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What Real Rest Looks Like for a Pastor

By
Brandon Cox
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Resting isn’t nearly as easy as it sounds.

Our traditional definition of rest is simple enough: Do less.

A more fleshed-out, biblical understanding of rest, however, is a bit deeper than merely doing less.

It’s really doing less to allow time and space to become more.

And it’s that last part that we probably struggle with the most.

I’ve been a pastor, non-stop, since I was 19 years old. I love it. I don’t plan to do anything else in my adult life—at least nothing that replaces pastoring as my primary calling.

I’m 40 years old as I write this, so I’ve now spent more than half of my life preaching and leading the church. And for the first time ever, I’m currently on sabbatical.

My wife and I, along with our Worship Pastor, are all “off” for the month of August. At the beginning of the month, I had several goals in mind:

Then I came across some material written about pastoral sabbaticals that said something like…

  • A sabbatical isn’t for writing a book.
  • It’s not for planning sermons.
  • It’s not for reading a bunch of books on leadership.
  • It’s not a time to visit other churches to take notes.
  • It’s not a time to cultivate a vision for your ministry.

Obviously, I kept reading.

My clicking around led me to John Ortberg’s article about his very first sabbatical, during which he met with Dallas Willard, who changed John’s priorities with a simple statement…

You must arrange to live with deep contentment, joy and confidence in your everyday experience of life with God.

Source

I realized about nine days into my 30 that this month “off” isn’t about doing more things or doing different things than what I normally do. It’s far more about:

  • Doing nothing, and
  • Becoming something.

Nothing is hard, but as far as the church is concerned, we have leaders and volunteers who are absolutely amazing. I’ve done practically nothing and yet pretty much everything is being done, and done well.

I decided not to write any book proposals. Yet. And other than preaching at a friend’s church in another state one Sunday, I’ve really been able to unplug fairly well.

It’s the becoming something that has been challenging.

I realize that, as a pastor, I spend most of my time performing. I don’t mean that I’m pretending to be something that I’m not. I simply mean that, when I wake up on Sunday, I’m preparing to go and interact with people, love people, answer questions, preach the sermon before a gathered crowd on the stage, greet a few more people, answer a few more questions, and then finally head home.

And during the week, I’m preparing for Sunday, answering emails, having lots of coffee with people, directing people to other staff members or volunteers for answers, thinking through upcoming events and sermon series, etc.

In other words, pastors are pretty much always “ON.” And my wife is even more ON than I am in terms of the number of people who connect with her for friendship and for help.

And when you’re always on and you’re always doing, it’s very easy to forget who you really are—deep down, in the dark, when no one is looking or expecting anything of you. And it’s certainly hard to live in a state of becoming what God intends for you to become.

In short, you lose sight of “deep contentment, joy and confidence in your everyday experience of life with God,” as Willard put it.

After realizing my missteps, I decided to start this sabbatical over and do it a little differently.

I’ve been waking up in the mornings and doing nothing. Or at least, as little as possible. But I’ve been spending that time very intentionally listening for the Holy Spirit to remind me about who he is, who I am and what I should be becoming.

I’m writing down whatever he tells me and whatever insights I gain from reading the scriptures, and I’m talking to my wife about what I’m hearing, and what she’s hearing, too.

Has it been easy? Fun? Relaxing? Not exactly.

It’s been painful.

I’m seeing, in the mirror of God’s word, subtle flaws in my character that need to be scrubbed and chiseled away. I’m facing the little pieces of myself that don’t resemble Jesus and I’m asking him to break me of those things, to melt and re-mold me into the likeness of his Son, Jesus.

I started this part of my sabbatical by meditating on a verse from Hosea.

Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.

Hosea 10:12 NLT

While I know that the context is ancient Israel, there’s definitely an outline for my own moment of rest…

  1. Plant seeds of righteousness deep within as I hear God through his word.
  2. As Bob Goff says, “become love.”
  3. Plow through the hardness of my heart and throw light on all of my blind spots.
  4. Seek the Lord—get to know him all over again as the real me.
  5. Live under his blessing.

In doing so, I’m asking myself a very important question… Why don’t I do this every single day? Why do I focus so much on doing more that I lose touch with the man I’m supposed to be becoming in my relationship with Christ?

I’m coming to think of this sabbatical as not a mere moment of rest, but a re-learning of the very art of rest. I’m learning to “arrange to live with deep contentment, joy and confidence in (my) everyday experience of life with God.”

Thanks to the late Dr. Willard for pointing that out, and for Dr. Ortberg for writing about it, and to my sweet wife, Angie, for gently questioning my original sabbatical plan and urging me toward actual rest and renovation in my heart.

So, what does real rest look like for a pastor?

First of all, follow Rick Warren’s genius plan:

  • Divert daily (have a quiet time).
  • Withdraw weekly (take a day off).
  • Abandon annually (get away every year).

And second, intentionally take a break from projecting to everyone (including God) the you that you want them to see so that you can really become the you that God intends for you to become in him.

5 Ideas to Help Kids Be Smarter About Smartphones

By
Jonathan McKee
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

A while ago, my wife and I saw a friend at a Christmas party who I hadn’t seen in months…at least face-to-face. But immediately I complimented her on her Thanksgiving decorations and asked how her daughter’s b-day party was last weekend…as if we had just talked days before.

Why?

Instagram. I follow her on Instagram.

Americans have plenty of complaints about cell phones and the Internet. I regularly encounter parents who just want to smash their kids’ phones. But let’s not be too quick to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

A few years ago, Pew released a report revealing American’s feelings about the Internet. In total, 87 percent of online adults say the Internet and cell phones have improved their ability to learn new things.

That’s a no brainer. What did you do the last time you were lost and needed quick directions? Did you stop by a gas station and ask? Or did you ask Siri?

One time, I was at Home Depot shopping for a new water filter for my refrigerator. About 30 seconds into the conversation with the Home Depot employee I realized that he didn’t know what he was talking about. After politely thanking him for his help, I walked away and did a search on my Amazon app for the filter. I found the right filter for $20 less…and ordered it before I got to my car.

God Bless the iPhone!

I know, I know. Some people are having fits with kids and their phones. But we’d probably be having fits with our kids and their automobiles if we just handed them keys one day and said, “Don’t break it.” But we’ve learned better with cars. We’ve learned that kids need to take tests, obey rules, take more tests, sit in the seat with an adult next to them for six months, and then drive without their friends in the car for a year.

But what do American parents do when they give their 12-year-old a new iPhone?

Merry Christmas! Good luck!

Let’s be smarter than that. Let’s talk with our kids about some of these issues:

These are issues we need to dialogue about with our kids. How can we do this?

Here are five ideas to be proactive and help your kids be smarter than their smartphones!

  1. Stay connected to parenting resources that provide free articles and help with current issues.
  2. Keep your eyes open for studies about phones, Social Media and Technology. Ask your kids what they think? Discuss what responsible use of these devices looks like.
  3. Try media fasts as a family. Be proactive, even playing games where you cut back on tech time.
  4. Use books like Should I Just Smash My Kid’s Phone? or A Parents Guide to Understanding Social Media, helping you set realistic boundaries, and dialogue with your kids about these issues (that Smash book includes a sample phone contract and a social media guide).
  5. Be an example of how to use tech responsibly, not be controlled by tech. We can teach what we know, but we can only reproduce who we are.

Have you begun these conversations with your kids?

Jonathan McKee is the president of The Source for Youth Ministry, is the author of over twenty books including the brand new If I Had a Parenting Do Over, 52 Ways to Connect with Your Smartphone Obsessed Kid; Sex Matters; The Amazon Best Seller – The Guy’s Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket; and youth ministry books like Ministry By Teenagers; Connect; and the 10-Minute Talks series. He has over 20 years youth ministry experience and speaks to parents and leaders worldwide, all while providing free resources for youth workers and parents on his websites, TheSource4YM.com and TheSource4Parents.com. You can follow Jonathan on his blog, getting a regular dose of youth culture and parenting help. Jonathan, his wife, Lori, and their three kids live in California.

