When you think about presenting or teaching or delivering a message, is there a helpful framework that guides how you structure the message? Preparing content is critical, but so is preparing how you will deliver the content. When I was serving as a student pastor and driving to seminary on my day off (long before…
Preaching
My 3 Goals in Preaching
In the last decade I have invested a lot of time in public speaking. With employee meetings, plenary sessions, breakouts at conferences, consulting ministry leaders, and speaking on books I have written, I have given hundreds and hundreds of leadership and ministry presentations. I have also preached weekly for the last several years as teaching…
5 Things Pastors Dread Hearing After Preaching a Sermon
Preaching is simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting. Though I am not sure how it could be proven, some have articulated that preaching one sermon is as emotionally and psychologically taxing as an eight-hour workday. If you are like me, you know you should rest in the promise that His Word does not return void, yet you…
Links for Leaders 8/26/16
Central to just about any leadership role is the oft-difficult task of making decisions. Some decisions are small, insignificant, and relatively easy to make. Some decisions, however, are big, weighty, and hard to make. Michael Kelley shares about how we might make decisions in light of the sovereignty of God. Leaders face trials and temptations…
Links for Leaders 2/19/16
Most people dread meetings. Often, meetings are organized to address a project or problem that is worth addressing, but far too often, meetings are more trouble than they’re worth. This week, Selma Wilson, with whom I am blessed to work, shares some ways you can make meetings more effective and increase results. “It’s ultimately up…
Ministry Makes You More Holy or More Hypocritical
Ministry will make you more holy or more of a hypocrite. Ministering to others will drive you to the Word, to your knees in prayer, and to a holy dependence on God OR ministering to others will confront you with the opportunity to pretend to be someone you are not. Ministry will develop you or…
Fighting Blue Monday: Be Helpful, Not Great
The following post is by Doug Hankins. Doug Hankins is the Teaching Pastor at LifePoint Church, an American church historian, and an author of Dawson Trotman: In His Own Words. Doug holds a PhD From Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He blogs at doughankins.com. This post originally appeared on the LifeWay Church Leaders blog. Blue Monday. If…
Leading from the Pulpit
I remember the criticism well. The pastor of the church I was serving had just finished sharing his heart during the sermon about a direction he and a community of leaders sensed the Lord was leading the church. He wasn’t leading alone. Prayer and discussion had taken place in community with other leaders—some staff and…
3 Observations from Being an Interim Pastor
I have been serving as the interim preaching minister for Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, Tennessee, since January, my very first interim role. It has been a really fun and encouraging experience. The people of Englewood are so gracious and encouraging, and they are a fun people to preach to because they love the Word….