Monday Blues

Pastor, I hope this post brightens your day, and restores your energy for your next day of work.

Post 1K

This is the 1,000th post here on the Desperate Pastor blog.

Wow.

My first post, on April 25, 2009, was titled, "The Beauty of Broken Things." Now, not quite three years later, it is a little hard to believe that this blog should pass 1,000 blog posts shortly after my daily prayer blog reached 2,000 prayers posted.

In that time, I've gone from struggle to victory, from discouragement to depression to deliverance, from pastoring full-time back to writing full-time (but still, in many ways, of course, a pastor at heart). I have blogged about the Bible (32 times), books (177 times), the church (83 times), a "church of the week" (122), Cobblestone Community Church (80), conferences and retreats (only once?), creativity (13), health (35), a "laugh of the week" (66), leadership (90), ministry (84), prayer (31), preaching (49), quotes (44), staff (4), technology (27), travel (4), and a "video of the week" (113). Fifty of my posts have been "rants and riffs," and just recently I started offering a "link of the week."

I've thought many, many times about discontinuing the blog. Still do, from time to time. Still may. But for now, I'm amazed and grateful to have reached 1,000 posts, through thick and thin, an average of almost a post a day.

So, it seems as good a time as any to try to narrow down those 1,000 posts to ten favorites. Seems impossible. Not that I've been that good, that often. But I CAN be that self-adulating. So I shall give it a try. Here they are, my personal top ten--out of a thousand--Desperate Pastor posts:

1. Sense-ational Preaching

2. How I Got My Groove Back

3. How Technology Helps Me

4. Top Ten Things I've Learned as a Pastor

5. A 21st Century Epidemic

6. Me and My Prayer Journal

7. Balancing Ministry and Family

8. Pastoral Naiveté

9. The Blessings of Compline

10. Why Every Pastor Should Go to Israel

Wow, that's really hard. I would probably change the list if I thought just one or two seconds longer. So I won't.

But if you're reading this post, thank you. Thank you for whatEVER posts you read on this blog. Thank you for traveling this far with me. I hope you'll stick around and walk it with me for as long as it lasts.

Today is the Day

Today is the official release date for my latest book, Quit Going to Church.

Len Sweet calls it “an astonishing book.” Steve Sjogren says, “Bob Hostetler has given us a great gift with this book.” And C. S. Lewis says, “You must buy this book!” Okay, I might have made that last one up. But the other two are genuine, as are the others on this page.

Quit Going to Church is intended to identify and correct some of the ways we have forgotten--or departed from--the way of Jesus. It may raise your hackles. It may challenge you in unexpected ways. It may also renew your faith.

You can read the first chapter (free!) here. It can be purchased at your local Christian bookstore, on Amazon, at Christianbook.com, or by contacting me.

Church of the Week: Collierville First Baptist Church, Collierville, TN

I presented last week at an American Christian Writers Conference in Collierville, TN, a suburb of Memphis.

The conference was held at the hunormous Collierville First Baptist Church. The main sanctuary (just a few years old) must seat thousands (a wedding was taking place that day).

The atrium is likewise spacious, and welcoming.

The Cornerstone bookstore In the lobby area wasn't open, but I peeked in...longingly.

Though I didn't worship there, I enjoyed snooping--er, walking around the church. It seems to be a vibrant and prospering community of faith.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Exit Signs

Thom S. Rainer wrote this article, which I read on pastors.com. I thought it might interest the readers of this blog.

Early in my ministry, I served in a ministry that made the "when to leave" decision FOR me. But four of these five reasons have been factors in my past ministry transitions. How about you?

I would never pretend to know the will of God for leaders. Indeed I am reticent even to suggest these reasons lest someone grasp one or more and leave his or her position of leadership prematurely.

Nevertheless I interviewed dozens of leaders I respect. One of the simple questions I asked them was: How did you know it was time to leave your previous position of leadership?

Their responses were fascinating. I have attempted to synthesize their most frequent answers into five succinct reasons. Excluded are those situations where a leader was forced from his position.

1. The Death of a Vision

The most frequent response was the death of a vision for the leader. The reasons the vision died were numerous. One leader said the obstacles in the organization became so great that he could no longer lead with vision. Another said that entrenched policies of the organization were counter to his vision. In every case the leader felt grief because the vision that caused him to get up each morning with enthusiasm was no longer a reality.

2. An Awakening to the Bad Fit

Some leaders come to a point in their leadership where they realize that they do not have the skills, temperament, or desires to lead their organization. Many said that the organization changed after a period of time, and their profile no longer matched the position. Others noted that they had not kept pace with external changes sufficiently to lead effectively.

3. Losing a Power Struggle

One of the unfortunate realities of leadership is the power struggle with another leader or group. And if a battle is lost, it is often difficult to regain the stature necessary to lead effectively.

4. Family Issues

A number of leaders told us they made the decision to leave for the sake of their families. The specific family issues were almost as numerous as the respondents. One leader recalled the sad story of his son being bullied at the only school in the small community. Despite his pleas and protestations to teachers and administrators, the bullying continued. The leader left for the safety and sanity of his son.

5. The Vision “There” Is Greater than the Vision “Here”

I thought this reason would be the most frequent; instead it ranked fifth among the reasons to leave. Stated simply, the leader has another opportunity, and the vision for the new opportunity becomes greater than the vision of the present opportunity. The leader’s heart has already moved to another place.

This list is obviously not exhaustive. Why did you leave your previous place of leadership? Would your response fit within one of these five categories?

Life is too short to spend time in a place we shouldn’t be. Yes, transition can be difficult, and even risky. But the greater risk is wasting our lives in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sometimes it’s time to leave.

This article comes from Baptist Press. Copyright (c) 2012 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press. Used by permission.

A Fascinating Discovery

This article is about a fascinating archaeological discovery, and one that has many interesting parallels to events in my novel, The Bone Box, about the discovery of an ossuary in the same area.