This article originally appeared here.

Archbishop Calls for Pope Francis to Resign

By
Bob Ditmer
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Pope Francis has been covering sexual abuse in the Catholic Church for years and must resign.

That’s according to a prominent priest whose bombshell missive is threatening to split the Church.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who served as the papal nuncio (that is, Vatican ambassador) to the United States from 2011-2016, claims Pope Francis has known for years about Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s sexual abuse, but brought him into the pontifical inner circle anyway, and sent him around the world on papal missions.

One month before a Pennsylvania grand jury found that hundreds of priests in the state had sexually abused as many as a thousand children, Cardinal McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, resigned amid accusations that he had sexually abused children and adults for decades.

In a lengthy statement, Vigano charges that the “corruption has reached the very top of the Church’s hierarchy” and demands the resignation of Pope Francis, writing:

“At the Angelus on Sunday, August 12, 2018, Pope Francis said these words: ‘Everyone is guilty for the good he could have done and did not do… If we do not oppose evil, we tacitly feed it. We need to intervene where evil is spreading; for evil spreads where daring Christians who oppose evil with good are lacking.’

“If this is rightly to be considered a serious moral responsibility for every believer, how much graver is it for the Church’s supreme pastor, who in the case of McCarrick not only did not oppose evil but associated himself in doing evil with someone he knew to be deeply corrupt. He followed the advice of someone he knew well to be a pervert, thus multiplying exponentially with his supreme authority the evil done by McCarrick. And how many other evil pastors is Francis still continuing to prop up in their active destruction of the Church!

“Francis is abdicating the mandate which Christ gave to Peter to confirm the brethren. Indeed, by his action he has divided them, led them into error, and encouraged the wolves to continue to tear apart the sheep of Christ’s flock.

“In this extremely dramatic moment for the universal Church, he must acknowledge his mistakes and, in keeping with the proclaimed principle of zero tolerance, Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick’s abuses and resign along with all of them.”

Archbishop Vigano Told Pope Francis of Sexual Abuse

Vigano says he told Francis on June 23, 2013, that McCarrick was a serial predator.

There were multiple reports that McCarrick, who was an Archbishop at the time, “shared his bed with seminarians,” inviting five at a time to spend the weekend with him at his beach house. And he added that he knew a certain number of seminarians, some of whom were later ordained priests for the Archdiocese of Newark, who had been invited to this beach house and had shared a bed with the Archbishop.

Vigano wrote that “homosexual networks present in the Church” buried the reports until “the heartfelt appeals of dozens of his seminarians” who found the courage to write to church leaders “after one of them tried to commit suicide over homosexual abuse in the seminary.”

Vigano also claims that Pope Francis ignored the warnings, sent McCarrick on speaking engagements around the world and suggests he saw a place for practicing homosexual priests within the church. He makes that inference from a meeting he had with the Pope in 2013, immediately after hearing that McCarrick would be travelling to China to represent the Vatican.

“I began the conversation, asking the Pope what he intended to say to me with the words he had addressed to me when I greeted him the previous Friday. And the Pope, in a very different, friendly, almost affectionate tone, said to me: “Yes, the Bishops in the United States must not be ideologized, they must not be right-wing like the Archbishop of Philadelphia (the Pope did not give me the name of the Archbishop), they must be shepherds; and they must not be left-wing—and he added, raising both arms—and when I say left-wing I mean homosexual.” Of course, the logic of the correlation between being left-wing and being homosexual escaped me, but I added nothing else.”

Meanwhile, reaction to Vigano’s letter is being hotly debated inside the Church in what some describe as a “civil war.” And Austin Ruse of the Center for Family and Human Rights wants President Trump to recall the American ambassador to the Vatican until the Vatican turns over all of its files pertaining to McCarrick adding, “It is clear that the Vatican covered for a sexual predator who assaulted young Americans.”

Depression and Anxiety Claim Life of Lead Pastor Andrew Stoecklein

By
Megan Briggs
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andrew stoecklein
Screenshot from YouTube / @Maggie Dow

Pastor Andrew Stoecklein of Inland Hills Church in Chino, California, attempted to take his own life on Friday, August 25, 2018. Despite being rushed to the hospital and placed on life support, Stoecklein passed away on Saturday.

Stoecklein was the lead pastor at Inland Hills Church and leaves behind a grieving congregation and family. The church candidly alerted the community to the pastor’s distress and fight for life on their Facebook page on Saturday morning.

A prayer vigil was held Saturday evening for Stoecklein. He passed away that night.

Stoecklein’s wife, Kayla, announced her husband’s passing with a heart-wrenching update on Instagram. “It wasn’t the miracle I was hoping for but he is now in heaven with his dad, free of pain, free of depression and anxiety,” Kayla writes.

Last night, the love of my life, the father of my children and the pastor of our incredible church took his last breath and went to be with Jesus. It wasn’t the miracle I was hoping for but he is now in heaven with his dad, free of pain, free of depression and anxiety. . He was an amazing husband, he truly made me better, made me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world, and he loved me so deeply. We fit so well together, we were one. He was an amazing daddy, his three boys are going to miss him so much. He had such a unique and special relationship with each of them. He was an incredibly gifted teacher, communicator, and pastor. He was special, one of a kind and will be missed by thousands of people all around the world. . Please pray for me and the boys. I don’t know how I am going to face this, I am completely heartbroken, lost, and empty. Never in a million years would I have imagined this would be the end of his story. . If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or actions, please tell someone. Please make sure you’re not alone, and please call a friend or family member before you make that irreversible decision. You are loved and valued more than you know! #godsgotthis

A post shared by Kayla Stoecklein (@kaylasteck) on

The church posted this update:

Inland Hills Church grieves with heavy hearts as our Lead Pastor Andrew Stoecklein was welcomed into Heaven on Saturday night after battling depression and anxiety. It’s not the outcome we hoped and prayed for, and today we grieve as a church family. In his time leading Inland Hills, Andrew reached so many with his warm wit, passionate heart for God, and teaching that always, always pointed others to Jesus. The loving husband, father, son, and friend that he was will continue to inspire us in leading others into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

And in this tragedy, we encourage anyone who is hurting emotionally to ask for help. If you or anyone else is struggling, the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-TALK (8255) is a potentially life-saving resource.

May we be a beacon of hope for the community, to rescue the hurting and honor the God that Andrew served so well.

Andrew, we love you. And we always will. #godsgotthis #inlandhills

Stoecklein lost his father to a battle with leukemia in 2015. Before his passing, the family launched a website (godsgotthis.org) to post updates on Dave Stoecklein and to encourage others. Dave and his wife, Carol, founded Inland Hills Church in 1991. Eventually, Andrew Stoecklein took over his father’s role of lead pastor.

A battle with anxiety and depression was cited by Kayla and Inland Hills Church as the cause of Stoecklein’s suicide attempt. Stoecklein had recently returned from taking a four-month sabbatical. On August 13, Kayla explained to the congregation that Stoecklein had been struggling with depression and that the couple deliberated whether or not to continue in ministry during this sabbatical. “He didn’t want to stop. He would have kept on going and going and going and it probably would have cost him his life,” Kayla said.

Several comments on the social media posts indicate his congregation (and the broader church community) sympathize deeply with Stoecklein’s condition. The church urged followers to ask for help if they or anyone they know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or depression.

Days after his passing, Kayla wrote a letter to her husband. She writes:

“You were right all along, I truly didn’t understand the depths of your depression and anxiety. I didn’t understand how real and how relentless the spiritual attacks were. The pain, the fear, and the turmoil you must have been dealing with every single day is unimaginable.”

Stoecklein’s death reminds us that crippling depression is something that can affect anyone—even pastors.

Thousands Flocked to This Confederate Monument for a Very Good Reason

By
Bob Ditmer
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Christians from all races and denominations climbed to the top of Stone Mountain, outside Atlanta, Georgia, to pray for racial reconciliation on Saturday.

