At the first of this week I shared with you, “10 Things that Frustrate me as a Minister.” I think it’s only fair that I also share with you this post … 10 Things I LOVE About Being a Minister… I love getting to be a part of people’s lives. What an honor it is [...]

I have always been a glass-half-full type person. I choose to focus on the positives and not the negatives. But someone asked me this week, “Is there anything that frustrates you?” They couldn’t believe there were things that got under my skin. Although I choose not to focus on them … here are a few… . People [...]

And the award for the most “unChrist-like stunt of the year” goes to… “A Phoenix-area pastor delivered a sermon titled, “Why I Hate Barack Obama,” and told his parishioners that he prays for President Obama’s death. Pastor Steven Anderson stood by his sermon in an interview with MyFOXPhoenix, which reports that the pastor continues to [...]

It would be easy if you only had two topics to choose from…

Nearly every month it breaks my heart to hear of another minister getting out of the ministry. There are lots of reasons ministers get out… yes, sometimes they’re moral issues, but most of the time they leave because they’re burnt out or pushed out. Not only has there become a minister shortage because good men [...]

I hadn’t seen her in a couple of years when I bumped into her on the elevator at the hospital. I asked her how she was and how things were going at the church she attended. She said she was fine and then told me that they had just hired a new preacher. She added, [...]

It’s been a rough week for my preacher ego. This Friday is Childress High School’s annual “Job Shadow Day”. It’s the one day each year when the students are allowed to skip school and “shadow” someone in the community whose job interests them. Every year, for the past 5 years, I’ve had multiple high school [...]

I still remember my first real sermon. It was on a Sunday night in a small country church. They’d asked me to fill in that night while their preacher was gone and this teenager was really nervous about it. I’d done a couple of short Wednesday night devotionals, but NEVER a real Sunday sermon. I [...]

Nothing is funnier to me that being able to laugh at yourself or what you do. I have an arsenal of preacher jokes, but here is one of the ones that is at the top of my favorites list… Three ministers and their wives were on a cruise. A tidal wave came up and swamped [...]

It scared me this week when a “young” minister called me looking for ministry advise from an “older preacher.” What exactly did he mean by “older preacher?” I’m usually the one calling the older preachers asking them for advice. I’m NOT the older preacher! Who knows, maybe that means I’m getting … old? I got [...]

Preachers and ministers in the churches of Christ have always been movers. I read once that church of Christ ministers move on average about once every 3 years. Personally, I’m glad I’ve hung around in my ministries longer than average. The worst part of ministers moving is when they have to move because they’ve been [...]

I’ve been spending a lot of time in Psalm 57 this week. And let me tell you why … I have a confession to make, occasionally I get really tired, really tired. I’m talking tired emotionally, physically and yes, spiritually. Sometimes I get this way because Satan has been pounding on me. Other times it’s [...]

I have a friend who preaches in a small congregation that doesn’t have any elders or deacons. A few Sunday’s ago, as everyone was leaving the building, one of the men of the church told him, “You needed to be spending more time out in the community and less time sitting in the office during [...]

It happened again this past week. Another minister has left the ministry. When I asked him why, his explanation was simply, “I’m just burned out.” In an article I read recently by Dan Chun, he tells about Peter Drucker, the late leadership guru, who said, “the four hardest jobs in America (and not necessarily in [...]

It doesn’t matter what your profession, criticism will be a part of it. It doesn’t matter where you are in life, there will always be criticism. Those with “high-profile” jobs can always expect double the criticism. Just like the football coach who if he runs the ball, everyone thinks he should have passed. If he [...]

I’d like to introduce you to a new friend and new blogger for this weeks “Saturday Reading.” I wrote some articles last month on “Sexual Ethics” among church leaders. I did a two part series that you can find here: (part 1 and part 2). It obviously touched a nerve from the feedback that was [...]

A month ago I posted a list called “Top 10 Ways to get your Preacher to Quit.” It may have been my most popular post. I thought I’d follow up on that list with today’s Top 10 list on how to encourage you preacher. Pray for him regularly. This may be the greatest thing you [...]

Sexual misconduct. One of the most devastating thing that can happen to a church is for one of its leaders (minister, youth minister, elder, pastor) to get caught in a sexual relationship outside his marriage. When this does take place churches feel betrayed, victims/survivors are often misunderstood and the families of all involved suffer greatly. [...]

Have you ever wondered why some ministers move an average of every two years? Or why are more ministers getting out of full-time ministry than there are getting in to it? I’ve got a few ideas that might help answer those questions. Here are 10 things you could be doing that might make your minister [...]