Why I Value Social Media for Ministry

I saw this Pew survey chart some time ago (click to enlarge), but it is still relevant (and, if anything, the results would be even more pronounced today). It seems to me that churches that want to appeal to and connect with anyone age 45 or younger clearly need to pay attention to electronic media.

More than 70% of people ages 18-45 use the internet not only for email but for social networking (SNS), video, shopping, banking, and more. Those numbers seem likely only to increase, indicating a potential for outreach and ministry that Jesus might have called "a field white unto harvest."

(NOTICE how few people, percentage-wise, listen to podcasts--one of the few electronic media areas churches pay attention to. By contrast, note the comparatively wide use of social media (SNS) and video, which might indicate where churches can more effectively put their efforts)

The Only True Preaching

From a recent post by Ray Ortlund on his excellent blog:

The prophets will become wind;
the word is not in them. Jeremiah 5:13

“[The sermons] are the words of one who has felt himself forced to speak by a greater than human power. . . . the tremendous impetus behind the preacher.” [A report of the preaching of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, recorded in Iain H. Murray, David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The First Forty Years, 1899-1939 (Edinburgh, 1982), page 144.]

True preaching is more than preaching truth. It is also deeply personal. It rises from within a man. He is fully aware and engaged and intelligent. But he is forced to speak, compelled not by the expectations of others around but by the power of God within.

A man can preach the word, but still the word is not in him. It has not yet become interior to him, experientialized to him, a part of him. Such preaching is mere wind. True preaching is brewed within, as the gospel enters into a man, floods his awareness, rearranges his own interiority, and surges out of him as something divine and yet still his own.

To preach in the power of the Holy Spirit is not to take a good thing and make it even better. Preaching the truth in one’s own strength is destructive (1 Corinthians 1:17). “The word is not in him.” [Jeremiah 5:13] Preaching the gospel in the power of God is the only true preaching. All lesser preaching is sinful and to be repented of.

May the Lord help all of us pastors! May we resolve, God helping us, never again to preach a single sermon without power from on high — and deep within!

Why I Value Female Ministry and Leadership

An icon of Deborah,
the ancient prophetess, warrior,
and judge (leader)

While many in the church still believe and teach that the Bible forbids women from preaching and leading in the church (and often, by extension, in home and society), I value female ministry and leadership as much or more today than ever...for many, many reasons, too numerous to mention. But I will try.

I value female ministry and leadership, first and foremost, because I am utterly convinced that the Bible teaches and portrays its value. Over and over again. Even in the New Testament passages that are routinely used to support and advance patriarchal values. I am thoroughly persuaded by the cogent, thorough scholarship in such works as this article by N. T. Wright and the Grenz and Kjesbo book, Women in the Church: A Biblical Theology of Women in Ministry.

I also value female ministry and leadership because I have profited firsthand from it, in my reading (from Catherine Booth and Phoebe Palmer to Barbara Brown Taylor and Rachel Held Evans), among others; in my childhood and youth (from such women of God as Helen Bender, Arvilla Hostetler, June Rader, etc.); and in my long and winding adulthood (Heather Zempel, Liz Curtis Higgs, Virelle Kidder, etc.).

I have also witnessed firsthand the immense gifts (and often needed balance) women have brought to church teams I have led, to the point that I truly believe all-male church leadership teams are sure to be far more prone to error (see the video at this link for more on this point).

And, not least of all, I value female ministry and leadership because of my wife, daughter, and daughter-in-law. I know these women. They possess incredible gifts that can and should be used accordingly in the church, family, and society. Not to allow them full freedom to do so would be a sin against them, against those they could influence, and against God himself.

Happy Fourth

Happy Fourth of July from all the staff, interns, and volunteers here at the Desperate Pastor Blog.

Blogging may be light this month, as I have been on vacation with the best wife, kids, and grandkids in the whole world (which is where the photo above comes from; my son-in-law Kevin took it at Mission Lighthouse in Old Mission Peninsula, Michigan), and will soon be speaking in Lewistown (PA), Montrose (PA), and Philadelphia (PA), as well as taking a silent prayer retreat in Trappist (KY) with my son. Wouldn't take nothin' for my journey now.

11 Things I Wish More Pastors Would Say

One of my favorite bloggers, Rachel Held Evans, recently posted the following list of "11 Things I Wish More Pastors Would Say." See what you think:

1. “I don’t know.”

2. “I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me.”

3. “What do you think?”

4. “Sometimes I doubt too.”

5. “I need to take a break.”

6. “I need to spend time with my family.”

7. “I’m not exactly sure what this text means, but I’m going to take a stab at it, present some other views, and then we’ll wrestle with it together.”

8. “We don’t have to agree for you to be welcome here.”

9. “This is Christ’s body, broken for you. This is Christ’s blood, shed for you.”

10. “Let’s pray.”

11. “Let’s eat!”

I’m blessed to have had several such pastors in my life, though I realize such humility isn’t a given. The irony, of course, is that saying these things not only liberates a congregation; it also liberates the pastor. Often, the most meaningful and impactful words a pastor can share are spoken away from the pulpit.

Read the original post here.

Do you agree? Disagree? Would you add anything?

Why I Value Reading

John Wesley, writing to a younger minister, said:

"What has exceedingly hurt you in time past, nay, and I fear, to this day, is lack of reading. I scarce ever knew a preacher who read so little. And perhaps, by neglecting it, you have lost the taste for it. Hence your talent in preaching does not increase. It is just the same as it was seven years ago. It is lively, but not deep; there is little variety; there is no compass of thought. Reading only can supply this, with meditation and daily prayer. You wrong yourself greatly by omitting this. You can never be a deep preacher without it, any more than a thorough Christian. Oh begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercise. You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterward be pleasant. Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days, and a pretty, superficial preacher. Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer. Take up your cross and be a Christian altogether. Then will all the children of God rejoice (not grieve) over you, and in particular yours."

(quoted in D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge, Letters Along The Way (Wheaton, 1993), page 169)