Just 100 years ago the KKK used the same spot to burn crosses atop a mountain that now features heroes of the confederacy etched in stone.

“A lot of voices in society and politics are speaking about divisions in the nation, but we don’t hear much from the church,” said Billy Humphrey, co-founder of the OneRace movement and director of Atlanta’s International House of Prayer. “At times, the church has been on the sidelines. At times, the church has been silent. We can’t be silent anymore.”

Humphrey said it was time for the “church,” in a figurative sense, to “take a stand for love and unity around the cross of Jesus.”

The OneRace movement began about two years ago with about six pastors—black and white. That grew, eventually reaching 250.

“The issue of racial healing is very, very important,” said Bishop Garland Hunt, senior pastor of The Father’s House in Norcross, Ga., and co-executive director of OneRace. “Our country is divided and the church is, unfortunately, divided out of frustration and pain.”

Organizers of OneRace Stone Mountain said more than 12,000 people had registered to attend, although it’s unknown how many actually showed up for the one-day event.

Those who were on hand were also asked to sign the Atlanta Covenant that states in part:

“We covenant to stand against racism in every form, never again allowing it to gain a foothold within our spheres of influence.

“We covenant to publicly and privately declare that all people are made in the image and likeness of God, through preaching and practice, affirming the dignity and value of every person regardless of culture or gender.

“We covenant to faithfully proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, which espouses the values of righteousness and justice, the reconciliation of God and man, and the reconciliation of man, one to another.”

Organizers Hope to “De-politicize” Racial Reconciliation

The event took place just days after the destruction of the “Silent Sam” Confederate monument at the University of North Carolina but organizers said they wanted to “de-politicize and bring restoration and healing at the largest Confederate Monument in the world.”

For that reason both Humphrey and Hunt were reluctant to delve into politics.

“We don’t want to make this political because that’s a measure to divide,” said Hunt, who has known Humphrey for about two decades. “Jesus didn’t die for us based upon our political positions.”

Humphrey told CBS46 Saturday’s event was about prayer and healing among Christians of different backgrounds and denominations.

“There’s a lot of people that want to bring division, but there’s another answer. It’s Jesus Christ,” said Humphrey, “and he’s the one who brings us together in love around the cross and in unity.”

Both the top of the mountain and the grassy area at the base were packed with people, some wearing T-shirts that said “Reconcile” or “Repent” and others carrying signs and banners that read “Let Justice Flow” and “God We Repent.”

“This is a powerful moment to see 200-plus churches come together,” Tara Teuta of Snellville told the Atlanta Journal Constitution, who said she has friends who refuse to come to Stone Mountain because of its history. “Martin Luther King’s dream was to see this. I love it.”

Update: Army Exonorates Southern Baptist Chaplain

By
Bob Ditmer
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Update: August 27, 2018

The Army has cleared a decorated Fort Bragg chaplain and his assistant after they were accused of discrimination against a same-sex couple.

The chaplain—Army Maj. Scott Squires—and Sgt. Kacie Griffin, his assistant, had been facing dereliction of duty charges for declining to lead a marriage retreat that included a same-sex couple.

“We are grateful that the Army has rejected and abandoned these baseless charges,” First Liberty Institute attorney Mike Berry told the “Todd Starnes Radio Show.”

“The United States military is no place for anti-religious hostility against its own military chaplains,” said Berry, who is representing both the chaplain and the assistant. “Chaplains like Scott Squires and Kacie Griffin do not have to give up their First Amendment rights in order to serve their fellow soldiers.”

Questions are being raised about a U.S. Army investigation that resulted in dereliction of duty charges against a Southern Baptist chaplain.

The investigating officer, identified only as Major Ford, concluded that Army Chaplain Jerry Scott Squires was derelict in his duties for rescheduling a marriage retreat to accommodate a lesbian couple, Mike Berry, the chaplain’s attorney, said.

Squires is endorsed by the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board (NAMB), which does not affirm same-sex marriage. Following Army protocol that requires him to adhere to the tenets of his endorsing agency, Squires rescheduled the retreat to allow a non-Southern Baptist chaplain to facilitate the event.

But Berry said the investigator ignored key evidence in his extended investigation, calling it “anti-religious.”

The lesbian couple registered to attend the retreat on its rescheduled date, but cancelled for unspecified reasons, according to Berry.

In a report following an extended investigation, Ford said Squires denied the lesbian couple “opportunity to attend a Strong Bonds retreat run by and paid for by” the Army and violated Army Regulation (AR) 165-1 “when he failed to notify his command and his chaplain technical chain that he could not perform services for (lesbians) due to his endorser restrictions.”

Jerry Scott Squires Being Punished for ‘Following the Rules’

The Army “is threatening to punish one of its chaplains because he followed the rules,” Berry said in an Aug. 6 press release in response to the investigator’s report. “The Army, or Congress, must hold Major General (Kurt) Sonntag accountable for allowing this aggressive anti-religious hostility against its military chaplains to occur under his command.” Sonntag is commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Operations Center of Excellence, which initiated the retreat.

The “dereliction of duty” recommendation follows Ford’s second investigation of the complaint filed Feb. 6. After an initial finding that Squires unlawfully discriminated against the couple, Ford was ordered April 28 to reopen his investigation, according to an Army memorandum.

“I simply did what I’m required to do under Army regulations and my endorser’s rules,” Squires said of the report’s findings. “I am shocked that I would even be investigated, let alone threatened with punishment, for following the rules.”

Berry contends that the investigation stands on a “false premise” that the lesbian couple was denied opportunity to attend the retreat, when in actuality they “elected not to attend.”

Ford overlooked facts, contradicted himself and included factual and legal errors, discrepancies and deficiencies, Berry said of Ford’s report.

“Ford’s report of investigation constitutes a clear and present danger to the constitutional rights of all chaplains,” Berry told the Army in his official response to Ford’s findings. “If Army chaplains are to maintain any trust and confidence in their ability to perform their duties without fear of this kind of threat, you must disapprove MAJ Ford’s findings and recommendations.”

NAMB executive director of chaplaincy Doug Carver, a former Army chief of chaplains, is also defending Squires.

“The relationship between endorsed military chaplains and their ecclesiastical authority is sacrosanct and protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” Carver told Baptist Press after Ford’s initial findings. “In a technical sense, military chaplains are ‘on loan’ to the Armed Forces from their respective faith groups who, in turn, expect the military to be faithful stewards of our pastors in uniform.”

Squires has “our full support and prayers,” Carver said, “as he remains faithful to his Lord, his tenets of faith, and his commitment to serve all soldiers under his care.”

A decorated major with more than 25 years of service, Squires faces court martial and confinement in a military prison if the investigator’s recommendation is accepted.

How Pastors Can Beat Burnout

By
Church Fuel
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

There’s an epidemic that runs rampant in our success-driven culture.

It respects no person and strikes even in ministry settings.

It’s called “burnout.”

There are a number of reasons for pastoral burnout and taking a look at a few of those reasons can help prevent it.

The Church Fuel team recently had the opportunity to hear some wisdom from Beth Bennett. Beth is the Director of Coaching at Ministry Ventures. With over 30 years of ministry experience, she has seen burnout happen firsthand and is passionate about helping leaders create systems to steward their lives, mission, teams and resources in a healthy way.

The downward spiral toward the point of burnout isn’t simple at all, but we’d like to point out a few simple ways to avoid it. Beth Bennett pointed out a few unhealthy mindsets that will lead us all to burnout if we’re not careful.

How Pastors Can Beat Burnout

1. Unhealthy Mindset #1: Ultimate responsibility rests with me.

In this mindset, church leaders strive, move in the flesh, become control freaks, and get closer and closer to burnout with each passing day. Free yourself by remembering that God isn’t asking us to carry the whole load. As Beth Bennett put it, “Ultimate responsibility doesn’t rest with us, but rests with God. Only He can change a heart.”

