Years ago, most people would wake up on Sunday mornings and get ready for church. Not so in the post-Christian community of today. That doesn’t mean everyone isn’t a believer, but that the culture as a whole has forgotten and abandoned their Christian roots and values. Today people don’t even think of church. Our church…
Category: Ministry
A Case for the Small Church
One of my priorities for our Conference is for our pastors and leaders to attend a conference or seminar. I believe the time away is refreshing and needed, providing fresh input and encouragement. Momentum and energy are generated, there’s refreshment from gathering with like-minded Christ-followers beyond the challenge of new ideas. So during these past…
Signs, Signs, Everywhere A Sign
We all notice signs. They direct us. Inform us. One of the places we tend to think signs don’t really matter is in and around our church buildings. After all, we know where everything is, right? The problem is new people don’t know! Lack of signs shows that we don’t expect guests. LET’S TALK… When…
The Necessity of Noticing
It was the great theologian Yogi Berra who said: “You can observe a lot by just watching.” It’s easy not to notice. We pay attention to what is in front of us, blinded to other people and things around us. We need to be better noticers. In fact, I don’t think we can be effective…
Tend Your Own Gardening
A number of us pastors are at a prayer retreat at Cannon Beach. I love to get away to spend time with God and encourage one another! It’s a joy and privilege to be together in this way. One of our pastors mentioned how we “must stay in our lane” meaning that it is too…
Suffering: The Standard of Leadership
When we became vocational ministers, we envisioned leading people to Jesus; we anticipated families finding healing; we dreamed of lives restores and hearts redeemed. The hard truth is that while that is true, much of the time, for every spiritual high, there is a corresponding low. Life is made up of the tension between joy…
After Easter
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Did you have a great Easter? Many of you have had increased attendance. You offered extra services, including Good Friday. It’s been wonderful: families were healed, lives were restored, people came to faith. Wow! But, now what? What do you do after Easter? LET’S TALK… What we do…
Three Things Every Pastor Must Do
Sometimes we make things too complicated. As pastors, we can get so busy that we forget the things that are really needed. A while back I read a blog by James MacDonald that just made sense to me. It was entitled “Three Things Every Pastor Must Do.” Just three things.
Four Life Lessons from Billy Graham
As we all know, last week, Billy Graham passed away at the age of 99. He had almost seven decades of faithful and fruitful ministry. What Paul said about his own life aptly applies to Billy Graham: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is…
Three Ways to Help Care for Your Soul
Recently LifeWay did a survey asking pastors where they feel the greatest stress. The responses make it apparent that ministry has its challenges. Here are some of the strains of ministry: 84% of pastors say they are on call 24 hours a day. Crises do not take a break, so pastors can’t either. Almost every…
A Better Pastor
It’s so easy to compare ourselves as pastors. Who has the bigger church? The larger salary? The better building? …and the list goes on. If you think any of those things make for a better pastor, you’re fooling yourself. The Bible warns us that those “…measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are…
A Clearer Look at 2018
Ask just about anyone and they’ll tell you they’re convinced that they see the world clearly—it’s those other guys that have it wrong. But the truth is that seeing clearly is almost impossible. We all are biased by our own perspective. It amazes me how two people can go through similar experiences and have completely…
Coffee with Randall 