When I left pastoral ministry to become a missionary, a few pastoral colleagues told me I’d “left the ministry.” Their thinking was that pastoring is “real” ministry, while missions is less than ministry. It’s difficult to believe people can think like this, but some do. But even my denomination unknowingly reinforces this idea. For decades […]
“If we preach the whole counsel of God, we shall be accused of extremism, not only by the world but also by a professing Church that cannot endure sound doctrine.” Vance Havner Christian doctrine, the propositional teaching of Scripture, is under attack. Many in the Church today are teaching that doctrine is less rather than more […]
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 these children entered a group […]
The third and final installment in our three-part look at Timeless Truths for 21st Century Ministers. I often tell young ministers that all ministers take their share of ‘hits” in ministry: from being disappointed by others to being fired; from not being taken care of by a church board to being abused by a church; from non-responsive church […]
When I entered full-time ministry forty years ago, I wasn’t naïve. But I was idealistic. In our twenties, most ministers are. I believed in the goodness and sovereignty of God, the truth and promises of His Word, the salvation and power of the Gospel, the beauty of the church, the privilege of serving in ministry. […]
Special Announcement: AG News, the official news outlet of the Assemblies of God recently released an article on the ministry of Journey. You can read this brief article by clicking here or on the article photo above Introduction Along with my wife and two daughters, it was my great privilege to serve as a missionary […]
A CARD COLLECTION & 2 KEYS Recently, on his Facebook page, a friend, posted a photograph of the many missionary prayer cards he has collected over the years. What a joy it was to see one of our family’s prayer cards in the mix of so many wonderful missionary-friends. My friend’s purpose in posting was […]
“TELL US THE STORY . . . “ As a former missionary, pastor, and now pastoral coach, I have been told countless times, “tell us more of those incredible stories of your life in ministry, and especially, from your life as a missionary.” Here’s one of those stories. Actually it’s two stories: one of life […]
Study after study confirms that ministers deal daily with higher than normal levels of stress. Many studies and statistics are available, but consider just the following seven statistics: 90% of pastors (all ages) said the ministry was completely different than what they thought it would be like before they entered the ministry; 75% of […]
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 […]
© [2015] — Journey Pastoral Coaching