Prayer is supposed to be a big part of our role as pastors (see Acts 6:4). So here are some good posts related to prayer:
9 Reasons Why Church Leaders Struggle With Prayer – Thom Rainer
13 Thoughts about Pastoral Prayers – pastors.com
Some Practical Help for Leading a Prayer Meeting – Erik Raymond
Pastors, Ask for Prayer – Kevin DeYoung
Here are some helpful posts on preaching:
6 Bullet Points on Preaching – Tim Challies
The Apostle Paul had a lot to say about preaching, but I think the majority of it can be grouped under six main headings or ideas. You could, of course, extract specific teaching points from each one, but I think there’s value in looking at them in a broad sense. Here is what Paul says about the preaching of God’s Word…
3 Questions To Ask of Your Sermon – Trevin Wax
The more I’ve thought about these questions, the more I am convinced that pastors ought to ask these questions of every sermon they preach. Teachers ought to ask these questions of every lesson they prepare. The questions are a helpful guide to keeping Christ as the focus of our ministry.
Preaching That Cuts to the Heart – Tim Keller (via Gospel Coalition)
Put another way, you should preach the truth, not just your opinion; you should preach the good news, not just good advice; and you should preach to make the truth real to the heart, not just clear to the mind.
Here are some challenging posts that I’ve been saving by Paul Tripp. Though written for pastors, they would be helpful for anyone. I’ve included excerpts; follow each link for the whole post.
Lost the Awe
I am convinced that many of us live and do ministry day after day without any awe whatsoever. We live days, maybe even weeks, without wonder and amazement even in gospel ministry. What should stun us doesn’t stun us any more. What should leave us in silent, amazed worship has become so familiar it barely gets our attention in clutter of all the other things in ministry that command our attention. We walk through our daily ministries without an overwhelming sense of gratitude. We don’t notice the glory displayed all around us that points us to the one glory that is truly glorious: the glory of God.
If You Think You’ve Arrived
If you think you have arrived, you prepare material from above for people who sadly still need what you no longer need. Are you desperately hungry for the truths that you regularly prepare to expound to others?
If You Still Think You’ve Arrived
Communion with Christ is fueled by humility. Communion with Christ is fueled by sadness and celebration. Communion with Christ is propelled by an accurate sense of who you are, what you need, and a celebration of the One who gives it. Awareness of sin and the promise of salvation daily drives you to Christ, not to rush through a passage in his Word and say a quick prayer, but to sit at his feet and grieve your sin and give praise for the grace that meets you in it. Assessments of arrival crush personal worship.
No Pastor Is Greater Than His Master
As you consider these diagnostic questions, remember the grace that frees you to look at yourself and your ministry with humility and honesty.
Here are two good posts on the fulfilling the Great Commission, plus two posts on leading funerals:
5 Ways Established Churches Should Think Like Plants – Brandon Levering (via The Gospel Coalition) An experienced friend once commented that planting a church is like trying to build a boat from scratch . . . when you’re already in the water. It’s not just all hands on deck—you don’t even have the deck yet to lay hands on. The context of urgency and camaraderie that comes from working so closely together at those early stages often creates a more pervasive culture of service in a church plant.
The Great Commission Is Bigger Than Your Church – Bobby Jamieson (via 9 Marks)
Because each of our churches is engaged in a mission that is bigger than any of them, we should proactively partner with other churches in order to fulfill it.
7 Tips for Preaching a Stranger’s Funeral – Dustin Neeley (via The Gospel Coalition)
Since I am doing ministry in a fallen world, this won’t be my last funeral. It won’t be yours, either, so stay prepared. Your next call could come this afternoon. Are you ready?
How To Lead an Unbeliever’s Funeral – Jared Wilson (via The Gospel Coalition)
No one has ever asked me, “Is my loved one in heaven?” because they all assume he or she is. In these moments I remind myself that I am an invited guest to this family’s mourning. It is better to speak my piece about the true gospel and rely on the Spirit to work the logic internally against mourners’ assumptions than to directly and personally contradict with a “Well, actually” to people who are sorting out their grief and trying to offer comfort.
Here are some good posts for pastors:
It’s A Strange Thing Being A Pastor – Julian Freeman
Ultimately we labour and long for results that we can never achieve. Being a pastor is a lifelong journey to a place of utter dependence. This is strange work, being a pastor. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
7 Ways I Want To Improve As A Pastor – Ron Edmondson
Pray more fervently – I believe in prayer. I want to be a person of prayer.
People Want A Pastor – Interview by Colllin Hansen
What are the costs of bigger and better church programs for every stage of life? What is the pastor’s role in relation to the members?
3 Reflections on Leading Your Family Well – Dustin Neeley
At our house, we call them “Monday Funday.” It is the day we play outside, eat Chinese food at a mall, and don’t talk about the church. Our church knows about “Monday Funday” because I mention it in sermons, tweet about it, schedule around it, and unless someone is bleeding out in their kitchen, I do my best not to violate it.
Here are some good posts for the pastor’s personal life:
6 Traits of a Pastor in Awe of God – Paul Tripp (via The Gospel Coalition)
What traits does the awe of God produce in the heart of a pastor that are vital for an effective, God-honoring, and productive ministry? Here is a list of six.
