by Scott Thomas, President of Acts 29
"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'" (Acts 20:35, ESV).
Church planting is hard work. That may be revelatory or, if you are planting a church, it may be extremely redundant. Before we set out to start a new Gospel-centered, missional, evangelical, relevant, community-minded, incarnational, culture engaging, Bapticostal, Lutheriterian, cutting edge church, we must first commit to hard work.
Jesus Calls Us to Work Hard
Our society tolerates a lot of mistakes made by people and a lot of character flaws. Laziness is not one of them. Jesus encountered the disciples after His ...
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by Scott Thomas, President of Acts 29
Spiritual and church leadership is tough for even the best of leaders. Behind closed doors, every leader will admit being tired, frustrated, angry, depressed, confused and attacked. The Apostle Paul's protégé, Timothy was about to take up his work he needed to be a leader filled with grace. Paul told Timothy, "You therefore, my son, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 2:2). We are only able to lead effectively after grace strengthens us.
"We are only able to lead effectivelyafter grace strengthens us."
Be strengthened by grace, not by your natural talents. Timothy may have certainly been very winsome naturally. He may have been able to articulate naturally. He may have been a fairly good public ...
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Spiritual, Physical and Mental Health of the Planter and Family
Planting a church places a heavy burden on planters and their families. Most planters indicate that planting is one of the hardest things they've ever done. Those who survive are quick to highlight how discouraging and lonely it can be. The result is a fragile foundation for dealing with the discouragement and loneliness of church planting.
Unresolved relationships and weaknesses in the marriage will often surface in the church-planting season. Simmering problems in marriage and family began to boil with the added pressure and stress of planting a church. A planter’s faith and commitment is challenged. God often uses the challenges for good to grow the planter and his family or Satan can use to bring them ...
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Posted in: Spiritual Vitality, Marriage and Family, Emotional Health
Tags: church planting, pastor, health, mental, physical, spiritual, vitality, top issues, planter's health, church-planting journey, coaching, burnout
by Mark Driscoll
As church planters, Grace and I learned the hard way what a friendship is and is not. Somehow, I got the silly notion that everyone who picked me to be their friend was, in fact, my friend.
Subsequently, I ate lots of meals with people I did not enjoy, had people on my family vacations that drove me so nutty I could not wait to get back to work, and spent countless hours answering the phone, replying to emails, and responding to the demands of pushy, rude, selfish people who smiled while saying words like “buddy” and “friend.” What they meant by “friend” was something more akin to “bullied victim.”
The truth is, as a pastor, you and your wife have many kinds of relationships. What has been helpful for ...
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Posted in: Marriage and Family, Emotional Health, Relationship Building
Tags: friendship pastors, pastor friends, who gets to be friends with the pastor, how to be a friend to your pastor, how to pick your friends as a pastor, pastor pick friends, pastor choose friends, the pastor gets to choose friends, pastor choosing friends, how to choose friends, pastor, leadership, church planting, friends at church, driscoll kinds of friends, driscoll relationship lanes, enemies, old acquaintances, coworkers, teammates, distant relatives, neighbors, connections, close family, fellowship, spouse, 1-10 scale friendships, 1-10 scale relationships, driscoll frienship, driscoll pastor friends, driscoll pastor wife friends, friendshift, what is friendshift
Dr. Sam Storms wrote a lengthy article on Forgiveness. Here are his five “myths” and “truths” of forgiveness:
Five Myths about Forgiveness:
Contrary to what many have been led to believe, forgiveness is not forgetting.
Forgiving someone does not mean you no longer feel the pain of their offense.
Forgiving someone who has sinned against you doesn’t mean you cease longing for justice.
Forgiveness does not mean you are to make it easy for the offender to hurt you again.
Forgiveness is rarely a one-time, climactic event. It is most often a life-long process.
Five Truths about Forgiveness:
God in Christ forgave us by absorbing in himself the destructive and painful consequences of our sin against him.
God forgave us in Christ by ...
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