As a pastor, you hope that people in your church will love, respect, and value your service to the church. This pattern marks, I believe, of the vast majority of the people in the church. At the same time, there will be some who dislike you and your ministry to the point that they will level false accusations against you.
Every culture and period of history presents its challenges to living the Christian life. Right now, we live in an age that feeds the idol of narcissism. Social media gives just one window into how self-centered Western culture is.
One of the more difficult questions to answer in a pastor’s life is determining when it’s time to retire from ministry. When should a pastor retire?
What do you do when you find yourself at the crossroads of life and there are no signposts? What happens when you lose your pastoral call and you think you should change vocations? Or what happens if you graduate from seminary and after a number of years you still haven’t been able to get a call? Should you hang up your cleats?
Over the years I have watched a number of colleagues lose their pastorates for various reasons. This can be a very discouraging turn of events to say the least. What do you do when you’ve spent four years in college, three or four years in seminary, spent ten years in the pastorate and then inexplicably lose your call?
In team sports athletes who do not start the game and spend a lot of time on the bench have a phrase—they “ride the pine.” That is, they sit on the pine bench rather than play in the game.
In team sports if you have the skill and ability, you can be a starter on the team. From the very first tick of the clock the coach puts you in the game. There is a great degree of satisfaction in being a starter. This parallels the experience of a seminarian who, upon graduation, is a starter.
The last question I ask myself when I’m evaluating a sermon, including my own, is, Did I apply the text? This is an important question, though perhaps it’s often debated because people disagree on what constitutes application.
The third question I ask when evaluating sermons (including my own) is whether I preached Christ organically from the biblical text. Many preachers regularly ask this question of themselves, but at the same time they’re not quite sure how to do this.
When I evaluate a sermon or my own preaching the second key question I ask is whether I adequately explained the biblical text. This is a distinct issue from the first question, namely, Did I exegete the biblical text?
There are a myriad of books on preaching on the market at present and each of them presents useful information, tips, and methods for preaching a good sermon.
One of the more painful trials of life comes to a young married couple who discover they are infertile—for one reason or another, they cannot conceive children. In a culture where people assume the natural thing to do is find a mate, get married, have children, and live happily ever after, infertility can be a difficult turn of events.
As a pastor I have seen first-hand what pornography can do to a marriage relationship and the devastation it leaves in its wake. I normally made my pastoral visits to each household in the church and during the course of these visits I would ask people, “Are there any issues you want to discuss, any challenges you’re facing?”
Among the many legitimate vocations that Christians can pursue, military service is certainly an acceptable choice. Serving in the military can be very beneficial. Many young people have testified to the fact that military service helped them grow up to be responsible adults.
One of the most difficult and painful things to watch is when a covenant child commits apostasy and abandons the faith. It is a tragedy when a child who has been raised in the church, taught to love Christ, and then he or she walks away.
The other day I was watching a show that, surprisingly, made reference to “Dutch Calvinism.” To say the least, I was shocked because ordinarily reference to Christianity is dominated by either a generic evangelicalism, which at times mirrors spiritual mysticism more than biblical Christianity, or Roman Catholicism, which is one of the more common forms of Christianity, at least socially (not theologically) considered.
My parents always taught me to finish what I start, and this is general advice that I’ve always tried to follow. Sometimes, however, trying to follow this advice can be difficult when reading a bad book.
I regularly get asked about recommended resources for sermon preparation. There is quite obviously an ocean of books out there, so I can’t possibly know which books are the absolute best.
Over the last several years I have tried to ask more questions about my life. In particular, I am trying to ask the question, Why?, more frequently. There are so many things in life that we take for granted and do without question.
What the well-equipped workshop is to the wood craftsman, the well-stocked theological library is to the minister. Having a good library is one of the most important resources you can have in your ministry.
