pastor

How to Lose a Pastor in 365 Days

I have just celebrated my sixteenth anniversary as the pastor of Malvern Hill Baptist Church. Often, as I reflect on my time at Malvern Hill, I offer advice or suggestions to pastors who desire a long tenure. Today, however, I am writing to churches who might desire to keep a good pastor. For a man …

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Pastor: Feed, Lead, and Protect

What are a pastor’s core responsibilities? Several years ago, Thom Rainer, conducted a survey  with his 12 deacons to discover what the church they expected of their pastor. He admitted to being surprised at the findings of his survey: in order to meet the minimum expectations of his deacons, he needed to spend 114 hours per …

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7 Steps to Create an Enjoyable Work Environment

Churches can be stressful places to work. There are deadlines looming every week, offices are often filled with hurting people, and managing volunteers is regularly listed as one of the more difficult job classifications in the world. Combine that with the reality that most people do not have a very good idea what it is …

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Your Pastor Knows You Best

I don’t know Andy Schmidt, but I think I like him already.  here’s a quote from his recent article, Platt Wasn’t Enough For My Church: Are Piper, Chan, and Platt better preachers than me? Yes! By far! Can they preach the gospel better than me? Probably. However, those faithful men know and care for their …

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Monday Musings

What is the secret to John Piper’s success at Bethlehem Baptist Church? So I was called to Bethlehem Baptist and began in June 1980.  I was thirty-four years old, and there were three hundred older people and almost no youth.  What I have done is try to preach the whole counsel of God from his …

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Seven sure-fire ways to blow up a church

Dr. Chuck Lawless, Dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism at Southern Seminary, recently wrote a piece describing seven sure-fire ways to blow up a church.  They are listed below, but you will want to read his descriptions of these on the SBTS website here. Seven sure-fire ways to blow up a …

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A Passion For God

“You who are pastors, may God inflame in you a passion for his centrality and supremacy in your ministry, so that the people you love and serve will say, when you are dead and gone, ‘This man knew God.  This man loved God.  This man lived for the glory of God.  This man showed us …

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One of God’s Servants

It was 30 years ago today that God called a young New Testament professor by the name of John Piper to the pastorate.  In God’s providence, He has used this man to do amazing things for the Kingdom. How and when did God call you to serve Him as a pastor? Pray for yourself, John …

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The Pastor’s Duty

“As a pastor, I do not think it is my job to entertain you during the last days. It is not my calling to help you have chipper feelings while the whole creation groans. My job is to put the kind of ballast in the belly of your boat so that when these waves crash …

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Pastors Leaving?

I try to do more here than just post links to other blogs, but the issue of pastors leaving the ministry is a huge concern for me and should be for all Christians.  Of course, there is enough blame to go around, churches blame pastors for wanting to leave, pastors point to problem people.  Regardless …

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