Life
Politics and Our Christian Witness
At October’s EFCA East Conference, I led a breakout on Politics and Our Christian Witness. Deepening divides increase the intensity of the call for pastors and church leaders to focus on our witness to a greater kingdom and greater good than partisanship can offer, while continuing to engage in the real life in the real…
Read MoreTop 10 Tips to Juggle Family and Ministry, Not Burn Out, and Keep Your Sanity
Ministry is harder than you think – it can be hard on you mentally, emotionally and spiritually, not to mention hard on your marriage and family. How do you last without losing your mind or your faith? Here are 10 tips to keep you balanced, fresh, and sane! But before the 10 tips, there’s something…
Read MoreLoving Ministry When It Doesn’t Love You Back
One of the ongoing challenges of ministry, particularly occupational ministry, is taking up the work God gives us to do without allowing it to become the primary driver of our identity. We all know the temptation, and gravitational pull on our hearts, to feel less valuable when things are going poorly and more valuable when…
Read MoreAvoiding Burnout Through Strategic Rest
SAM, A PASTOR Let me tell you a story about a friend of mine. Let’s call him “Sam.” Sam, a pastor with 30 years of service said to me one day, “John, I’m so tired.” I understood him completely in that moment, and I knew he needed deep rest. My response to Sam? “Listen to…
Read MoreLeading While Suffering
There are only a few moments in our lives when our understanding and role as leaders change dramatically. The first for me was being inducted into my first pastoral position at the young age of 23. The next came when I became a husband at the age of 25, followed by becoming a father at…
Read MoreWhat Our Soul Needs
As followers of Jesus Christ, we can find ourselves living life with great tension. Pressures that hit us from multiple directions. They seem to be tied to our past decisions, current conditions, and future concerns. They manifest in the weight of the bountiful blessings of God or the harvest of sin in our lives. They…
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