In his book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning writes, “Satan prompts us to give importance to what has no importance. He clothes trivia with glitter and seduces us away from what is real. He causes us to live in a world of delusion, unreality and shadows.” In other words, Satan lies. Always. To all of […]
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, 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 […]
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 […]
The life-giving benefits of dynamic peer mentorship for ministers are incredible. By divine design, they are equal to our inborn need for mentorship. This is especially true for young ministers. In his book, “Serious Times,” pastor and author James Emery White describes it this way: “One of the more unsettling revelations to most Christ followers, […]
In 2016, Journey published 32 blogs, one every two weeks of the year, plus a few extras thrown in for good measure. While most of our writing focused on the pastoral coaching issues, we also looked at the nature of God, the church, great books, and, this past summer, even our favorite European vacation spots […]
I am a pastoral coach: I have the joy of pastoring pastors every day. Millennial pastors primarily. Pastors across America and in foreign nations. Pastors of all kinds: lead pastors, church planters, staff pastors, special needs pastors, missionary pastors, and even a couple of pastors-of-pastors. I love what I am called to do with my […]
Several years ago, the magazine, “Inc.” published an article that began like this: “… Businesses tend to spend so much of their time and money acquiring new customers that they often overlook their best source of growth: retaining and growing their existing customer base.” Interesting! The best source of growth for a company is not […]
I recently met with a colleague and our conversation covered the usuals: where we are now, what we are doing in ministry and how it’s all going. He was intrigued to hear that I am a full-time pastoral coach and that I focus on Millennial ministers. The idea was completely foreign to him. “We didn’t […]
A plague of post-modernism is sucking the breath out of the Great Commission in our day. And so, it is sucking the life out of the church of Jesus Christ. What was once the sacred and inviolable command of Jesus to be obeyed at all costs is now subject to the the throne of personal […]
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