Pastors

In 1985, J.I. Packer delivered a lecture at titled “Divisions in the Church,” dealing with the following three categories: shameful divisions, inescapable divisions, and dealing with divisions.

I have much, much room to grow in prayer, but I hope at least one of these ideas helps you. The cost is simply too great if we church leaders don’t pray much. 

Church leaders who claim to be serious about leading a disciple-making church aren’t going to get very far with such a claim if their flock isn’t equipped. But the equipping of the saints for ministry is one of the greatest failures among church leaders today.

If you’re in business, share your personal story through your presentations and reports. If you’re a pastor, tell more personal stories in the pulpit.

I’m working hard at developing relationships with non-believers. I’m reminded regularly, though, that they don’t always readily listen to believers when we try to share the gospel.

I believe one thing makes a pastor’s job most joyful. See if you agree with me about how to find joy in ministry.

I don’t run triathlons or marathons. Nor am I a fitness freak. But, as a 58-year-old preacher, I’ve become increasingly aware of my mortality and the ever-sagging effects of gravity.

In the work of making ministry training, success is difficult to measure: The best disciple-Maker in history invested three years in a group that looked like failures on the very same night he celebrated a "graduation dinner" with them.