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Posted on April 20, 2021 by Greg Peterson

Our world, our very lives have had quite an upheaval over the past year since I sat down to write my last blog post. We have had a global crisis concerning a virus. America has seen the rise of social issues. Government administrations have changed. Many families and friends have made the decision to distance themselves from people they were hugging and kissing only 1 year ago. Those close to us got really sick, while some died unexpectedly. And the church has had their practical ecclesiology exposed (some for the better, other for the worse). It has been a tough year, seemingly, for most.… Continue reading

When You Don’t Feel Like Going To Church

Posted on February 5, 2020 by John Chester

I have a confession to make, a couple of weeks ago I really didn’t want to got to church. I hadn’t slept well Saturday night, and when I did fall asleep (after reading for a couple of hours in the middle of the night) I had an unsettling dream, not the kind that is frightening, but the kind that causes you to wake up angry and agitated ( I dreamt my dog was dognapped, and I was out for justice Liam Neeson style). The weather was changing and every old injury in my body (I’ve broken both ankles, and most of my fingers; had a major hip reconstruction, including osteoplasty; had a major shoulder injury including multiple broken bones from a deck collapse; I played a contact sport, often on artificial turf, at a serious level and skied 30+ days a year into my late 30s and have all of the attendant aches a pain that go with that) ached. … Continue reading

Reprise: Don’t Be a Lone Wolf

Posted on December 11, 2019 by John Chester

It was one of the most uncomfortable meals of my life. I had called a semi-local likeminded pastor in order to make him aware of a situation that may impact his small, rural church. After a brief phone conversation, we agreed to meet for lunch the next week. And after some initial pleasantries, he thanked me for calling him, and then he began to weep, and he kept weeping for well over an hour. The reason he wept was this, he felt utterly alone in ministry and his small little church, only a little over an hour away from us, felt utterly isolated from the universal church.… Continue reading

Are You a Domineering Pastor?

Posted on November 6, 2019 by Zach Putthoff

Entirely foreign to every sentence of the Bible is the concept that spiritual leadership is a place of power. Though this concept is widely embraced, it is entirely contrary to Scripture. Sadly, it seems to me that a great many Christians and even a great many Christian spiritual leaders have in one way or another failed to understand this. In a typical Bible-preaching evangelical church in the United States, the pastor of the church is not uncommonly regarded by a healthy percentage of its members as the president and/or CEO of the church. Sadder still, this is often how pastors in local churches have come to view themselves.… Continue reading

Hope for the Depressed Pastor

Posted on September 11, 2019 by Zach Putthoff

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? (Psalm 56:8)

Yesterday evening my heart was grieved to read the news of the death of Jarrid Wilson; a high profile, 30-year-old pastor from California, who took his own life Monday evening after a long battle with depression. News like this is as tragic as it comes. The darkness of depression is very real, and Christians are in no way immune from experiencing it. Neither are pastors, as Wilson’s death demonstrates.

I didn’t know Jarrid Wilson or know much about his ministry, but I have experienced something of the darkness of depression and deep discouragement in pastoral ministry, and I know that depressed and discouraged pastors are far more common than many understand. … Continue reading