This blog is in our Ministry Monday series. Read more articles for ministry by clicking here. Check back each Monday for more! How a pastor dresses for ministry is something that has certainly changed, and drastically so, in the almost three decades that I have served as a local church pastor. In those early days, I would not have thought of wearing anything other than business attire to the office, and would have always had a suit when I was behind the pulpit. [...]

The church is not dead, but it sure is on its death-bed. Oh, I am fully aware that it will not die before the rapture, but I am also fully aware that a departure from the faith has happened in western civilization. Find any community in America that existed 25 years ago, and in that community overall church attendance has declined, often precipitously. This is true in the west as well as the east, in the north as well as the south. In every established [...]

Every preacher has had the frustrating experience of coming home on Sunday afternoon, upset with themselves because of their presentation. Having preached multiple times almost every week since November, 1992, I know this frustration. I suppose I have delivered somewhere between 3,500 - 5,000 sermons over these 28 years. From this journey, I want to encourage preachers not to be over-prepared. Here is where preachers over-prepare In my experience, younger (or newer) preachers over-prepare in the area of presentation. They prepare pristine outlines. They prepare [...]

If you're in ministry, this post is for you! For decades local church ministry has been judged by the "Church Growth" movement, and thus "nickels and noses" were what mattered. Indeed, one could almost say that in most denominational settings as well as many independent settings, "church growth" was the single most important indicator of success in ministry. This movement started in the "big box" seminaries (worthless, all), and spread to the pew. In time, the faithful church members began to judge [...]