We beat burnout by humbly recognizing that we’re not the only act in town. There are other churches and ministries that God is using to do this Kingdom work with us. This frees us to delegate and let other people shine, which empowers them and prevents us from burning out.

2. Unhealthy Mindset #2: Constantly doing what doesn’t energize you.

There will always be some aspects of our jobs that we don’t like—even in ministry. That’s normal and a part of life. But continuing to always do what doesn’t energize you will lead to burnout.

Beth’s advice is to pay attention to what energizes you. What about your role brings you a lot of energy? What doesn’t energize you? Are you driven by pressure or a fear of delegation? Step away and evaluate. One of the top reasons for burnout is doing things that God never asked us to do. For example, think of a few tasks that constantly drain you. Is there a young leader you can equip to take over at least one of those tasks?

3. Unhealthy Mindset #3: Overworking is not sin.

Often, overworking is a cover-up for fear. Overworking robs us of the time and attention it takes to properly care for ourselves and others. Some have called it “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

Whatever you call it, overworking is an open invitation for burnout. If you work to keep everyone else in the church healthy, but you and your family are not, there’s a problem. You’re not loved for what you do, for how many people attend your church, or for what you have. Instead, work to keep burnout at bay by remembering that you are loved by God—period.

4. Unhealthy Mindset #4: Resistance to the inner journey.

Why would a pastor ever resist the “inner journey” of personal spiritual health? Beth says it’s the result of being “intoxicated with the wine of service.” Serving others is a wonderful thing that all Christians are called to, but too much service without taking time to develop your own spiritual health is a recipe for burnout.

The solution is to stop viewing life and ministry as a performance and take time to ponder what’s really going on inside. As Beth said, “Working for God is very different than working from God.” Don’t resist the day off. Don’t resist the quiet.

Beth recommended reading Secrets of the Secret Place by Bob Sorge for more help in this area.

For help evaluating whether these unhealthy mindsets are at play in your life, ask yourself these questions:

  • What am I carrying that God hasn’t asked me to carry?
  • How am I robbing myself of self-care?
  • What energizes me the most?
  • Where am I resisting the “inner journey”?

Pastors often give a lot spiritually, emotionally and physically. Step back and be honest about whether the amount of time you take to receive guidance from God and others matches the amount of energy you’re giving out.

You can beat burnout as you learn to walk in these principles. Commit to overcoming unhealthy mindsets, seek help and create space in your life where healthy balance can exist.

This article originally appeared here.

The Gospel: Breaking Sinful Patterns and Addictions

By
Ed Stetzer
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

I’m a big believer in recovery from addiction. I’ve seen the power of recovery among friends and family. Yet, I’m also a Christian, and an evangelical one, passionate about the gospel. So, as we talk about recovery and higher powers, I’m convinced that the power of the gospel is what matters most when it comes to breaking sinful patterns and addictions.

Yet, many people in our culture claim to be Christians but have never heard a comprehensive gospel message. Therefore, discipleship—in general—and recovery ministry in our churches—more specifically—must begin by laying the foundation of what Jesus has accomplished on the cross for those who believe (gospel truths) and then bid people to live out the call to follow Christ (gospel imperatives).

The Gospel: Breaking Sinful Patterns and Addictions

As disciples, part of the sanctification process is examining our hearts before the Lord. This process of personal assessment involves confession and prayer about the fruit of our lives and its roots. We bring all this before the Lord so that He can uproot our sinful patterns and heal our hearts, freeing us to act faithfully for His kingdom.

Breaking sinful patterns

People both inside and outside of our churches need help breaking sinful patterns in their lives. Our culture offers various ways to cope with addictions and issues, but only the gospel offers real freedom and transformation.

As I see it, a gospel-centered recovery ministry must first engage with the traditional 12 Steps, which have saved millions of lives and pulled people out of all sorts of sinful patterns and addictions. However, evangelical Christians can take the 12 Steps and use them as a foundation upon which they may build a more gospel-centered means of recovery.

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1)

The message of the gospel is both comfort and call. It presents the comforting truth that in Christ we have been forgiven and made righteous. We are now sons and daughters of God and accepted into His kingdom for eternity, not because of any worth or work of our own but because of the loving choice of the Father and the sacrifice of the Son.

Parenting Our Kids Toward Eternity

By
Stephen Witmer
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Have you received the annual Christmas letter from The Perfect Family? You know, the one with the kids who captain the lacrosse team, jump horses, make the dean’s list, play violin, serve at the homeless shelter, and learn Greek and Latin, all while mentoring other children? By the time you finish reading the letter and set it down with trembling hands, your Christmas spirit has evaporated. You have a panicky fear that maybe you haven’t provided enough opportunities for your kids.

In moments like this—and in a thousand other moments of parenting panic—it’s good to remind ourselves of where we’re headed and what counts the most:

… straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13–14)

Paul doesn’t solve every parenting decision in these verses, but he does point to the ultimate goal of life, and, by implication, the ultimate goal of parenting. These verses can turn panicky parents into pilgrim parents with a purpose.

The goal of Paul’s life—everything he does—is future resurrection in the new creation. This final goal doesn’t render obsolete all his daily activities, such as eating, sleeping, working, evangelizing, talking and traveling. Rather, it orients and aligns them. It gives them a purpose. And it does that for our parenting, too.

We’re called to parent our children toward eternity. This is a major challenge. It turns out to be remarkably difficult to keep our hearts fixed on God’s future new creation rather than attempting to seize that future in our present. Parents attempt to establish heaven on earth in at least two common ways. Some of us expect our children to be heaven for us. Others expect to build heaven for them.

Making Our Kids Our Heaven

I know parents who require perfection from their children. Failure is not an option. Demanding heaven on earth from them, they make it hell instead, squeezing, scolding and cajoling them into the very sense of failure they’re desperate to help them avoid.

Perhaps you don’t fall into that trap in such an extreme way. But isn’t it easy for the successes or failures of our children to assume too great an importance? Hold a penny close enough to your eye and it will obscure an entire building. Hold a child too close and she’ll obscure your view of heaven.

Our goal as parents is to reach the new creation together with our children. We’re to be a pilgrim people, journeying toward future perfection, but never there yet this side of heaven. We’re to say with Paul, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect …” (Philippians 3:12).

When we live as pilgrim parents, we won’t be crushed by our children’s imperfections, or our own. We won’t require perfection because we know we’re all progressing toward perfection. We’ll confess our parenting failures to our children and seek forgiveness from Jesus together with them. We’ll release our children from the impossible burden of being heaven for us. Instead, we’ll invite them into the joy of traveling there with us.

Building Heaven for Our Kids

Even if we don’t make the mistake of expecting too much from our kids, we may well find ourselves expecting too much for them. With all the best of intentions, we may try to give our children heaven now. Several years ago, The Atlantic published an article titled “How to Land Your Kids in Therapy.” The author observed,

The American Dream and the pursuit of happiness have morphed from a quest for general contentment to the idea that you must be happy at all times and in every way.

In other words, we want heaven for our kids. The Atlantic article notes that by giving kids a huge array of choices and protecting them from failure at all costs, their well-meaning parents teach them that they deserve perfection. The problem is that children who don’t persevere through difficulty become young adults who can’t deal with failure. When their parent-built heaven crumbles, the kids land in therapy.

Parent-built heavens can’t compare to the one God is preparing for his people. The bigger and more glorious the future new creation is in the hearts of Christian parents, the less we’ll feel the need to keep our kids from failing at all costs. Instead, we’ll teach them to experience failures as reminders that we haven’t yet arrived at the new creation.

We’ll help our children see their time in this world as preparation for the world to come. We’ll teach them to so treasure the eternal weight of glory that a bad grade, a bad complexion or a bad mistake on the sports field won’t destroy them. We’ll show them that no accomplishment in this life brings perfect and lasting satisfaction, and we’ll help them savor their best experiences as mere foretastes of a much greater future.

