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Pastor’s Life
Ignoring God’s Limits: Embracing Rest

Ignoring God’s Limits: Embracing Rest

Fourteen years ago, I suffered heat stroke in sight of the finish line of a community race I’d been training to win. It was 80 degrees, with high humidity, and I’d trained for months in unusually cool-for-summer 70-degree mornings. I had my time goals for each mile —...

Listening to God’s Voice: Rediscovering Your Identity

Listening to God’s Voice: Rediscovering Your Identity

So often we try to find the plan for our lives based on those around us. We listen to what others say about us or the way the world defines us. We try to measure up to other people’s standards. We even look at people we think are successful in this world and then...

Liturgy in Worship: Rediscovering Depth

Liturgy in Worship: Rediscovering Depth

EACH WEEK, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of Christians all over the world go to church. There are some constants. In almost every church, Christians are praying, reading the Bible, hearing sermons, singing songs, and sometimes receiving the Lord’s Supper. There are also...

A Liturgy of Intercession for One in Ministry

A Liturgy of Intercession for One in Ministry

O God Who Faithfully Ministers to All, you have called us not only  to know you and love you, but also to become like you, pouring out our lives for the sake of others. You call all persons to this noble task, and some you particularly set apart as ministers in your...

Enduring Hope: A Pastor’s Guide – Christian Hope

Enduring Hope: A Pastor’s Guide – Christian Hope

God is not a hustler. And the hope he calls us to cannot be built on naive expectations that people will start seeing things the way we do. Our longing cannot be built on the arrogant assumption that we are completely right in the positions we take. It cannot even be...

Conquering Anxiety: Embracing God’s Love

Conquering Anxiety: Embracing God’s Love

I’ve come to believe in a better equation to describe what anxiety does: anxiety equals care minus God. We use the word care for both anxiety and love. We speak of not having a care in the world: that’s about anxiety. We tell someone we care for them: that’s love. The...

Persistent Faith: Overcoming Resistance

Persistent Faith: Overcoming Resistance

Here’s God’s honest truth—you aren’t the only one who’s looked giving up straight in the face. It doesn’t always feel that way, does it? There’s one feeling that frequently overwhelms me when I’m in the thick of trial: a sense of being alone. I’m the only one who’s...

The Unraveling of Ministry as a Profession

The Unraveling of Ministry as a Profession

Ministry Challenges There is a place for visionary leaders and wise guides in both very large and very small communities. But the bifurcation of congregational sizes creates a world in which a small number of ministers have great autonomy, financial security, and even...

Faith in the Midst of Doubt: A Pastor’s Journey

Faith in the Midst of Doubt: A Pastor’s Journey

“If you take my son, we’re done!” Drew screamed as he sobbed into the steering wheel of his car in the hospital parking lot. Drew had just come from the neonatal intensive care unit, where his son, Linden, lay in his mother’s arms. Linden had been born prematurely and...

Faith’s Tapestry: Memory’s Profound Role

Faith’s Tapestry: Memory’s Profound Role

Why can I remember the hospital transport person who graciously pushed my wife’s wheelchair as we left the hospital when my daughter was born, but for the life of me, I cannot remember his name? While his name might escape me, his gentleness and candor do not. I do...

Ignoring God’s Limits: Embracing Rest

Ignoring God’s Limits: Embracing Rest

Fourteen years ago, I suffered heat stroke in sight of the finish line of a community race I’d been training to win. It was 80 degrees, with high humidity, and I’d trained for months in unusually cool-for-summer 70-degree mornings. I had my time goals for each mile —...

Listening to God’s Voice: Rediscovering Your Identity

Listening to God’s Voice: Rediscovering Your Identity

So often we try to find the plan for our lives based on those around us. We listen to what others say about us or the way the world defines us. We try to measure up to other people’s standards. We even look at people we think are successful in this world and then...

Liturgy in Worship: Rediscovering Depth

Liturgy in Worship: Rediscovering Depth

EACH WEEK, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of Christians all over the world go to church. There are some constants. In almost every church, Christians are praying, reading the Bible, hearing sermons, singing songs, and sometimes receiving the Lord’s Supper. There are also...

A Liturgy of Intercession for One in Ministry

A Liturgy of Intercession for One in Ministry

O God Who Faithfully Ministers to All, you have called us not only  to know you and love you, but also to become like you, pouring out our lives for the sake of others. You call all persons to this noble task, and some you particularly set apart as ministers in your...

Enduring Hope: A Pastor’s Guide – Christian Hope

Enduring Hope: A Pastor’s Guide – Christian Hope

God is not a hustler. And the hope he calls us to cannot be built on naive expectations that people will start seeing things the way we do. Our longing cannot be built on the arrogant assumption that we are completely right in the positions we take. It cannot even be...

Conquering Anxiety: Embracing God’s Love

Conquering Anxiety: Embracing God’s Love

I’ve come to believe in a better equation to describe what anxiety does: anxiety equals care minus God. We use the word care for both anxiety and love. We speak of not having a care in the world: that’s about anxiety. We tell someone we care for them: that’s love. The...

Persistent Faith: Overcoming Resistance

Persistent Faith: Overcoming Resistance

Here’s God’s honest truth—you aren’t the only one who’s looked giving up straight in the face. It doesn’t always feel that way, does it? There’s one feeling that frequently overwhelms me when I’m in the thick of trial: a sense of being alone. I’m the only one who’s...

The Unraveling of Ministry as a Profession

The Unraveling of Ministry as a Profession

Ministry Challenges There is a place for visionary leaders and wise guides in both very large and very small communities. But the bifurcation of congregational sizes creates a world in which a small number of ministers have great autonomy, financial security, and even...

Faith in the Midst of Doubt: A Pastor’s Journey

Faith in the Midst of Doubt: A Pastor’s Journey

“If you take my son, we’re done!” Drew screamed as he sobbed into the steering wheel of his car in the hospital parking lot. Drew had just come from the neonatal intensive care unit, where his son, Linden, lay in his mother’s arms. Linden had been born prematurely and...

Faith’s Tapestry: Memory’s Profound Role

Faith’s Tapestry: Memory’s Profound Role

Why can I remember the hospital transport person who graciously pushed my wife’s wheelchair as we left the hospital when my daughter was born, but for the life of me, I cannot remember his name? While his name might escape me, his gentleness and candor do not. I do...

Helping Your Small Group Thrive

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