Cal Newport contends that “following your passion” is bad advice. Why? Because many interesting careers have complicated origin stories (13). It’s not just, “Hey, I loved doing this, and then found the perfect job which matched my love. Often, people stumble into a field. Being passionate about often takes time and mastery (17). Telling people…
"I don't have to feel guilty in my relationship with the Lord, because it's my relationship with God." An older, wiser pastor spoke those words to me while we ate lunch together a few months ago. He told me that in his church circles, other pastors constantly exhort one another to follow certain kinds of devotional…
All Community Group Leaders have questions. But not all Group Leaders have the same questions. Rather than having to sit through training and hear answers to questions you're not asking, the Group Leader's Toolbox is a collection of resources that you can look through and find what's useful to you! The Format Each resource answers a common (or…
I learned nothing new from this book. And that's a good thing! Because it means that we're (generally) on the right track in our discussions about church planting as pastors and elders. The Nuts and Bolts of Church Planting by Aubrey Malphurs is a basic template for planting just about any kind of church. The steps…
Bible reading methods are not created equal. Some methods will lead you down a path of legalism and bondage. They place the emphasis on what you must do. Other methods will take verses horribly out of context in the attempt to make them relevant to your life. Those kinds of methods will not help you.…
Do you struggle to memorize Scripture? Do you find yourself constantly distracted? Unable to focus on what matter’s most? Join the club. So what can you do about it? Enter Deep Work by Cal Newport. In his book, Newport identifies that an epidemic of people living distracted and consequently unproductive lives exist. Read more over at Rookie Preacher.
So far, we've looked at what the Bible says about female deacons. Then he saw how the church has handled the issue through its history. Now, I want to show how allowing female deacons actually protects and strengthens a church's commitment to male eldership. Elder vs. Deacon It is important to remember that elders and deacons…
Trying to lead while being disorganized is like running a marathon with bricks strapped to your feet. Doable, but unnecessarily difficult. Get organized to lead better. Most definitions of “organization” focus of things being orderly. That’s a good start. But I look at being organized this way: having easy access to what you need to get the…
As pastors, we're called to shepherd the flock (1 Peter 5:2). In fact, God holds us accountable for our shepherding (Hebrews 13:17). What does it look like to shepherd? Read the whole thing over at Rookie Preacher.
"Blogging the Institutes" is my on-going attempt to paraphrase John Calvin's work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion. You can find out more about the series in the Introduction. For all the posts in this series, check out the Master List. Proof that the Son is God I'm not going to talk about the Son as the…
Raising Lazarus 