Parenting Toward Eternity

When my parents planned a family trip across the United States in my childhood years, we talked about it for two full years in advance. Surely, heaven deserves a lot more family discussion and anticipation than California!

Let’s pray about heaven together as families, stoking our excitement. Let’s sing of heaven (the last verse of many great hymns speak of it). Let’s discuss and savor Bible passages like Isaiah 65–66, Romans 8 and Revelation 21–22. We’re pilgrims, so let’s keep walking toward the Celestial City, bringing our kids along with us.  

What Exactly Does Scripture Say about ‘the Day of the Lord’ and the End of the World?

By
Megan Briggs
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All Bible readers stumble upon names, places, and phrases that can be intriguing at best and outright confusing at worst. One of the phrases nestled in Scripture that has caused much discussion is the phrase, “the day of the Lord.” Why is this particular phrase important for Christians to understand?  Many Christians have interpreted this phrase to describe such concepts as “end times”; “Armageddon”;  or simply “Jesus coming again on a white horse”—but what do these phrases mean? The folks at the Bible Project tackle this very issue in a recently published video.

Many of those vivid images come from the book of Revelation, but to understand them we must actually go all the way back to Genesis. It’s there where we read of the familiar historical account of Adam and Eve and how God gave them dominion and stewardship over His creation. Unfortunately, they bought into the lie of the serpent that they could define good and evil in their own terms and put themselves in God’s place. Consequently, this foolish and sinful choice brings unimaginable strife into humanity. This eventually leads God’s people to build a city named Babel and within that city, they attempt to build a huge tower to elevate themselves to the place of God.

God knows that this attempt will only bring more pain to humanity as they redefine good and evil according to their fleshly desires instead of God’s good wisdom. God graciously destroys the tower and confuses their language as a restraint against their evil actions. From this point on in the biblical story, the term “Babylon” becomes a type of shorthand to describe humanity’s corporate rebellion against God. An example of this happening is when Pharaoh himself defines good and evil and enslaves God’s people, the Israelites. God turns Pharaoh’s evil back on himself and gloriously frees the Israelites out from under Pharaoh’s rule. The Hebrew people to this day celebrate that rescue by God by calling it “the day” or the Passover.

The “day” was not always seen as judgment against Israelite’s enemies. In the book of Amos the prophet, God pronounces a day of judgment against the Israelites for they too had redefined good and evil resulting in cultural violence and corruption. The rest of the Old Testament shows how time and time again God’s judgment allows for the Israelites’ enemies to conquer and subdue them. This was the context Jesus was born into as the Israelites were then under the Roman Empire. Though many had an expectation of the coming Messiah as a political warrior that would go toe to toe against Rome, Jesus came to go after the ultimate enemy, the devil, and to break the power of his accomplice, the corrupted human heart.

While on the cross Jesus allowed evil to exhaust all of its power by using its most powerful weapon.. death. By His own death in our place and His resurrection, Jesus opened up the way for anyone to escape from Babylon and to discover what it means to be human as God intended. Yes, there is still evil in this world and humanity continues to build its own Babylon but there is good news. Jesus is coming again to completely eradicate evil once and for all. We see foreshadows of the “day of the Lord” when Christians resist the evil of this world and proclaim the promise that Jesus is coming again to gather all of His children not for just a day… but for eternity!

Eric Liddell: The Little Known Story of the Olympian’s Final Years

By
Randy Alcorn
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One of my favorite movies of all time is the 1981 Chariots of Fire. It’s the only reason many people are familiar with Eric Liddell, the “Flying Scotsman” who shocked the world by refusing to run the 100 meters in the 1924 Paris Olympics, a race he was favored to win. He withdrew because the qualifying heat was on a Sunday, and he believed God didn’t want him to run on the Lord’s Day. Liddell then went on to win a gold medal—and break a world record—in the four hundred meters, not his strongest event. (In the black and white photo, that’s the real Eric Liddell in his gold medal winning 400m final at the Olympics.)

In an interview with Liddell’s youngest daughter, Maureen, who he never met, she shared this after visiting the granite monument in China which has a clear colors as the granite by Granite Liquidators granite countertop company in Denver,  dedicated to her father’s memory: “I felt so close to him and, more than ever, I realized what his life had been for. It all made sense. What happened allowed him to touch so many lives as a consequence.”

My favorite lines from the movie are when Eric’s character, played by actor Ian Charleson, says, “God…made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.” Though those lines were actually penned by screenwriter Colin Welland, I think the real Eric would have agreed with the sentiment. Those who knew him testified that his personal and moral convictions weren’t born of a cold, rigid religious piety, but of a warm, happy devotion to his Lord and Savior. Here’s that clip from the movie, with Eric talking to his sister Jenny.

I still remember sitting with Nanci in a large Portland theatre in 1981, smiling and crying through various parts of that unforgettable movie. Chariots of Fire ends with these brief words about Eric’s life after the Olympics: “Eric Liddell, missionary, died in occupied China at the end of World War II. All of Scotland mourned.”

A Tragic Ending for Eric Liddell?

After the Olympics and his graduation, Eric returned as a missionary to China, where he had been born to missionary parents in 1902. When the Japanese occupation made life dangerous, he sent his pregnant wife, Florence, and their two daughters to Canada. Japanese invaders placed him in a squalid prison camp, without running water or working bathrooms. There, separated from his family, Eric lived several years before dying at age 43. (In 1944, a year before Eric died, Winston Churchill approved a prisoner exchange. As a famous athlete, Eric was granted freedom to return home. Instead, he gave his spot to a pregnant woman.)

Upon learning of Eric’s death, it wasn’t just Scotland that mourned. All over the world people who had been inspired by him in the Olympics and in the Christian life joined the mourning.

On the surface, it all seems so tragic. Why did God withhold from this great man of faith a long life, years of fruitful service, the companionship of his wife, and the joy of raising those beloved children? It makes no sense.

And yet…

There is another way to look at the Eric Liddell story. Nanci and I discovered this firsthand when we spent an unforgettable day in England with Phil and Margaret Holder, in May of 1988. We knew almost nothing about the Holders except that Phil was a pastor. Some missionary friends we were visiting in England took us to their home in Reading.

Margaret was born in China to missionary parents with China Inland Mission. In 1939, when Japan took control of eastern China, 13-year-old Margaret was imprisoned by the Japanese in Weihsien Internment Camp, where many foreigners in Beijing were sent to. There she remained, separated from her parents, for six years.

Margaret told us stories about a godly man she called “Uncle Eric.” She said he tutored her and was deeply loved by all the children in the camp. She looked at us and asked, “Do you know who I’m talking about? Uncle Eric’s name was Eric Liddell.” I recall like it was yesterday how stunned we were because Chariots of Fire was such a favorite movie, and we’d watched it several times in the seven years since it was released. Here we were learning inside information about one of our heroes!

Uncle Eric’s Influence

Margaret shared with us a story that illustrated this man’s Christlike character. In the camp, the children played basketball, rounders and hockey, and Eric Liddell was their ref­eree. Not surprisingly, he refused to referee on Sundays. But in his absence, the children fought. Liddell struggled over this. He believed he shouldn’t stop the children from play­ing because they needed the diversion.

Finally, Liddell decided to referee on Sundays. This made a deep impression on Margaret—she saw that the athlete world famous for sacrificing success for principle was not a legalist. When it came to his own glory, Liddell would surrender it all rather than run on Sunday. But when it came to the good of children in a prison camp, he would referee on Sunday.

Why Charlie Brown Was a Middle-Schooler at Heart

By
Brooklyn Lindsey
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Some movie lines are worth repeating and writing about. I got curious and looked up the top 10 movie lines from a few opinionated bloggers. It was funny to see that Arnold Schwarzenegger holds the highest percentage followed by anyone playing James Bond. I liked reading the other, maybe less popular, lines.

