Recently, during a public conversation with SBC 1st VP, Dr. Lee Brand, I had the opportunity to share what I think pastors in rural churches can do in the current tumult of the Southern Baptist Convention. I thought I would share these thoughts in writing as an encouragement to pastors in situations similar to my … Read more
Is church membership a manmade idea or is it really biblical? In this short post, we’ll consider just one text. Peter told pastors in his first epistle to “shepherd the flock of God that is *among you*.” (1 Peter 5:2) There is a lot there we could unpack but let me make one observation. Either … Read more
Boy. Guess I sort of tipped my hand right there in the title, didn’t I? I mean, unless you stumbled upon this post because you thought I was about to make the case that Bigfoot really does exist. Well, I’m not. He doesn’t. Neither does the Loch Ness Monster. And neither do pastorless Christians. The … Read more
The following is an excerpt from Before the Throne: Reflections on God’s Holiness. You can go here for ordering information. Lewis Allen both encourages and challenges pastors when he writes, Preachers have a single calling, to express who and what God is. This is our mandate, to declare what God has revealed about himself. What … Read more
The date was October 10, 2010, at a Southern Baptist Church in a community of about 3,500 people. At 24 years old I accepted my first call to pastor. That’s quite a bit older than some (think Charles Spurgeon!). But not quite as old as maybe some of you reading this. I made it 12 … Read more
So you are interested in pastoring, eh? Paul says you desire a noble task (1 Tim. 3:1). And I think many of the tasks involved in pastoral ministry can be seen as noble from other believers on the outside looking in. After all, you get to stand on a platform week in and week out … Read more