Special Vacation Edition: Journey’s Favorite European Vacations – Part I
Our family of four was privileged to serve as missionaries to France and Belgium for many years. That meant that every one of our vacations was a European vacation. From our home south of Brussels, we could be in London before lunch, the Swiss border in five hours, Paris in three hours, Amsterdam in two hours – all by car. When we lived in Tours, France we could be almost anywhere in France within just...
“The Covers Are Too Far Apart!”
I love to visit bookstores. Like my wife loves good chocolate, I love good bookstores. I walk in the door and my pulse quickens, my fingers twitch, and my eyes flicker like I’ve had ten Italian espressos. This is especially true of used book stores where X marks the spot for hidden treasure just waiting to be discovered. X definitely marks the spot in one of my favorite places in the world: the tiny village...
For Such a Time As This
Esther was an orphan. She had never known her homeland, only life in exile. Her nation had been conquered and its people carried off. She lived as a third-culture citizen: she was from neither here nor from there. Officially, she and her people were free to return home, but life in a foreign land was all they had ever known, so there they had stayed. All of this could have been acceptable to Esther and...
The List
Years ago pastors were expected to handle FIVE primary tasks, but studies today reveal that the number has swelled to SIXTEEN. This increase in primary responsibilities has at least TEN effects on pastors and churches: 1. The sheer number of tasks means the pastor does each task with less excellence and effectiveness; 50% of pastors admit they are unable to meet the current demands of their job; 2. The pastor has to labor longer hours...
Choosing the Right Pastoral Coach
At Journey Pastoral Coaching, we learn as much as those whom we coach. One of the essential things we've learned is that the optimum coaching experience takes place with someone you have personally known for a significant amount of time. This is true because the key factor of a meaningful coaching experience is a relationship of trust. Nothing else is even a close second. Building this relationship with a coach can take time, and, sadly,...
This Memorial Day: Honor to Whom Honor is Due
What is a society without a heroic dimension? Jean Baudrillard Happy Memorial Day. Today we remember - and we honor - the sacrifices of our soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and guardsmen, sacrifices made to keep us free and to free the victims of tyranny around the world. I can't think of this day without thinking of my grandfather, an American G.I. who was wounded in Nancy, France during the big push to Berlin in World War II;...
What Staff Pastors Need From Their Lead Pastors Part II: In Their Own Words
In my most recent blog on the subject of pastoral staffs, I listed 10 things that staff pastors hope to receive from their lead pastors. To read the full piece, click here, but those ten “treasures” are: 1. Be a pastor who leads, not a leader who pastors. 2. Respect: See me not as an employee, but as a minister. 3. Membership: Allow me to be a member of your pastoral leadership...
What Staff Pastors Need From Their Lead Pastors
Based on our conversations and research with pastors across America, here’s what staff pastors of all stripes say they need from their lead pastors. Pastor, why not bookmark this blog on your phone and then plan to take each staff member out for coffee and a conversation that will not only build a world class staff, but world class staff relationships. 1. Be a pastor who leads, not a leader who pastors. Be a...
It’s Time to Put God In His Place
Hear me out. It's time you and I put God in His place. It’s time we take him out of our self-sized, small-faith boxes and let Him be in our lives daily exactly who He is eternally and infinitely: it’s time to put God in His place in our lives. Consider the theology – the teaching about God’s person – contained in the sermon you preached (or heard) last Sunday. Did it faithfully, clearly -...© [2015] — Journey Pastoral Coaching