Recently, I heard someone say that Christian leaders often “appear out of nowhere.” Like a magician waving a wand, repeating the magic word, “abracadabra,” and pulling rabbits out of a hat, God pulls Christian leaders out of the air, magically equips them, and then places them. The speaker’s point of reference was Joshua and his […]
Two Questions . . . Studies of the past all too reliably predict that many young ministers of the Gospel gave up this Tuesday, August 1, 2017: They walked away from the ministry. Many of them even walked away from the church itself. How many more will walk away Wednesday, August 2, 2017, and in […]
Over the past year, my email inbox has included far too many articles with headlines like these: Epidemic: Another Pastor Burned Out and Quit Last Sunday Pastoral Stress and Burnout Why Pastors Walk Away The Secret Pain of Pastors I could go on and on. We can debate the numbers, but it’s not the numbers […]
“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” II Timothy 2.2 Pastoring is passed down. From one life to another, pastoring is passed down. To be sure, pastoring is a calling. It is Jesus, the Head and Good Shepherd […]
I was privileged to formally study for the ministry in two schools: a Bible College and a seminary. Both of these schools gave me a quality education for life in ministry, specifically, pastoral ministry. Given the opportunity to go back and attend or not attend each one, I most certainly would choose to do so […]
Over the past year, I’ve had far more, shall we say, “conversations” with health professionals than I would like. I’ve had more examinations, tests, blood work, etc than I ever thought possible. Doctors have worked hard for my health, not only endeavoring to find and fix my problems, but to help me build well and […]
In Part I of Journey’s blog post on Self-Coaching, we briefly considered David’s habit of self-coaching, a discipline that sustained him through the pressures of leadership, issues like: his own internal stress; gossip against his person and leadership; impending danger; the attacks of the people he led; the possible breakup of the community. I […]
I Samuel 30.6 records an incident in the life of David that speaks to every Christian leader: “David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” Who […]
He disappeared. He just disappeared. For several months he and I had been walking together in a pastoral coaching relationship. Pastoral coaching is based and built on relationship and trust: when these two intangibles are present and active, tangible results are present and active – anything is possible. But when these two are not present […]
THE FAILURE TO THRIVE In their book, “Among Friends,” James Hinkle and Tim Woodroof cite a 1945 study conducted by social scientist, René Spitz. The study tracked the development of 88 healthy children (1 to 2 ½ years of age) who had recently been separated from their families and institutionalized in a group home. When […]
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