Life Here and There

I love being a Pastor. I’m passionate about preaching. I am humbled that God has called me to shepherd a flock of His choosing. And I especially love the fuel that fires me up – the Word of God and what it has to say about whom I am.

One of my favorite passages on the subject is Paul’s gut-wrenching goodbye to the Epehsian elders who met him at the island port city of Miletus. It’s recorded in Acts 20:17-38. I’ve been reading it afresh today and have discovered a pattern of ministry I hadn’t spotted before…

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Today was gorgeous – slightly chilly but otherwise what I was expecting from southern California. I have had the privilege of meeting some great people this week who happen to have online identities.

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I’ve told some friends about this amazing opportunity, but haven’t said much publicly. I am now beginning to get very excited about where I’m headed next week. Early Monday morning, I’ll fly out to Orange County, California to attend Radicalis.

The circumstances surrounding the reason I’m going are a pretty neat story, perhaps best reserved for another time, but I’ll tell you that it has something to do with something more and more people are beginning to “get,” social media… and online publishing… and a love for Pastors and conferences.

I’ll be blogging all week about the things I learn. I’m going to miss my girls terribly, but I’m stoked about going!

Disclaimer: “Stoked” is not profanity… it’s just a term for “excited” I learned from my friend Bobby who is from southern California. This disclaimer is issued so that none of my Arkansas or Kentucky friends or family misunderstand… ;)

Just a quick note of thanks to OnlineChristianColleges.net for mentioning my blog in their post on the top 55 Pastor bloggers. I have a few other friends on the list and they’ve collected some great blogs together. Definitely worth checking out!

Top 55 Pastor Bloggers

Recommended Books:

The following are affiliate links to books I recommend:

• Blogging Heroes: Interviews with 30 of the World’s Top Bloggers
  by Michael A. Banks

Yesterday, our church family blessed us (yet again) with a wonderful luncheon for Pastor Appreciation month. I’m honored!! I often stand before our congregation and tell them I’d do what I do for free (of course, I don’t mind that they don’t take me up on that) because of the joy it brings. They really make it easy in many respects to be their Pastor. Let me tell you some ways this is true…

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I just finished reading Building Your Leadership Resume: Developing the Legacy that Will Outlast You (aff) by Johnny Hunt. Here’s the bottom line… I feel like I’ve sat at at a table in a coffee shop with one of America’s great Pastors as he’s filled me with word upon word of great advice!

The book is forty short chapters in length, each one centering around a different aspect of the Pastor’s leadership (and any leader, for that matter). He deals with the huge heart issues as well as the day-to-day tasks and productivity issues. Rather than try to summarize all of the chapters, I thought I’d pass along the things I’m inspired to do more and better now that I’ve read this book:

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My favorite classes at Western Kentucky University weren’t the Religious Studies courses (my major), or even the History courses (my minor). My favorite classes were in the area of speech and professional communication (what I wish had been my major). I grew up super-shy like almost every other Pastor I know, but have grown to love speaking to crowds of people. I’m a student of public speaking, in fact.

But when I enter the pulpit to preach on Sundays, something is different. It’s more than a speech somehow. I think there are several factors that cause this to be reality.

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No, this is not a post about the loss of our religious freedom – it’s a reflection on a quote I’ve looked at many times since I first wrote it down about nine years ago at a conference on preaching…

If you think the gathering of biblical facts and standing up with a Bible in your hand will automatically equip you to communicate well, you are desperately mistaken. It will not. You must work at being interesting. Boredom is a gross violation, being dull is a grave offense, and irrelevance is a disgrace to the gospel. Too often these three crimes go unpunished and we preachers are the criminals. ~ Charles Swindoll

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I define myself with clear priorities. I am first and foremost a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ, a born again child of God. I’m also a husband to an awesome wife, and a Dad to a wonderful daughter. Then I’m a Pastor to a great church. Sometimes I’m also a web and graphic designer. I love all of these realms of life and appreciate the people I’ve come to know in each.

As a Pastor, and I’m sure other church leaders will identify with what I’m about to write, I can say that there is tremendous pressure that few people realize. I don’t talk about it much but felt the need to clear my heart this morning. I hope you’ll appreciate the transparency here.

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I once filled in for a Pastor who had a beard. His church was a bit upset with him about something and over lunch, two little ladies wanted me to point them to that passage that declares Pastors should not have facial hair… stop searching, it isn’t in there. Neither does the Bible address the issue of sleeves, but it does encourage us to be in touch with people by having a shepherd’s heart.

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