This year I celebrate 40 years of service as a staff member at a Southern Baptist church. For the past 36 years, I’ve served as a senior pastor in four SBC churches. Each church was different in size and membership make-up. All have been a blessing. Early on... Read More »

Each week we want to give our people the best sermon we have ever preached. We pray for God’s wisdom and power. We study and write. We wordsmith and craft clear illustrations. We practice and we edit before we stand in that sacred place of proclamation to de... Read More »

Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Paul and Timothy. Mentorship is an established tradition within our faith. Proverbs 27:17 reads, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” It’s clear that we need each other. In 2 Timothy 2:2, an... Read More »

Mentoring is a prominent Christian/spiritual discipline.[1] This writer counts mentoring as one of eighteen spiritual disciplines – daily devotions, journaling, Scripture memorization, accountability/mentoring/guidance, character development, Bible intake, p... Read More »

If reporters interviewed pastors after worship as they do NFL athletes after Sunday games, I imagine I would step up to the podium and say:  “We gave it our best effort out there today, but we came up short. Yes, I spoke about the second person plural of th... Read More »

Creativity in ministry is a gift from God and our gifts are never exhausted, but what can stifle creativity in ministry is when we as leaders are exhausted. Most pastors I know are hardworking, tireless men who visit people in hospitals, do funerals, counsel m... Read More »

When asked by the Pharisees which command in the Law is the greatest, our Lord Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind…love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:37). For the pastor, t... Read More »

When my wife and I moved to Seattle, Washington, in 2015 to plant a church, we realized we must understand what our people loved if we were to love our city well.  Seattleites love their pro teams.  So, we jumped on the bandwagon and began going to Seattle M... Read More »

“Read widely, live observantly, and look up stuff.” —Dr. McCarty’s watchword   One of the keys to staying sharp as a preacher is to continually hone your powers to illustrate and to apply biblical texts. This need is often expressed to me by preac... Read More »

We can all admit that life can be pretty busy and chaotic at times. There are deadlines at work, chores around the house, errands to run, time to spend with family, and so much more. The life of the pastor can also be busy. Between making visits, appointments ... Read More »

I say “amen” Sunday night after the concluding prayer, thankful to God for another opportunity to minister but tired from a busy day. There’s great relief, however it doesn’t last long because quickly I’m reminded of the next Bibl... Read More »

On this date, the Christian world—of every stripe and denomination—stops to remember the moment an Augustinian friar nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenburg. In that moment, something happened that was far beyond the imagination of the... Read More »