Saturday Links
The Mistakes of Phillip Jensen
You’ve got to take up your cross and follow Jesus. So this is no career move for the faint-hearted. This is no career move for someone who wants an easy life or a nice life. You’re not going to be accepted, and you’re not going to be liked: you are following the crucified one.
The Subtle Art of Sabotaging A Pastor
There are many temptations common among the Enemy’s undershepherds but one universal temptation of them arises from their flesh and it is this: they want people to be pleased with them. Wanting to be liked is not a sin, really — to use the Enemy’s terminology — but it can be quickly turned to one at the hands of a spiritual disintegrator as shrewd as yourself.
Seven Ways Leaders Regain Their Drive
Almost all leaders go through lulls and tough periods in their lifetimes, whether they are in midlife, early life or older. These men and women I interviewed taught me that good leaders look in the mirror regularly, and they get honest feedback from people they trust. Those two perspectives will likely show us why we are losing our drive and, more importantly, how we can regain it.
I recently met with a young seminary student hoping to plant a church and he asked me what I thought the biggest challenges in church planting had been. I rattled off a few things that came to mind, but after giving it more thought I landed on the five most difficult challenges I’ve faced over these past three years.
15 Reasons I Stayed in the Church
Imagine the worst case scenario of church politics; add to that having to live on government support because the church won’t pay your husband (the pastor) enough to support you and your three children (“Nobody asked you to have another kid.”) Throw in some deputation experience and seeing first-hand how we’re often simply franchising American Christianity via missions. Stir until you reach mental, physical, and spiritual exhaustion, and you’ve pretty much got our story covered.
And yet we stayed.
Steve Mathewson: How I Prepare a Sermon
Sometimes if I’m struggling to identify the big idea, I will also ask, what is the vision of God? That is, what aspect of God’s character is prominent in this text (such as God’s power, mercy, vengeance, role as a Father). Then I also ask, what is the depravity factor? That is, what is the sin that works against what God is doing or requiring in this passage?
Going over to his still unpacked suitcase, he ever so carefully took out a book. The pages were loose, some fell out, it was beat up, worn, and looked terrible. Yet he handled it so carefully and carried it like it was the greatest of all treasures. As he sat down, I could tell that the beat up old book was his Bible. I asked him if I could hold it, and as I turned to page after page—in the Old and New Testaments–there was hardly any more room on any page for more writing. Every page was well worn and obviously well read and studied.
How To Talk About Cities Without Ticking Off Folks Who Don’t Live There
It’s possible to forget amid all the talk about our increasingly urbanized world that not everyone lives in urban settings, or wants to, or even wants to hear about urban problems as if they were the only problems on earth. That’s not to say we shouldn’t talk about cities. But there is a way to do so without patronizing or triggering the defenses of people who don’t live in large metros.
