Category Archives: Pastoral Ministry

Entries about pastoral care, leadership, and preaching.

Future Helps the Church

Posted on January 29, 2011 by admin

Patrick Dixon is a world-class futurist — one of the top 20 most influential business thinkers in the world. What he has to say about the future in this video should excite the church about our opportunities to impact the … Continue reading →

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Why Did Paul Write Romans?

Posted on January 12, 2011 by admin

For years, scholars have taught that Paul wrote Romans as his last and greatest theological exposition. In other words, the purpose was theological. “Wait a minute” asks David A. DeSilva in An Introduction to the New Testament. Maybe Paul wrote … Continue reading →

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Change while you can

Posted on January 4, 2011 by admin

The first part of Temporary Shepherds describes a prevalent problem for which Intentional Interim Ministry is a wonderful solution. The problem: churches are slow to change, and slower to admit what change they undergo. This results in churches that are … Continue reading →

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New Job!

Posted on January 1, 2011 by admin

I have a new part-time job. I’ve been hired as a consultant by the Pacific Conference of the Evangelical Church http://www.pacificecna.org/. They want me to develop a conference-wide Intentional Interim Ministry program for their conference of 50 churches. This is … Continue reading →

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Cross Preaching

Posted on December 31, 2010 by admin

“The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18, NLT).” The society in Corinth valued strength, beauty, and … Continue reading →

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Stewardship Conflict

Posted on December 6, 2010 by admin

Ken Sande picks up on the word “management” in the phrase Conflict Management and gives it a good Biblical twist. Since stewardship is managing what we control for another’s (God’s) benefit, conflict management is actually conflict stewardship. Imagine how empowered … Continue reading →

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Conflict’s Great Opportunties

Posted on December 6, 2010 by admin

In The Peacemaker, Ken Sande points out that when we find ourselves in conflict (a regular human event), we have the opportunity to do three important things. Glorify God by handling conflict his way, not our culture’s way. Serve Others … Continue reading →

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Summarizing The Strategically Small Church

Posted on November 9, 2010 by admin

I just finished The Strategically Small Church. I hope I get the opportunity to work through this book with a local congregation sometime. O’Brien says the title refers to a change of attitude from “we’re just a small church” to … Continue reading →

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What do we equip for?

Posted on November 9, 2010 by admin

As long as I can remember, many local congregations have made a priority of the Ephesians 4 ministry of “equipping the saints.” Unfortunately, most of us artificially restricted what we equipped people for. Mostly, we just equipped folks for doing … Continue reading →

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Deciding on Programs #2

Posted on November 7, 2010 by admin

I found a dynamite quote in The Strategically Small Church in my reading this afternoon. O’Brien quotes Jim Belcher, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church as saying, “synergy between the people’s heart and the pastor’s heart” produces church activity that changes … Continue reading →

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