Tag: Pastor

Ministry Moments

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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

Ministry Moments

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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.

Ministry Moments

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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

Ministry Moments

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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

Ministry Moments

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Here are some helpful posts on preaching:

The Greatest Preachers – Wayne Gruden (via Jared Wilson)
According to Grudem’s definition, we can all be great preachers! Indeed we must be.

Preaching Texts You Do Not Understand – Carl Trueman (via Reformation 21)
We’ve all been there. Here are some helpful thoughts.

Pastors, What You Preach Is Already Decided – Charles Spurgeon (via Desiring God)
We can’t make it up out of our own heads.

The Most Transformational Word – Paul Tripp (via Gospel Coalition)
We must preach grace to ourselves.

Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Ministry Moments

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Here are some helpful posts for pastors related to prayer:

Tim Kerr has a series of posts on interceding for our congregations – Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Michael McKinley suggest 8 ways to pray during our sermon preparation. I made a copy to use as I work on my own sermons.

Finally, Michael McKinley also gives six helpful ways to help people pray.

A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, and the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more.
– John Owen

Ministry Moments

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Today, I am starting a new weekly feature.  My plan is to feature some good posts on pastoral ministry each Monday.  It will be similar to Passion Points, except the posts included in Ministry Moments will be primarily for pastors.  I was playing around with a second blog for pastors, but I really don’t have time to write two blogs, so I’m just going to include a pastoral ministry category in this one.  I suspect most of the readers of this blog are not pastors, and if that is you, you can just slide past this one each week.  For the pastors, here are some good posts to consider:

On Constantly Taking Your Church’s Temperature – Jared Wilson
That voice in your head that keeps rehearsing the disappointments and flaws of your church is not from the Lord.

Christian Leader, Are You Forgetting Something – Sam Crabtree
God is not given the praise he deserves when we ignore or deny the work he is doing in people.

The Subtle Art of Sabotaging a Pastor – Jared Wilson
How the devil might (and often does) tempt a pastor….

Spiritual leadership is knowing where God wants people to be
and taking the initiative to use God’s methods to get them there
in reliance on God’s power.
– John Piper

Ministry Moments

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Last week I mentioned that Friday posts would focus on church and ministry.  Today begins the first of a new monthly feature called Ministry Moments.  Essentially, these are recommended readings from around the web on the topic of ministry.  While, the focus is primarily on full-time ministry, I suspect many of the posts could be read profitably by anyone serving in the local church.

Worship
10 Questions To Ask of Sunday Worship – Trevin Wax

Prayer
An Impulse You Should Never Ignore – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Preaching
A Preacher’s Decalogue – Sinclair Ferguson
Killing Moralism – Joe Thorn

Personal Shepherding
How Do You Care For A 90 Year Old Man About To Become A Widower – Brian Croft
What Lessons Have I Learned From Shepherding a 106 Year Old Widow In My Church – Brian Croft

Pastor’s Life
Pastoral Ministry Is War – Paul Tripp
Ministry: Whose Kingdom – Paul Tripp
The Problem of Shifting Treasure – Paul Tripp
We’re Pastors and We’re Anxious – Paul Tripp
Give Thanks For Your Church – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Depression and the Ministry: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five – Gospel Coalition