“Find a truly original idea. It is the only way I will ever distinguish myself. It is the only way I will ever matter.”
A Beautiful Mind (2001)

“My precious.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

“Sunnyside is a place of ruin and despair, ruled by an evil bear who smells of strawberries!”
Toy Story 3 (2010)

One that isn’t mentioned anywhere and one that deserves mentioning is shared in Charlie Brown Christmas. The boy whom I believe on all accounts is mid-semester of 7th grade.

Charlie Brown’s buddy, after hearing some of Charlie’s rant about the commercialization of Christmas and his ensuing depression, says:

“Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you’re the Charlie Browniest.”

This is it. This is how we can make the biggest impact in the world.

Someone recognized that Charlie was simply being himself. He wasn’t apologetic about his depression or struggle with the holiday season. He grappled with his questions publicly and eventually helped and inspired his friends along the way. Does Charlie have some obvious quirks that have last-nerve potential? Yep. But he didn’t cover them up and try to be something he wasn’t. He was just Charlie Browny. And that made the biggest difference.

I think most middle schoolers are themselves. Mostly. It’s when they start looking around for support and affirmation, people to laugh with, be annoyed with, lose their last nerve with and then feel like they’ve come up short with, not many who will be that for them, that they start wondering if alternative personalities would work better.

That’s why they (and us) need people in our lives who will define the relationship at the beginning.

Hey, _____ (middle school kid). You’re the most like-you person that we know, and I want to know more about you as I’m learning how to be me.

Hey, ______ (insert your name). You’re the most YOU thing that I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t want to not know you!

I want to be true of me.

I would love for people to be able to say, “Of all the Brooklyn Lindseys in the world, you’re the Brooklyn Lindseyiest.”

I would love for people to feel safe without all of the things that life promises will bring honesty, vulnerability, bravery, truth and joy. And feel better about having honesty, vulnerability, bravery, truth and joy because we are our truest selves.

If I be true and you be true—then there will be a lot more true in the world.

Let’s keep this movie line in mind as we head into another year. You’ll stand out because you’ll be the only you that people have ever known, and they’ll be amazed by who that person is and all that they have to give.

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown.

I hope we make you proud.

(And Thanks God. For making me who I am. For making my friends who they are. For giving us grace as we are all learning how to be more of that.)

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Discipleship Through Lunchboxes

By
Matt Morgan
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It’s time to go back to school.

I can hear the collective groan of children from all over the city. The memory-making events of summer are coming to a close, and parents’ days will soon be filled with school supplies, homework, pickup lines and trying to fit all five food groups into that tiny lunch box!

I dreaded the first day of school every year. Well, every year except for one. The year I started second grade, my excitement was off the charts. I just knew that I was going to be the talk of the school because of my new G.I. Joe lunchbox.

This lunch box was bright red with locking latch. The front was decorated with the battle-ready cast of the cartoon. But the pièce de résistance was the Thermos. It featured a matching G.I. Joe design, and it had the lid that could also be used as cup. There was something classy and sophisticated about a second grader who could pour Kool-Aid into a cup and sip as if drinking tea with the Queen of England.

Whether your child has a G.I. Joe lunchbox or a paper sack, you can make it a great discipleship tool by including a special note from you.

Deuteronomy 6 specifically commands parents to pass faith on to children as they go throughout the day. Imagine your son or daughter sitting down for lunch, opening their lunchbox, and finding a special note from you to remind them of who God is and what He has done. These lunchbox notes can be your way of speaking Truth to your children even when you can’t be with them throughout the day.

Three types of notes that could be used to disciple your child through their lunchbox:

Affirmations or Encouragement

Every child needs and wants to hear encouragement from their parents. As you see the unique gifts and character that God has placed in your child, be sure to acknowledge and affirm that to them.

Try not to make this about their performance. Instead, focus on what the Holy Spirit is doing in them and through them. An example might be a note that says: I have noticed how patient you are with your little brother lately. I can see the Holy Spirit working in you.

Scripture and Prayer

There is nothing more necessary for children than to know Scripture. In a world of information, some children may not understand the authority of the Bible. As a parent, you can help them to store up God’s Word in their hearts.

This type of lunchbox note can be as simple as a Bible verse that you’ve been talking about as a family and a prayer. It might also include a question that the family will discuss at dinner. For example, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14 God, help Maggie know that she was created in a wonderful way for a wonderful purpose. Help her to feel Your amazing love today!

Challenge

What kid doesn’t love a challenge? As children are growing in their faith, challenge them to apply it. This type of lunchbox note is geared to helping your son or daughter be more intentional in how they live out the Gospel in their school. Here’s an example: A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17 I challenge you to ask a friend or teacher this question: What’s one thing that is making you worry? Tonight, our family will pray for that person and for God to give them peace in that one thing!

The beginning of the school year is a great opportunity to be intentional in the discipleship of your child. As you’re packing their lunch with PB & J and handi-snacks, write a special note to encourage them, pray over them or challenge them in their faith.

This article originally appeared here.

8 Questions the Early Church Might Ask Our Churches

By
Chuck Lawless
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As I read through the scriptures, I think often of the dramatic, radical faith of the early believers. Then, I spend a lot of time in churches in North America whose faith, frankly, seems weak. I wonder if the early church might ask us these questions today:

  1. Where is Jesus in your preaching? Church historian Michael Green has written that the early church “preached a person.”[i] I’m not sure the same can be said of much of contemporary preaching.
  2. Why do you tolerate sin? The early church sometimes did this, too (see 1 Cor. 5, for example), but they learned the importance of holiness. I suspect they’d be surprised by a church that looks much like the world.
  3. Do you really believe Jesus is coming back? Knowing that Jesus could come back at any moment, the early believers lived with a sense of urgency that marked all their life. Now, centuries closer to His return, we seem to have lost that urgency.
  4. What is your faith costing you? The early church knew the reality of persecution, and they came to understand it to be part of Christianity. They would have little framework for understanding complaints about, for example, the church building being too hot or too cold…
  5.  Why do your pastors do most of the work? Again, Michael Green captures the picture of the early church: “This [spreading the Good News] must often have been not formal preaching, but the informal chattering to friends and chance acquaintances, in homes and wine shops, on walks, and around market stalls. They went everywhere gossiping the gospel.”[ii] My hunch is that these early believers would not see much “gossiping the gospel” among laypersons today.
  6. Do you believe in the powers?  When Paul warned them about principalities and powers (Eph. 6:12), they understood his words. I grant that our Western worldview is different from theirs, but they would have little room for denying that such powers exist.
  7. Why do baptism and the Lord’s Supper mean so little to you? These identifying acts were pivotal for the early church; in fact, they were sometimes even dangerous. Simply treating baptism and the Lord’s Supper as an add-on to the service would make little sense to them.
  8. Why aren’t your churches growing? Multiple times the book of Acts describes the growth of the early church (e.g., 2:41, 2:47, 4:4, 5:14, 6:1, 6:7, 8:12). The statements are so recurrent, in fact, that it seems the church just expected people to respond to the gospel. I’m not sure what they’d think about churches where the majority are plateaued or in decline.

So, what do we do? We must not get discouraged and give up; rather, we begin to pray, “God, make us the church You want us to be. Use us to turn cities upside down.”

[i]Michael Green, Evangelism In The Early Church(p. 211). Kindle Edition.

[ii]Ibid., p. 243. Kindle Edition.

This article originally appeared here.

Why Church Leadership Is Such a Crazy Emotional Roller Coaster

By
Carey Nieuwhof
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Life is emotional. But if you’re in church leadership, it feels like it’s even a little more emotional.

As in, crazy-emotional-roller-coaster emotional.

That’s true even if you think of yourself as more rational than emotional. Sometimes you get surprised by how intense ministry is. I started out in my 20s as a lawyer, so emotion wasn’t really a huge part of my wiring.

But within a few years of beginning ministry, I realized that if I didn’t figure out how to navigate the emotions of ministry, I probably wouldn’t make it in the long run.

And looking back on my time in ministry so far, I can honestly say the biggest crises I’ve had to navigate have not been spiritual or vocational nearly as much as they’ve been emotional.

