“I Should Have Been Doing Most of What I Did as a Student Pastor”

I followed a living legend in Kenton Beshore when I became senior pastor of Mariners Church six months ago. I have enjoyed learning from Kenton and I look forward to learning more from him. He said something in a meeting the other day that resonated with me and challenged me. He was speaking about his […]

Day Off for Ministry Leaders: a Case for Mondays and a Case for Fridays

“Why do you take a day-off during the week? The devil doesn’t take a day off!” said one cranky old man to a young pastor. “Because I am not trying to be like the devil” quipped the pastor. Well done, pastor. Well done. Ministry leaders must take a day off each week or they lack […]

5 Lessons in Seven Years of Serving the “Capital C” Church

Nearly seven years ago I stepped out of serving one local church and into a role designed to serve the broader Church, as one of the vice-presidents at LifeWay Christian Resources. Each year we serve 60,000 plus churches with some type of resource. It has been a deep honor to be in this role and […]

3 Negative Implications of Shrinking Pastoral Honeymoons

After Kaye and I announced we were getting married nearly 22 years ago, a common question was “Where are you going on your honeymoon?” It was a common question because people believe it is important for a couple to enjoy some time together and not just jump into the fast pace of life immediately after […]

4 Reasons Why Pastoral Honeymoons Are Shrinking

In the last several years, I have had many conversations with pastors who have expressed surprise over how short “the honeymoon” period was at their new church. At first I thought that maybe it was a few isolated cases, but I have been hearing it continually for several years. All of these pastors had served […]

Apology to the Replacement Refs…

After Green Bay lost Monday night on this incredibly inaccurate call (one ref signaling an interception while the other signaled a touchdown), sports fans and pundits began to demand change and an apology from the NFL Commissioner to fans, teams, players, and coaches. While I feel badly for all of the above, I feel worse […]