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Leadership

5 Things That Can Steal Your Joy in Pastoral Ministry

Pastoral ministry isn’t supposed to be fun; it will not always make you happy but it shouldn’t ever steal your joy. Joy isn’t affected by circumstances on the ground; or at least it isn’t supposed to be. Joy is about knowing who you are and whose you are. It is about knowing what has been done for you and what has been given to you through the life and death of Jesus Christ. The ups and downs of pastoral ministry can neither add to nor take away from the truth of your identity in Christ. That is a fact. And...

Paul Carter

He Knows Not How

Paul Carter

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...

A Stop Doing List for Pastors

Darryl Dash

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...

Journaling

Set an Example

Darryl Dash

Tim Keller founded Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York. He’s written best-selling books like Making Sense of God and The Reason for God. He’s cofounder of The Gospel Coalition. When I quote him, I can assume that at least half the people in my congregation know who he is. But I still remember the first day I heard of him. In 2005, I read D.A. Carson’s book Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church. Carson mentioned a congregation in New York that wasn’t perfect, but that had “many wholly admirable features.” They understood postmodern New York culture; they lived their message...

New York City

From Pragmatism to the Gospel

Darryl Dash

In early 2008, I was in my tenth year of pastoring a church that had a strong past but needed revitalizing. Things weren’t going well. I’d tried a number of approaches based on leadership strategies I’d read encountered through books and seminars. I was the epitome of a pragmatic pastor. I had good theology, but I was unable to translate that theology into how I pastored. I was discouraged and on my way to quitting. An Encounter with Jack Miller I began to read The Heart of a Servant Leader by Jack Miller, a former pastor and seminary professor. In...

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