What I mean by that is I didn’t know how to emotionally cope with the demands of my calling. And, sadly, if you can’t emotionally cope with the demands of your calling, you’ll likely abandon it. Not because you want to, but because you can’t figure out a way to make it work anymore.

My biggest challenges for both paid staff and volunteers seem to involve handling the pressures, challenges and criticism of ministry.

So, to that end: Why is ministry so emotional for so many?

Here’s my theory. Ministry combines three areas of life that are intensely personal:

Your faith

Your work

And your community

Because of that, it gets confusing.

What you do is what you believe.

What you believe is what you do.

Your friends are also the people you serve and lead.

Throw your family into the mix (because they believe what you believe and are friends with the people you/they lead and serve) and bam—it’s even more confusing.

Because of this, things that normally happen at work very seldom stay at work.

Here are three common pitfalls many ministry leaders struggle with:

1. Disagreements at Home

You and your spouse end up arguing about being out ‘one more night’ at a meeting or event.

But because ‘what you do is what you believe’ you feel that staying home is somehow being ‘unfaithful’ to God.

Cue perpetual conflict right there…unless you figure out how to stop it.

2. Taking Criticism Personally

You get an email or comment criticizing something you said in a message, and you’re really bothered by it. It’s more troubling because you’re not sure whether it means you’ve somehow failed God, not just your employer.

And then guess what? You bring that home to your spouse, who also loves God.

Repeat that pattern multiple times and your spouse can end up resenting the very place that’s supposed to be her spiritual home and the spiritual home of your kids.

Church leaders should take criticism seriously, but not personally. Still, that’s easier said than done.

3. Friendship

One of the worst forms of hurt can come when someone you consider to be a friend becomes a critic of your ministry. I’ve had this happen to me a few times, and it hurts deeply. When people you share your life with quietly (or not so quietly) start to work against you, it’s very difficult to navigate.

If you don’t navigate these issues well, here’s what can happen as a result.

You:

begin to resent the church you serve

have no idea how to navigate a personal life in the vortex of ministry

stop trusting people

dream of getting out of ministry on your bad days

build up a resentment you’re not sure how to get rid of

You probably think only the way to get off the emotional roller coaster of ministry is to quit.

It’s not.

You don’t have to abandon your calling, even though we live in an age where many do. It’s so tragic, because there is a way to survive, and even thrive.

Believe it or not, there is a way to stay in ministry and not engage all of the emotional twists and turns that leave so many leaders wrung out.

Knowing the reason why ministry is emotional is half the battle, but the other half is about practices you follow to stay healthy.

Remembering ‘Maverick’ John McCain as a Man of Faith

By
Megan Briggs
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John McCain was best known for service in the United States Senate. Representing Arizona as a Republican, McCain was often called a “maverick” for his bipartisan efforts and more moderate political views on certain topics. He ran for President twice, in 2000 and 2008. McCain was also a man of faith.

Born in 1936, McCain was destined to have a military career. Both his father and grandfather served as Admirals in the United States Navy. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, McCain served as a pilot. During the Vietnam war, he was captured and held in a POW camp from 1967 to 1973. McCain often said it was his faith that sustained him through those long years as a prisoner.

John McCain’s Faith

Although not known for his faith as much as his military and political career, John McCain was raised Episcopalian and attended North Phoenix Baptist Church in Arizona for several years with his family. He spoke about his faith on various occasions in interviews. We’ve collected some of the highlights below.

“I pray every day. I ask for guidance. I ask for strength. I don’t ask for personal success. I think it’s wrong. When I was in prison, I told my fellow prisoners, don’t pray to go home. Pray to go home with honor, if it be God’s will, not just under any circumstances…”

“There were times when I didn’t pray for one more day or one more hour, but I prayed for one more minute. So I have very little doubt that it was reliance on someone stronger than me that not only got me through, but got me through honorably.”

About being the honorary chaplain in his prison camp: “because I knew all of the words of the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed.”

“No matter where you are, no matter how difficult things are, there’s always going to be someone of your faith and your belief and your devotion to your fellow man who will pick you up and help you out and bring you through.”

On attending North Phoenix Baptist Church: “I came into that church, I sat down, I got the message of redemption and love and forgiveness, and it resonated with me. I found going to that church was beneficial to me in my life.”

John McCain’s Family Asks for Prayers

In July of 2017, after a surgery to remove a blood clot above his eye, McCain was diagnosed with glioblastoma, which is a very aggressive brain tumor. McCain continued his work as a senator as he sought treatment for the cancer, even remaining in Washington D.C. until December 2017. After that time, he went home to Arizona to continue more treatment.

On August 24, 2018, McCain’s daughter, Meghan, took to Twitter to announce her father had decided to cease receiving treatments for the glioblastoma. She thanked her followers for praying for her father and family.

Just one day later, McCain passed away at his home in Arizona. Again, Meghan McCain took to Twitter to announce her father’s passing.

John McCain was 81 years old. He leaves behind many friends, supporters and family members who deeply appreciate the service he offered the United States.

Preaching With the Expectation of a Miracle

By
Dr. Josh Buice
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Are you a pastor or an elder who regularly gives himself to preaching the Word? Perhaps you’re an evangelist who labors in preaching. How often do you anticipate miracles when you preach? No, I’m not referring to signs and wonders, but I’m talking about something much bigger than speaking in tongues and the healing of a blind man—I’m talking about a resurrection. In fact, I’m referring to the new birth where a dead sinner is resurrected from the dead and reconciled to God.

One of the fundamental differences between teaching and preaching is that while both forms of communication deliver information, it’s in the preaching of the gospel that we are calling for a verdict. How often does the preacher enter the pulpit with a proper focus on the material that he has studied and prepared to deliver without looking into the eyes of the people and expecting a miracle? It was said of Charles Spurgeon that each time he approached the pulpit, at each stair as he ascended the sacred desk he was repeating, “I need the Holy Spirit, I need the Holy Spirit.”

When Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, he talked about the ministry of reconciliation and the message of reconciliation. It was through the ministry and the delivery of this message (the message of the cross) that dead sinners are awakened by the Spirit of God (2 Cor. 5:18-21). If God is the One who raises the dead, why do we not preach with an expectant heart that God can do it again during the preaching of the gospel each time we stand before a congregation? Have we become more focused on our delivery style, our eloquence, our illustrations or the enticing words of man’s wisdom?

Far too often, preachers labor in the office to craft their sermon on Sunday, March 1, 1891—”The first motion toward reconciliation is never from the sinner, but always from God.”

I can no more make someone come to Christ and be reconciled to God than I can to stand in a cemetery across the road from our church campus and call dead people to come from the ground. I can’t do it. Only God can raise the dead physically and only God can raise the dead spiritually. That’s what the new birth is—a spiritual resurrection. Therefore fellow ambassador, remember that you are unable to perform the miracle of the new birth, but God can, and when you preach the gospel anticipate the impossible, because with our God all things are possible.

Ephesians 2:1–9 — And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

This article originally appeared here.

Start Writing, Pastor: The Three Most Important Steps Are Also the Hardest!

By
Joe McKeever
-
thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write this for a memorial in a book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua…’” (Exodus 17:14).

Pastors say, “When I retire, I’m going to write a book.”

It’s like a mantra. What are you going to do in your retirement, pastor? “Write a book.”

And he thinks he will. A book of his best sermons. A book of his most memorable stories. A book recounting the headaches, heartaches and blessings from all the churches he has served.

That’s the plan.

Most never will write that book. And the big reason is inertia. It’s so hard to make ourselves do something we’ve never done before.

So, the best advice is: Get started now.

Step one: Do it. This is the hardest.   

Make yourself take the first baby steps. Open your computer.

Then, open the Word program and start a folder. Start typing. You can always delete anything you decide not to keep. But first, just start typing.

Tell what you did yesterday. What you had for breakfast today. About the last television program you enjoyed. The most memorable conversation you had in the last week. The best thing anyone said to you this month. The most delicious bite you’ve had since your last birthday. Anything. Just start writing.

