Category: Ministry
-
Is Theology Necessary for Student Ministry?
I have no supportive data for this reasoning, but I believe one specific reason teenagers leave the church is that they lack an understanding on two things: 1) what the Church is, and 2) how to be a faithful local church member. And the way we see it is simply through the rise of our…
-
Is Becoming A Member of A Church Really THAT Important?
The Church is the means by which God allows His people to be agents in living out His purpose in the world. God is on mission to reconcile His creation back to Himself (Luke 19:10). The character of God is lived out through His mission. Timothy Tennent writes, “To put it plainly, a mission is far…
-
What Is Discipleship Really About?
Similar to words such as weight management or ignorant, the word discipleship seems to have many different meanings among evangelicals. Weight management can refer to a diet plan or a plan to gain muscle mass and ignorant can refer to someone who is unaware of something or it can be a demeaning adjective toward someone. I’ve…
-
25 Things I Would’ve Told Myself Five Years Ago – Part 2
When I originally started writing this post, I only had ten statements that I would’ve told myself. But as I wrote, the list exceeded much more than ten. It soon became fifteen, then twenty, and I’m stopping at twenty-five. Here is the last fifteen of that list: Not everyone does things like you. It is…
-
Living on Mission
Just before Jesus ascended back to the Father he spoke his last words to the disciples. These words are known as the Great Commission and can be found in Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus reminded his disciples that he had equal authority with the Father so they would exchange doubt for faith. Belief always affects action. Jesus…
-
25 Things I Would’ve Told Myself Five Years Ago – Part 1
January 1, 2018, began my sixth year of ministry. While I am in no way conveying that I am a veteran minister, have it all together, or know everything there is to know about ministry, I have been dealt my fair share of experiences during these last five years. It was during that time that…
-
Discipleship According to Jesus
Jesus was intentional about investing his life into a small group of twelve individuals. Even among larger crowds, the twelve disciples accompanied him throughout his ministry. Some may not realize that Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi. He grew up in the schools of Jewish traditions where he would study under other Rabbis to eventually become…
-
Children’s Ministry and the Church
I know everyone has their specific talents and abilities and skills that are given by God to be used for His glory. Over the years, I’ve developed my musical abilities, my people skills, and my speaking. My musical abilities have afforded me the opportunity to do a little bit of professional singing while in college.…
-
Should We Teach Youth Theology?
I’ve often heard people say when speaking of youth ministry, that we need to dumb down our teaching to the level of competency of our youth. And really the only area in which this applies is teaching our students. I want to be clear. I’m not writing this with an attitude of arrogance or a…
-
2 Ways Entertainment Can Help Your Ministry
This post is a response to the previous post I wrote a couple of weeks ago named “2 Reasons Entertainment Doesn’t Work in Ministry.” In all fairness, I wanted to get the negative out of the way before showing the positive. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, I wanted the reader to…
Ordinary Pastors Connecting Theological Truths to Everyday Believers 