My Top Ten Top Tens

I've shared many "Top Ten" lists on this blog, many of them from sermons I preached (which may explain why I'm not asked to preach as often as I used to be). But that's okay. Not everybody gets me. Okay, so no one really gets me. But the following Top Ten lists were pretty good in my head:

1. Top Ten Things You DON'T Want to Hear When Your Pastor Visits You in the Hospital

2. Top Ten Signs Your Sermon Isn't Going Well

3. The Top Ten Signs the Apocalypse is Near

4. Top Ten Things You Really Shouldn’t Say in Church

5. The Top Ten Worst Ways to Start a Spiritual Conversation with Someone

6. The Top Ten Reasons People Don’t Go to Church

7. The Top Ten Mysteries of Life

8. The Top 10 Signs You’re In a Dangerous Church

9. Top Ten Worst Things To Do With Your Tax Refund

10. Top Ten Things I've Learned As a Pastor

Church Signs With Moveable Letters Should Be Outlawed (Pt. 26)

I know I just featured a church sign a week ago, but 'tis the season, it seems. Or something like that. This is Exhibit 26 in my case against church signs with moveable letters. Just stop it, people. They're not helping.

On This Blog's Sixth Anniversary

I know you will find this hard to believe, but tomorrow--April 25, 2015--marks the sixth anniversary of the Desperate Pastor blog.

The first post in Desperate Pastor history appeared on April 25, 2009. It was titled, "The Beauty of Broken Things." Since then, as of this post, 1,484 posts have appeared in this humble little corner of the internet.

So, to celebrate, let me offer, based on a thoroughly scientific formula of traffic, reader response, and my own personal preferences, ten of the top Desperate Pastor posts in the first six years:

1. 7 Keys to Staying Married in Ministry

2. You Probably Will Not Like My Church

3. A New Way to Pray 

4. Sense-ational Preaching

5. Balancing Ministry and Family

6. Boundaries for Pastors

7. How I Got My Groove Back

8. My Single Most Effective Office Organization Tool

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

10. Why I Value Female Ministry and Leadership

Of course, I could list many more: many book reviews have been among my favorites. I love "The Pastor's Desk" recurring feature. I thoroughly enjoy recapping my reading at the end of each year. And more. But the above will serve, for now.

Thank you for reading this blog. Please keep reading. I'll do my best to make Year 7 better than those that have gone before.

(photo courtesy of everystockphoto.com)

Church Signs with Moveable Letters Should Be Outlawed (Pt. 25)

I've heard of some churches "eating pastors alive," but I'd rather not know how the sausage gets made. 

Church of the Week: Salvation Army Kroc Center, Dayton, Ohio

Last Sunday, the lovely Robin and I visited (for the first time, hard to believe), the Dayton, Ohio, Kroc Center of The Salvation Army, in the company of our dear friends, Larry and Janet Ashcraft. We arrived just as the Sunday morning "Holiness Meeting" was getting started in the spacious and beautiful auditorium of this amazing facility. We were treated to a stirring testimony, worship music, and a strong Bible message by a friend we hadn't seen in many years, Envoy Van Wirth. 

Rather than taking a photo as worship was going on, I waited until we had completed a tour generously given by our host, Major Tom Duperee, the Kroc Center administrator, after the congregation had mostly cleared out.

We could not have been more impressed at the amazing services being offered--and more being envisioned and planned--on the Kroc Center campus. Learning programs, athletic opportunities, music and drama, senior services, and more are available in the several beautiful buildings of the center. 

The Dayton Kroc Center is located at 1000 N. Keowee Street in--you guessed it--Dayton, Ohio.