Category Archives: Pastors

What a sharp staff member looks like

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(Sometimes when a church staff member comes across as unmotivated and directionless, it’s because no one has taken him/her under the wing to mentor them in how to be sharp and do their work well. We send this little piece forth to encourage staffers to seek out mentors and veteran pastors to become such.)

Sometimes a visiting preacher can tell the pastor something about a staff member he was too busy to notice.

We were hosting an evangelist friend for a weekend of meetings. That Saturday night, we had bought  20 huge pizzas for a hundred young people.  After the meal, my friend would address them about their relationship with Christ. As  they were eating and fellowshipping, the evangelist took me aside to point something out.

“Joe, look at your student  minister.”

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12 things pastors should make a habit of doing promptly–and 5 they shouldn’t!

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Do these things promptly…

  1. Confess sins.  “Keep short accounts with God,” it’s called.
  2. Write thank you notes.
  3. Write notes of appreciation.  “Great song Sunday.”  “I hear great things about your class.”
  4. When inspiration for a sermon or an article  comes in the middle of the night, it must be recorded then or, count on it, you’ll never remember it.  Keep a pad by the bedside.
  5. When you agree to do a friend  a favor–write a letter of recommendation, call on a patient in a hospital, whatever–do it immediately or you will never do it.
  6. Jot down a story, illustration, or thought for a sermon that occurs to you.  If you’re in the car alone, look for an exit and get off the highway so you can write this down.  I’ve sometimes asked my wife to make a note for me as we drove.
  7. Pray for someone when prompted by the Spirit.  When I spot someone who reminds me of a person I knew years ago, I take that as an impulse to pray for them.

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If I were to preach a sermon on homosexuality

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“And such were some of you.”  (I Corinthians 6:11).

On a social-media platform the other day, pastors admitted their reluctance to address homosexuality for the obvious reasons: it is such a hot-button issue, good people differ, and the historic Christian position is becoming more and more a lightning rod.

I’m a Southern Baptist.  I’m a Bible-believing conservative follower of Jesus Christ.  I find nothing in Scripture to support homosexuality or a lifestyle consistent with that practice.  Not a word.  (I need to say that up front because some might question this from what follows.)

Pastors need to address such issues as homosexuality, transgender, and same sex marriage in their sermons.  No church wants or needs a steady diet of it, to be sure, but neither should we shy away from these hot potato issues.

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That sermon needed a good illustration, pastor!

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“Jesus never taught without telling stories.”  –Mark 4:34 

Recently, as my wife and I ministered in a church in another state for a few days, we noticed something interesting.  A senior lady in the congregation approached us several times with a story or joke.  In each case, her tale was something we had heard a dozen times over fifty years.  Which makes a point people might want to keep in mind when they start telling a joke or story they’ve heard to a preacher: They have heard them all.  Particularly if they have been in ministry for half a century or more, they have more than likely told that story so many times they grew tired of it.

They laugh and say the same thing Johnny Carson used to say on his television show when someone told him a stale joke: “That’s funny. That’s really funny.”  He didn’t laugh, but said it was funny.

Okay, now.

Tell the preacher a story, yes, but preferably one that happened to you or of which you have personal knowledge.  We love those.  I still recall first-person stories told me a generation ago, because I have used them more than once.

We preachers are always in the market for a good story or great sermon illustration.  We know the value of these things.

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Why we envy bi-vocational pastors

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“Because (Paul) was of the same trade, he stayed with (Aquila and Priscilla) and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers” (Acts 18:3).

“I had a right to be supported by the churches,” said the Apostle Paul.  “But I did not exercise that right, but supported myself.”  (I Corinthians 9)

Some churches pay their ministers enough to allow them to quit their “day jobs,” as we call them, and devote their full time to the service of the church and the work of the Kingdom.

Other churches cannot afford that privilege.  And some churches and pastors choose the dual arrangement for reasons of their own.

I remember the day when my church began paying me full time.  It was like dying and going to Heaven, I thought.  For the first three years of our marriage, while pastoring a small church and then attending seminary, I worked in the production office of a cast iron pipe factory, worked in the office of a trucking line, and worked in the office of a soft-drink bottling company.  Suddenly, all that went away when a church called me as pastor and paid enough to live one.

I loved the idea of being able to serve the Lord and His church 24/7.

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The pastor’s heart: Reservoir or cesspool?

