – All members.� There is an expectation in the church that indigenous leaders will carry a significant...

As a child on our family dairy farm, I was sometimes puzzled by the well-worn paths that our cows trod through the pasture. Although they had plenty of space to forge other routes, the cows usually stuck to their habitual paths on their way to and from the barn. Once in the field to graze, they spre...

Our family depends on a woodstove for most of our home heating. A few autumns ago, we lit the first fire of the season. When smoke began to fill our living room, we knew that a bird nest was blocking the top of our chimney. We removed it and relit a fire. We did this a number of times over the next ...

The work of a shepherd is never done – whether it is in the home or in the church! I am grateful for the reminder that leading requires both “hard work� and “letting go.� At times I am tempted to work as if everything depended on me; other times I am tempted to “let go� prematurely. It...

What gives us authority to bear the rod? At a very basic level, it is embedded in our call as shepherd. Still, in a culture that is wary of authority, I think it is helpful to understand a connection between chapters 23 ( The rod ) and 24 ( A living sacrifice ). We may bear the rod by virtue of our ...

The gate to the flock of God needs guarding as much as it ever has. At the same time, I think it is important to distinguish the unique role of Jesus as the Gate who provides access (salvation!) to the pasture of God – and the derivative role of under-shepherds who work with the Good Shepherd to o...

This chapter unsettles me for a few reasons: 1. I need to be reminded that any attempt to domesticate the Lion of Heaven is futile and foolhardy. 2. If faced with a whole community that were utterly corrupt, my intercession for mercy on their behalf would be feeble compared to that of Abraham and Mo...

Wolves indeed prowl at the edge of every community. I understand that better now than when I first began pastoral ministry. I do not recall any seminary courses that addressed the challenge of predators! When our small church began to develop a “Safe Church Policy� several years ago, some member...

I am deeply moved by the example of Rabbi Leo Baeck – who voluntarily admitted himself into a concentration camp during the Holocaust to help his fellow Jews. What a stellar example of the courageous, protective leadership that Jesus calls us to embrace! I find it curious that, like Jesus, the rab...

The reading for this day leaves me feeling both convicted and conflicted. Like Said, I easily become distracted from my flock-tending responsibilities – and I need to hear words like, “Do not come home without them.� Ready to receive the grace of a welcome into the Father’s house, I am all t...

I am challenged by Mrs. Aref’s relentless search for her lost sheep. She was successful because of her persistence, presence and word. I am particularly impressed by the way that her lost ewe was able to recognize her voice – an illustration of the truth which Jesus emphasizes in John 10: the sh...