5 Questions on Leadership and Ministry

The Cost of Leadership

When people are thrust into a leadership position, they are sometimes surprised by the expectations. Leaders are viewed differently than everyone else. This is evident each time there is a presidential election. The candidates are grilled. Their backgrounds are checked, rechecked, and checked again. Minor missteps are made front page news and dissected on 24 […]

When Hearing Fails

It has happened to all of us. We spend hours preparing what we believe is a great sermon. We sacrifice time and energy. We wrestle with God’s word. We meditate on holy Scripture. We whittle down our thoughts until we think we have it. We cannot wait for Sunday morning to come. We get up […]

Relying on a Routine

Preaching is a creative process. A preacher spends each week in the Biblical text and then creates a sermon based on and inspired by the text of Scripture. Good preachers are creative. They understand Scripture, but they also understand how to convey Scripture to people setting in the pews. They understand how to apply Scripture […]

Musings

A Story of Faith and Hope For those of you who don’t know, my sister-in-law was born with a rare heart condition and has had multiple surgeries. She and my brother, who live in Oklahoma, have travelled as far as Cleveland, OH to have a surgery on her heart. They have both been an inspiration […]

Rethinking Leadership in Small Congregations

Churches of Christ are unique in that every congregation is autonomous. Local churches do not report to an overseeing body. Not only is this an attempt to recapture the church governance of the early church, but it has also worked pretty well. Local churches make the decisions, and one church cannot bind their beliefs or […]

What We Need To Do To Keep Our Ministers

Ministers are leaving. They are leaving ministry and some of them are leaving the church all together. Every situation is not the same and there are probably multiple reasons why ministers are choosing to get out. There was a time when I considered getting out of ministry. My primary reasons for considering this move was […]

Why I Left Ministry But Could Not Stay Away

I was recently approached by a fellow minister and asked if I would run their story on my blog anonymously. Typically I would refrain from publishing any anonymous post to my blog, but I felt this minister had some good reasons for wanting to stay anonymous. Around this same time two posts were going around […]

A Woman’s Point of View

On any given Sunday the preacher stands before the congregation and delivers a sermon to a mixed audience of both males and females. In many congregations, females outnumber males. It is important that preachers understand the makeup of the congregation they are a part of. Who is the congregation? What is their background? What ethnicities […]

Musings

What We Can Learn From Atheists This article has floated around the internet for a couple of weeks, but it is a great read. The author interviewed young atheists about their experience with church and the results are fascinating. The author writes, Some had gone to church hoping to find answers to these questions. Others […]