In this episode, the guys are joined by Student Worship Director Jerry Heinold from Grace Fellowship Church in Katy (Texas), to discuss how we can raise up the next generation of worship leaders.
Reproof is hard. But when practiced well, it’s a ministry that’s a gift to individuals and the church.
“Do you ever get frustrated by how many people don’t seem to change?” I asked. It was Monday. I’d just finished preaching another sermon. I’m encouraged by what’s happening in our little church, but to be honest, I sometimes feel discouraged too. People listen politely, but it’s hard to measure growth in people’s lives in the short term. It’s much easier to measure disappointment: people engaging in sin, people struggling with issues, people generally not doing the things that they most need to do. It’s the pastor’s dilemma: growth in grace can be hard to measure, but disappointments abound. Our...
This passage explains why I have always been skeptical of church growth authors and experts: The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; HE KNOWS NOT HOW. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come. (Mark 4:26–29 ESV, emphasis mine) HE KNOWS NOT HOW. Very often the explanation we give for the...
Business author Jim Collins suggests we develop a “stop doing” list so that we discard activities that don’t fit because of our passions and convictions. I like that idea, but rather than making up our own, I suggest we borrow from Paul’s list of activities that have no place in Christian ministry, all found in 2 Corinthians. I hope they’re not so much a “stop doing” list as much as a list of things we’ve never done and will never even consider. And they’re not as much a reflection of our passions as much as they are implications of the...
