I recently challenged the pastors on our team to watch carefully both their lives and their teaching. The challenge is a repeat of the apostle Paul’s challenge to pastor Timothy: Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere…
Teaching
Pastors: Shepherd and Lead “the Teacher in You”
Kenton Beshore (my predecessor and pastor emeritus at our church) and I meet every other week for lunch, and I always learn something. Recently Kenton shared some helpful insight about managing the multiple responsibilities of a senior pastor. They would likely apply to other roles too. I am paraphrasing, but he essentially said: “You are…
4 Advantages of Advanced Planning for Sermons/Teaching Series
When I served as an executive and teaching pastor in Miami, I learned the benefit of planning sermons and teaching series months ahead. I don’t mean the entire sermon completely prepared, but a specific direction for a teaching series and a general direction for each sermon within the series. The advanced planning was not only…
“Why Do You Mainly Quote Dead People, Eric?”
Someone on my team recently asked me why, of all the people I quote when explaining a passage or a topic, I mainly quote dead people. I don’t exclusively quote dead people. And I don’t reference other’s thinking in all my sermons and definitely not in every point I am attempting to make. But it…
3 Things Every Group Leader Needs
I am honored to lead the Resources Division at LifeWay and serve with a team of leaders who are passionate to serve the Church in Her mission of making disciples. Each Wednesday, I share the heart behind one of the resources our team has developed and give an opportunity for you to register to win….
A Helpful Framework for Teaching in Ministry
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…
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…
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…