With 2024 only days old, here are my predictions for the Evangelical church in America this year. My predictions are not presented as prophetic (we have enough of those), but as my read on the future based on present trends. There is no “God told me” in the thoughts below so you can put away […]
CAST ADRIFT IN STORMY SEAS My wife, two young daughters (seven and four years of age), and I had just moved to the city of Tours, deep in the heart of the celebrated châteaux region of France. As first-term missionaries, we had left family, friends, and ministry in America to make a new life in […]
Every Christmas at Journey, we write at least one, if not two, articles on pastors’ Christmas wishes. Last year, we wrote two articles featuring the Christmas wishes of pastors throughout the centuries. You can read those here (Part One) and here (Part Two). Because Journey’s ministry focuses on young ministers, this year, we asked Journey […]
As we turn the final pages of 2023, I again offer my list of favorite reads for the year. As always, this is not a list of my favorite books published in 2023, but books read in 2023. If a book is on my “Best Of” list, I recommend you give it a read in 2024. Of interest, the publishing […]
Many of us – children and children at heart – write Christmas Wish Lists. And why not! People are giving gifts, so why not “wish” for the gift or gifts we’d like to see under our tree. Or the gift we’d like to see under the tree for our spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, or friends. Even […]
In March 2023, The Barna Group reported the following: It is a sobering, even shocking revelation. One that must be addressed immediately. Picture it this way. Imagine a gathering of 100 pastors, all seated in chairs in your church sanctuary. Fifty-nine of them sit facing the pulpit, awaiting the Word of the Lord with […]
October is Pastor appreciation month, a month when we make a special effort as churches and individuals to thank our pastors for their ministry to us as undershepherds of Jesus Christ. “Every Christian’s life is meant to be a parable of Jesus. But pastors are particularly suited to this because so much of our lives […]
I have a friend who started a retirement account many years ago, one of those something-something-Bs. He thought it best to prepare for the future, not only his but that of his children and their children. He wanted to do all he could to set in place a healthy scenario for himself and his family […]
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13 FOCUS Have you ever noted how divided our pastoral focus can become? We pay attention to so many things but firmly fix our gaze […]
It was a Sunday I’ll never forget. As a staff pastor, I had just finished leading worship in our morning service. As I did every Sunday, I exited the platform through a door to the right, descending the steps into our office suite. Closing the door behind me, I turned to my right, entering a […]
© [2015] — Journey Pastoral Coaching