I read this article this morning and thought I would pass it along. It's a good reminder for those of us in full-time ministry but can really apply to long-term success in any industry. ***************** The burnout rate among pastors and ministry leaders is alarmingly high but easily preventable. The number of leaders who leave ministry because of discouragement is just as high. Recently, I was talking with a long time pastor friend, and we were talking about sustainability in ministry and crossing the finish line as old pastors who still loved the church. We decided there were three crucial elements that must be present for this to happen. 1. Ministry must be for the kingdom Our motive for everything we do must be for building God’s kingdom and not our personal church empires. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell the difference, but if we keep our hearts honest, we will…
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Yesterday I had the privilege of preaching at Elevation Christian Church in Aurora. On the previous weekend, they celebrated their one-year anniversary as a church. Scott Bloyer, Ryan Duncan, and the rest of the team have done a great job of launching a healthy church. Elevation has grown from just a handful of people to nearly 200 in just one year. But that only tells part of the story. Most importantly, lives have been reclaimed for God and people are finding their way back to Him. Over 60 people have been baptized in twelve months. For me, I enjoyed the time in between services. I would ask people how long they had been at Elevation and answers ranged "from day one" to "just last week." Then they would tell me their stories. I left Elevation further convinced that church planting is the best way to expand the Kingdom of God.…
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As Christians, we often think of resurrection as something that happens after we die. After all, Jesus was resurrected after he died. This resurrection is something we hope for, believing that this life is only the beginning of one that never ends. But there is another aspect of resurrection that we need to keep in mind: we've been given new life right here, right now. When we give our lives to Jesus, our resurrection begins: "... having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead" (Colossians 2:12). To make his point even clearer, Paul writes: "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins ..." (Colossians 2:13). If you lived every moment in this new resurrection,…
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"For most of us, the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them." John Ortberg in an article, "Taking Care of Busyness" Posted from WordPress for Android
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The late pastor Dr. George Truett (First Baptist of Dallas) once said: "God will not ask you what kind of a church you lived in but what kind of church you longed for." What kind of church do you long for? Jesus described the type of church I long for: "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." (Matthew 16:18) A church that is on the offensive. A church that is taking the battle to the darkness. Posted from WordPress for Android
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