Saturday Links
Links for your weekend reading:
How the Gospel Abolishes the Fear of Church Planting
The New Testament church sees planting churches as normative and natural, while we see it as traumatic or at the very least, unnatural. Why? I believe because we are driven by fear; the fear of church plants and the fear to plant churches.
Gone Fishin’ – A Forgotten Model of Ministry
Fishing for souls is one of the most powerful models of Christian ministry and must be re-prioritized. It’s such a perfect metaphor for both the fish (sinners) and the fishermen (pastors/witnesses) that I’ll leave you to make the obvious applications.
How Can I Know If I’m Going to Be a Successful Church Planter?
I truly believe that our God places a higher premium on our faithfulness to His commands than the results generated by His Holy Spirit. Read that sentence back and think on it. Our faithfulness is not even ours to claim. Likewise, our successes when they come belong to God. All of it is His.
Another Question I Don’t Ask Myself: Am I Successful?
Don’t worry about whether you are successful or not. Ask God for grace to to fight the good fight, run the race and keep the faith. And thank Jesus for his faithfulness and steadfast love to you.
If I Could Do My Ministry Over Again
I was asked to look back over my 40 year ministry at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville Kentucky and discuss what I’d do differently and what I would repeat if I had the chance to do it again.
A huge part of ministry is constantly training up others, releasing others, and empowering others, so that they can replicate what you do or replace you when you’re done. How are we doing?
An Open Apology to the Local Church
With all the conversations about your central place in the life of God’s people, I needed to put all my cards on the table. And to apologize.
Get Ready for the Most Super Ordinary Sunday Ever!
Let’s not downplay the ordinary Sundays – the beauty of God’s service to His children on non-holiday weekends, the Sundays that don’t stand out on the calendar. After all, it’s the God who meets us in the ordinary means of grace that we can get super stoked about.
Does Powerpoint Increase Retention?
If we understood our task as helping people connect with the God who is present to them and speaking to them by his Spirit and through his Word, then the sermon might be the perfect medium – it just might not need the help of Powerpoint.
2013 Preaching Survey of the Year’s Best Books for Preachers
My intention in this article is to suggest 10 books that deserve any preacher’s careful attention in the next several months. Each one has appeared in the past year or so, and all of them represent a contribution worthy of our time and priority.
Why Buying Stuff Won’t Make You Happy
You will never find the right things looking in the wrong places.