Start folders on the following topics:

–My life when I was 10 years old.

–Why I decided to go into the ministry.

–Questions I’d love to ask the Apostle Paul.

–What I wish I’d done 20 years ago.

–The best thing about being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

–50 things I love about my wife.

And then…

Each day when you turn on the laptop, go to those folders, one at a time. Open it, and glance over what you’ve already written, and then start adding to it.

Then, go to the next folder and repeat.

Soon, you will realize you’ve been typing for a full 30 minutes or more. And you’re the one who said you didn’t have anything to write about!

What you are doing with this little exercise is…

–getting started. Remember, we said that’s the hardest thing about writing a book? And now, you’ve gotten started. Good for you.

–learning to put your thoughts on paper. (OK, on cyber-paper.)

–finding your voice. The only way to “find your voice” is to write a lot. Soon, you will decide you like a certain way of expressing yourself and do not care for the other ways you’ve tried.

Now, the next step—the second hardest step to writing—is to keep it up.

–Stay with this. If the hardest step is getting started, the second hardest is to keep it up.

People who write books—and I mean busy people like yourself who are not able to retreat into a mountain setting for six months and come out with a book—know that the way to do this is write something every day.

Write some every day.

And you will probably find the way to do that is to find a 30-minute slot in your schedule when you can sit at the computer and write. For most people, that time is early in the morning.

And the third step is to edit it.

Go back to what you wrote last week and tweak it.

People who write all the time—those who have long since gotten past the first two steps of “starting” and “staying with it”—say editing their work is the hardest part of writing. It is now, but it wasn’t originally. Originally, there was nothing to edit because you hadn’t put anything on paper. But now that you have, now you go back and improve on it.

Simply stated, editing means to make your writing better. At first, your goal was to “get it down.” Then, you let it “set” for a few days. And now, you can return to it and read it objectively.

Most writers and bloggers will tell you it’s nearly impossible to edit something they have just written. There are exceptions, but they’re rare. Most of us have to leave the piece and come back the next day or next week in order to see the writing dispassionately.

So, now, looking over what we have written, we will…

–correct misspellings and typos.

–strike out redundancies. You said the same thing twice. “But I did that for emphasis,” someone protests. “I always repeat myself in sermons.” Yes, but you don’t do it in writing. For a written piece, the reader can return to what you said and reread it for themselves.

–shorten and tighten it up. Take out all the unnecessary verbiage. For instance: “As a matter of fact, I thought to myself, that’s exactly what we ought to do.” How would you tighten that up? You would remove everything unneeded. That sentence will function just as well as “And that’s what we need to do.”

–be sure not to overly edit it. Leave your personality in. I’m thinking of some published Bible studies done by a favorite seminary professor. He had the most wonderful personality and his classes were a delight. However, by the time his Bible studies had been filtered through a half-dozen editors, there was no personality left. A robot could have written it. And I hated what that did to his writing.

There are many more things to do to become an accomplished and successful writer. You may want to subscribe to Writer’s Digest (writersdigest.com). You may want to visit your local library and check out the books on good writing. Don’t fail to learn the basics of writing, something many of us missed in the ninth grade (subjects and verbs agree, stuff like that).

Have fun with your writing, otherwise you won’t stay with it.

Someone asks, “What am I going to do with what I have written?” Answer: Ask the Lord. Ask your wife. And keep writing while you’re waiting.

This article originally appeared here.

5 Shared Characteristics Needed to Do Church Planting or Church Revitalization

By
Ron Edmondson
-
thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Church planting is a difficult but rewarding assignment in ministry. So is church revitalization. In 16 years as a pastor I was blessed to participate in two of each—two church plants and two revitalizations. Along the way I tried to make the case wherever I could that we need both—planting and revitalization.

All pastors and planters should operate under a calling of God, but it does appear to me there are some unique qualifications for those who want to start a church or transition it to grow again.

From my experience, I see characteristics I believe it takes to be effective in both worlds.

Here are five:

An entrepreneurial spirit

There is an element of enjoying risk—certainly of being willing to assume risk—in most church planters and church revitalization pastors I have met. You have to love things that are new and growing. There needs to be an entrepreneurial spirit about them, embracing change readily and becoming bored with status-quo. This characteristic can bring its own problems, which leads to number two.

Willingness to be patient

Effective planters or revitalization pastors are willing to be patient for God to do His work. The balance between these first two is a constant challenge, because church planters and revitalization pastors are wired to want continual growth, but to be effective they must develop a good plan, surround themselves with the right people, and then wait as God does His work among them.

Have people who believe in you

Church planting or church revitalization is not to be a lone ranger activity. Without the structure of an established church, church planters must depend on people to help develop ministries and systems. Effective church planters learn to rely on volunteers for success and are willing to share leadership and responsibility with others to plant the church. Revitalization pastors are changing an establishment. This can be brutal. There must be some key leaders in the church who will back them in their work—and be there through the hard decisions where it will sometimes seem they have more enemies than friends.

Healthy family life

Church planting and revitalization is a family activity. In both worlds, to be effective, he or she must have a healthy family life. Ministry is tough—this is true for all ministries, but church planting and revitalization, because of the unique uncertainties and risks involved, places additional stress on a marriage and family. Effective church planters and revitalization pastors must begin with and maintain a healthy families.

Close, intimate walk with God

Church planting and revitalization will test a person’s faith many times. Church planting is not always popular in some church communities and can make a planter feel like an outcast in the church community. Revitalization brings challenge to leadership from within. The risks involved and the waiting process challenge both. Like all ministries, these are acts of faith and require constant communication with God. Effective church planters and revitalization pastors must continue to build and draw upon a strong relationship with Christ throughout the process.

When I speak to pastors these days, I close with one word of encouragement: YOU MUST PROTECT YOUR SOUL. No one will do this for you. There will always be more demands on your time than you have time. You’ll have to discipline yourself to regularly sit with the Creator of your soul.

Again, many of these are not unique to church planters or revitalization pastors and are shared by others in ministry—even in many secular settings—but my experience as a planter and revitalization pastor leads me to believe these are critical needs for these ministries.

This article originally appeared here.

John MacArthur on Social Justice: It’s Heresy

By
Megan Briggs
-
thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

John MacArthur, noted pastor and author from Sun Valley, California, is raising the alarm over the latest movement in the church that he believes “has penetrated deep into the culture of the church, and the end effect is disaster.”

Ever since the book of Acts was recorded, church fathers have warned Christians about the greatest threat to Christianity: false doctrine rising in their ranks. And chief among those today who provide those warnings is John MacArthur who sees himself as the protector of the truth.

But is that truth the truth as MacArthur sees it? Could that truth be perceived through a generational lens that may, in fact, keep him and others from pursuing what God has called the church to do? Not everyone agrees with John MacArthur in his latest assertion that social justice is “the most subtle and dangerous threat so far.”

John MacArthur Targets “Evangelicals’ Obsession With Social Justice” 

MacArthur’s latest concern is to call out the increasingly popular “social justice” gospel as a dangerous false doctrine. He writes, “It’s my conviction that much of the rhetoric about this latest issue poses a more imminent and dangerous threat to the clarity and centrality of the gospel than any other recent controversy evangelicals have engaged in.”

MacArthur writes on his Grace to You blog that “evangelicalism’s newfound obsession with the notion of ‘social justice’ is a significant shift—and I’m convinced it’s a shift that is moving many people (including some key evangelical leaders) off message, and onto a trajectory that many other movements and denominations have taken before, always with spiritually disastrous results.”

Is Social Justice a Dangerous Threat to the Gospel?

Other leading experts may agree with John MacArthur on some points, such as the danger of an exclusive “social justice” emphasis becoming THE ONLY mission of the church. However, theologians and church leaders like James Emery White, pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, write that “social ministry should not be paired against evangelism. We should extend the Bread of Life as well as bread for the stomach. But we must never begin, and end, with the stomach alone.”

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