ShepherdLeader.com

Creating and enforcing rules is pastoral ministry. Confronting and removing abusive members from a congregation is as much shepherding as nurturing young and needy ones. This chapter encouraged me. In my first 8 (of 12) years at our current church, we had to do formal discipline on 8 (inactive) eld...

I've been at our church for 12 years. The first 10 were pretty brutal and bloody—going from a membership of 700 to our current (relatively happy and healthy) 300. During that time, I was often asked, "Why don't you leave and go somewhere easier?" I'd always reply, "Wolves are everyw...

"He considered himself among a third group he named the sheepdogs. 'I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf.'� This anecdote, quoting a Viet Nam vet was ringing through my head—BEFORE I got to it. Having spent the first four years of my adult life as a “sheepdog� (as a US Army...

"Can we report, like David, ‘I went after it’ ?� By personality, family background and training (especially as a Ranger), I tend to “go after it.� However, I can say that, in the church, that wasn’t completely true until after I’d been mauled by “lions� and left for dead. On t...

From Day 13... The staff represents these messages. A post-it note on the computer screen. A treat left in the lunch bag. A surprise party. A well-thought-out job review. A call on the anniversary of a loved one’s death. A passage of Scripture read at someone’s bedside. We all need tangible embl...

I've had the same thought re: my Session (elders). Their job is to "shepherd" the flock. Given that most meetings are "business-oriented," it would be interesting to see how they interacted with this material.

"The question left for us is, 'Do we direct the attention of those we serve to the Source or do we sometimes, in exasperation, use the "tricks" of skills and strategies to accomplish heaven’s work?' Paul resisted these urges, clinging nakedly to divine promise, 'so that your faith ...

Funny how we spend much of our time trying to avoid "the wilderness" and yet, biblically, it's where God does most of his work!