Why Church Leaders Should Always Be Full To Overflowing – Trevin Wax
You will not be able to extemporize good thinking unless you have been in the habit of thinking and feeding your mind with abundant and nourishing food. – Charles Spurgeon
How To Pull Out of the Burnout Spiral – Interview with Bob Osborne (via The Gospel Coalition) When I find myself heading for burnout, more often than not I’ve lost the rhythms of rest and repentance and start to chase my idols. I take my sights off of Christ and become self-focused – simply put, I try to take God’s place on the throne.
The labour of the Christian ministry is well performed in exact proportion
to the vigour of our renewed nature.
– Charles Spurgeon
Recently White Horse Inn and The Gospel Coalition ran a series of posts on youth ministry which are well worth your consideration:
Generation Me and Youth Ministry Today: Part One – White Horse Inn
And so it has become increasingly easy for one to go from the nursery to children’s church to youth group and on to college ministry without having actually belonged to the local church. Young people may still drive with their family to the church campus, but from the parking lot they scatter to their own target-marketed groups. For many, the church is more a cafeteria of ministry offerings than a communion of saints.
Generation Me and Youth Ministry Today: Part Two – White Horse Inn
What we believe, why believe it, and why it matters for our lives: these are always the coordinates that we have to keep in mind together especially as people enter emerging adulthood.
A Brief History of Youth Ministry – Dave Wright (via The Gospel Coalition)
To get an idea of where we have come from, let’s turn back the clock more than a half century. Space here only allows the broadest overview….
MTD: Not Just a Problem with Youth Ministry – Brian Cosby (via The Gospel Coalition)
That a youth ministry “teaches the Bible” does not necessarily mean it teaches the gospel. Many mistake the gospel with moralism—being a good person, reading your Bible, or opening the door for the elderly in order to earn God’s favor. But the gospel is altogether different.
Youth Ministry’s Tendency Toward Legalism – Cameron Cole (via The Gospel Coalition)
Based on my experience in youth ministry, if I had to identify the greatest theological problem in the field, it would be the absence of the gospel in teaching on sanctification.
Youth Need the Church, and the Church Needs Youth – Mark Howard (via The Gospel Coalition) My prayer is that as we minister to a generation starving for meaning, we won’t lose sight of the reality that what these youth need is Jesus, and that he is most fully offered within the community of the church, of which they are a vital part.
Why We Need Youth Ministry – Paul Martin (via The Gospel Coalition)
Jesus modeled one of the best practices for the church. His discipleship did not depend on the latest book, the newest game, or the best icebreaker. Instead, his model relied on the spiritual health of the leader, and his willingness to spend time investing himself, his love, and his truth in them.
Two-Dimensional Youth Ministry – Dave Wright (via The Gospel Coalition)
Several years ago, in trying to simplify my teaching on youth ministry, I boiled it down to two dimensions: content and context.
Here are some good posts on preaching:
Sermon Prep: A Week In One Life – Stephen Um (via The Gospel Coalition)
A glimpse of what my weekly approach looks like, followed by some suggestions for continual growth in our preaching.
Expressing Beautiful Truth In One’s Preaching – Trevin Wax
Too often we preachers spend all our time making sure we’ve understood the meaning of the text and can communicate it faithfully. Precious little time is spent thinking about how we can communicate that meaning beautifully.
A Word To Those Who Preach The Word – R. Kent Hughes (via Tim Challies)
There is nothing quite like it—the Holy Spirit filling one’s sails, the sense of his pleasure, and the awareness that something is happening among one’s hearers.
Do You Expect A Response To The Preaching of the Gospel? – Roland Allen (via Justin Taylor)
To preach the Gospel requires that the preacher should believe that he is sent to those whom he is addressing at the moment, because God has among them those whom He is at the moment calling: it requires that the speaker should expect a response.
Here are some good posts for a pastor’s personal life:
Why Church Leaders Should Always Be Full To Overflowing – Trevin Wax
Too many of us settle for the “teaching” aspect of ministry without having passed through the “study” and “obey” parts.
Lost the Awe – Paul Tripp (via Gospel Coalition)
Sins robs that sense of divine wonder meant to shape every person’s life and every pastor’s ministry.
How To Pull Out of the Burnout Spiral – Collin Hansen interviewing Bob Osborne (via Gospel Coalition)
When I find myself heading for burnout, more often than not I’ve lost the rhythms of rest and repentance and start to chase my idols. I take my sights off of Christ and become self-focused—simply put, I try to take God’s place on the throne.
In an effort to get the work of the Lord done,
we often lose contact with the Lord of the work.
— A.W. Tozer
Here are some encouraging posts for pastors of smaller churches:
The Kingdom of God in the Middle of Nowhere – Trevin Wax
Thank God for Smaller Churches and Their Leaders – Thom Rainer
Rural Ministry Is Not Second Rate – Jared Wilson
I’d love for more young guys to nail Starbucks and the corner pub and shopping malls and public transportation to the cross and go plant and pastor where you’re more likely to hear a cow moo than a car honk. Country folk are real folk.
And they need the gospel too.
– Jared Wilson
Brian J. Mikul 