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“Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

“Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19).  “Rend your hearts, not your garments” (Joel 2:13). 

This is one of those lessons almost no pastor learns except by personal experience.

Someone told you a joke years ago.  In my case, it was an older cousin and I was a young teen.  The joke was dirty by any measurement and some would say it was funny.  But it was filthy and has stayed with me all these years.  The joke is still in my mind and I am unable to get rid of it.

I wish I’d known.

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“Two questions that bug me about pastors”

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“But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped.  For I was envious of some pastors, when I saw the success of those less gifted  than me….  Their strength is firm; they are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men.  Therefore pride serves as their necklace…. Their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than their heart could wish….” (Psalm 73…sort of…  With apologies to the Psalmist.) 

A pastor friend who has seen his share of troubles during his pastorates which total perhaps 25 years shared his questions with me.

One.  Some pastors live their entire lives without problems, serving church after church with a string of unbroken successes.  What sets these pastors apart?

Two.  And yet other pastors seem to know setback after setback in their ministries.  Are they to blame for this?  What are the characteristics that lead some pastors to go from trouble to trouble in churches?

After posing the questions–good ones, I think most will agree–he said, “I expect there are so many reasons for this,” and he named a few.  “God’s sovereignty, the pastor’s ability to deal with church politics, and temperament/personality.”

I promised him I would give this some thought and put the questions out here for our friends to comment on.  (Consider this your invitation.)

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What the lonely pastor should do

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“My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.  Stay here and watch with me” (Matthew 26:38). 

When you are hurting, you need a friend.

Even our Lord did.

At a denominational meeting, a man approached and introduced himself. It turns out he reads this blog and is acquainted with my cartoons. And he said something that lingers with me to this day.

“Sometimes I think about calling you.  It gets so lonely where I’m working and I just need someone to talk to.”

As I recall, he is not a pastor of a congregation but works with pastors and other ministers.  Therefore, he has no regular constituency.  And often, that means no one is looking after him.  He is bearing this burden alone.

I tore off a piece of paper and wrote my phone number.  “Call me,” I told him.  “Please!”

That is one courageous man.

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Longevity in ministry: How to stay as long as God wants!

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“Certainly, I will be with you” (God to Moses in Exodus 3:12).

Poor Moses.  He served the same congregation for forty years.

During all that time, Moses had no opportunity for advancement. And instead of getting easier as the years came and went, the work seemed to never let up.  One challenge after another.  It was enough to age a fellow prematurely.  Which is why, perhaps, the Lord chose a fellow who was already old–like eighty!–at the start.

Think of that.  Just at the time most people are getting fitted for a rocking chair and ordering their walk-in bathtub, Moses took on a new assignment.  Clearly, the Lord did not ask a committee of Israeli leaders what they wanted in the next shepherd.

Not only was Moses’ congregation the largest one around, it was the only one!

During those forty years, Moses did not receive a single raise.  And not the first award or recognition.  Well,  other than from God, which as it turned out, was more than enough.

The writer of Hebrews said we should ‘consider Jesus “who endured…” (Hebrews 12:3).  True. But we may also want to “consider Moses.”  He was a lot like us and demonstrates a hundred lessons on how to hang with a difficult job through good times and bad until you get the people of the Lord to the promised land.

Here are a few of those lessons.

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The team member who is your biggest headache

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“…a thorn in the flesh was given to me …lest I be exalted above measure” (2 Corinthians 12:7).

They’re standard equipment, these “thorns in the flesh.” Burrs under the saddle.  Pains in the, well, you know.  They come with the territory.

I’m reading Jack “Dusty” Kleiss’ memoirs of his service in the Second World War.  “Never Call Me a Hero: A legendary American Dive-Bomber Pilot Remembers The Battle of Midway” is the lengthy title.  I recommend it highly.

As a student of the Second World War, I must have read a dozen or more of such books, memoirs of veterans of this greatest of all conflicts.  In spite of the title, Kleiss deserves the recognition and accolades of a hero as much as anyone ever has.  Again and again he risked his life flying planes of all kinds throughout the Pacific in the war against Japan.  He kept good records, his team did great research, giving us details on the days he served, the planes they flew and the men he served under alongside, which included Admirals Kimmel, Halsey, and Nimitz.

All is good, except for one guy who keeps popping up throughout the story.

Lt. Clarence Dickinson was his thorn in the flesh.

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