Pastor Connect 2012

Maintaining Hope in Ministry

I call them the “piranhas” of the ministry. Piranhas are usually small, but they have a big bite, and they run in schools. One bite—not so deadly. One hundred bites, and you’re lying in Davey Jones’ locker.

Recent studies show that pastors are leaving the ministry at the rate of fifty per day. There are multiple reasons for this, but for most, the discouragement and struggles of handling all kinds of people and problems overwhelm them.

The Challenges That Pull Us Down

Every job has its difficulties, but there is a uniqueness about serving the church that makes ...

How Do You See Yourself?

Today, right now, as you make the next decision regarding what you will do in the next hour—how do you see yourself? Believe it or not, Paul thought about this a good deal, and it drove everything he did. He began almost every letter with some type of self-description. His statement in Ephesians 3:1-3 is extremely revealing and driving:

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made ...

Enlarging Your Heart

"I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!"
(Psalm 119:32 ESV) I recently enjoyed the movie Secretariat, primarily because I actually watched that stunning horse win the Triple Crown in 1973. (The final race was won a week before my wedding.) Only eleven horses in history have won the Triple Crown, and none in the way that Secretariat did. Only two horses have accomplished this since Secretariat, the last in 1979. The amazing thing about Secretariat is that he won the final race by beating the entire field by thirty-one lengths. I don ...

Forgiving As You Go

Hurts happen daily. If left unattended, hurt can sit in your heart. Soon, unforgiveness sticks to your soul like barnacles on a ship, slowing you down and destroying your heart and ministry.

Dealing with Daily Hurt

David had been hurt and hounded by his enemies and betrayed by his own son Absalom (as recorded in 2 Samuel). God, once again, caused him to triumph, and we see him returning to Jerusalem (chapters 19-20).

Along the way, he encountered two men who betrayed him: Shimei, who cursed David when he was leaving Jerusalem; and Mephibosheth, Saul's son who had stayed ...

Preparatory Faith

Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”

But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck ...

The Orientation of Our Lives

A compass is an amazing little device. Invented around 250 B.C. by the Chinese, it provides a means of orientation. Once we are pointed in the right direction (true north), we can easily find our way from there.

Everyone has determined (whether they admit it or not) their own "true north." We all have a plan, a strategy of how to live life. For most of us, our supreme orientation is self. Self-preservation, self-advancement, self-defense, self-promotion ... Not so with the apostle Paul, however, which was the great key to his amazing usefulness to God. Paul was falsely imprisoned in ...