Before pastors reach burnout and leave the ministry, they experience frustration and disappointment in ministry. Charles Stone, a veteran pastor, helps his fellow pastors understand and meet the challenges, regaining hope and energy to continue in their calling. Based on new information from The Barna Group and additional research, Stone shows readers what pastors are saying about ministry and how to overcome the obstacles, rebuild community within the congregation, and persevere with joy.
God is asking His church to see the wounded soldiers of the cross through His eyes and asking the ever-important question to those engaged in this battle called life: In your opinion, can the fallen church members ever be used by Me in the pulpits and ministry again? We are being challenged by the Most High God to restore the fallen soldiers of the cross in the spirit of meekness, considering themselves also vulnerable to temptation. As time draws near to the final call and the church prays for an end-time revival, it is time to become the revival we are praying for.
Before pastors reach burnout and leave the ministry, they experience frustration and disappointment in ministry. Charles Stone, a veteran pastor, helps his fellow pastors understand and meet these challenges, regaining hope and energy to continue their calling. Based on information from the Barna Group and additional research, Stone shows readers what pastors are saying about ministry and offers practical help to overcome the obstacles, rebuild community within the congregation, and persevere with joy. Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, says, "Read this book and be encouraged."
Why does one well-equipped, well-meaning person in ministry succeed while another fails? Bob Burns, Tasha Chapman and Donald Guthrie undertook a five-year intensive research project on the frontlines of pastoral ministry to answer that question. What they found was nothing less than the DNA of thriving ministry today.
Does your life ever feel like one series of rushed moments after another? Do you want to feel more present and connected to those you love? Do you want to be able to listen without thinking the whole time of what you’re going to say next? Do you want to feel less distracted, less busy, and more whole? Most of us spend our distracted lives longing to get to the next, better moment and fail to notice the present one. We lack space between one task and the next, one thought and the next, one email and the next. Social media, TV, work deadlines, and family stress steal our enjoyment and engagement in the moment. Holy Noticing will teach you how to: become more aware of your thoughts, emotions, and environment recognize Christ’s presence in the moment reduce your stress by developing the ability to focus on God and people rather than tasks Many today think mindfulness is dangerous, unchristian, or associated with Eastern religions—and often it is! But Dr. Charles Stone reveals that the art of holy noticing—purposefully paying attention to God as he works in us, our relationships, and our world—is a spiritual discipline Christians have practiced for millennia. Holy Noticing explores the historically Christian and biblical roots of this lifestyle, as well as Dr. Stone’s BREATHe model, which teaches you to be more engaged with Christ in the everyday moments that too often slip right by us. Discover the lost spiritual discipline of holy noticing today and learn to engage the world like Christ.
You don't have to be perfect to do God's work. Look no further than the twelve disciples, whose many weaknesses are forever preserved throughout the pages of the New Testament. Join bestselling author John MacArthur in Twelve Ordinary Men as he draws principles from Christ's careful, hands-on training of the original disciples for today's modern disciple, you! Jesus chose ordinary men--fishermen, tax collectors, political zealots--and turned their weakness into strength, producing greatness from people who were otherwise unremarkable. The twelve disciples weren't the stained-glass saints we imagine. On the contrary, they were truly human, all too prone to mistakes, misstatements, wrong attitudes, lapses of faith, and bitter failure. Simply put, they were flawed people, just like us. But under Jesus' teaching and touch, they became a force that forever changed the world. MacArthur takes you into the inner circle of the disciples--their selection, their training, their personalities, and their incredible impact. As MacArthur took a closer look at the lives of the twelve disciples, he found himself asking difficult questions along the way, including: Why did Jesus pick each of the twelve disciples? How did Jesus teach them everything he could in just eighteen short months? Can the lessons that Jesus taught the disciples can still influence our faith today? In Twelve Ordinary Men, you'll learn that disciples are living proof that God's strength is made perfect in weakness. As you get to know the men who walked with Jesus, you'll see that if he can accomplish his purposes through them, he can do the same through you.
Charles Stone's research on thousands of pastors and ministry leaders demonstrates the dangers of approval-motivated leadership. Bringing together biblical insights and neuroscience findings, Stone shows why we fall into people-pleasing patterns and what we can do to overcome these tendencies for more effective ministry.
Your worship team is under spiritual attack. If your team doesn't notice it, that may be because the battle is already over. While contexts differ, these five worship team killers show up in almost every situation and every heart: pride, inconsistency, inability, detachment, and division.Since you are a target, would you take some time to research the dangerous areas? Study through the common assaults and observe the wreckage on the roadside. And then allow the Word and the Spirit to work in your life to ensure you won't be another casualty.
Every leader desires to be a healthy one, while every follower wants his leader to be healthy. The presence of healthy leaders brings blessing and peace to the community, while their absence results in much pain for the people and dysfunctionality for the organization. But, what does ¿healthy¿ mean? Humble, gentle, protective, upright, honest, decisive, able to teach, responsible, visionary, self-giving... the list can go on and on. However, the longer the list, the less likely we¿ll be motivated to try to become such a leader ¿ how can one ever achieve such an ocean of virtues?This book presents an alternative! Every characteristic of a healthy leader falls into five categories: Christ, Community, Character, Calling and Competencies. This ConneXions model offers us a biblical and distilled conceptual framework to understand the nature of a ¿healthy¿ leader:An effective, healthy Christian leader is a man or woman who knows God, was formed and lives in supportive and accountable community, has strong character, knows the purpose of God and presents it with credibility, clarity and passion, and has the necessary gifts, skills and knowledge to lead the people in the accomplishment of this purpose ¿ and is continually growing in all five areas. This book describes a clear and reachable goal of life transformation for everyone who desires to grow; moreover, its inspiring teaching will nurture and ignite your inner motivation to pursue this transformation. You can become a great leader, a healthy leader!
My journey as a pastor had quite a few ups and downs. Although there were many aspects of serving in full-time ministry that I loved, there were more things that happened along the way that made a negative impact on both myself and my family. After I resigned from the pastorate, it took several years of forgiving and getting plugged in to a healthy church before I really began to heal from the hurt. Whether you've spent your entire career as a pastor or if you have recently thrown in the towel, Why Pastors Quit is an easy-to-read book that will encourage you and make you ask the question: What can I do to help change the statistics?
