Start It With Me

February 3, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Pastors, I wrote earlier about the idea that you have to preach your message to yourself before you preach it you’re your congregation. But I want to back up a step to the motivation for that.

These words from William Law are challenging—

“The first business of a clergyman awakened by God into a sensibility and love of the truths of the Gospel, and of making them equally felt and loved by others, is to thankfully, joyfully, and calmly adhere to and give way to the increase of this new-risen light, and by true introversion of his heart to God, as the sole Author of it, humbly beg of Him that all that he feels a desire of doing to those under his care may be first truly and fully done in himself.”

God, if You want to do something in my congregation, start it with me. Right here, right now, in the privacy of my study, begin with me. When I come before my congregation this weekend, may my life be the example of the work You want to do in us all.

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A Sharper Sermon

January 27, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

It’s a lot of work preparing a sermon (and even that is a major understatement!). So if we pastors are going to put all of this effort in, isn’t it right to believe for a great return on that investment?

I’ve got good news and bad news for you—and they’re both the same. Pastor, after all of your hard work preparing your message, there is only one thing you can do: pray.

Sounds simple, right? But if it’s so simple, why are so many church attendees unmoved by the sermons they hear each Sunday (check out this Barna report)?

Here is some good counsel of how we should pray—

“Of what efficacy would be the exterior word of pastors, or even the Scriptures themselves, if we had not within the word of the Holy Spirit giving to the others all their vitality? The outward word, even of the Gospel, without the fecundating, vivifying, interior word would be but an empty sound. ‘It is the letter alone that kills (2 Corinthians 3:6), and the Spirit alone can give us life.’” —Francois Fenelon

“Does anyone of us desire to help the Church of Christ? Then let him pray for a great outpouring of the Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can give edge to sermons, and point to advice, and power to rebukes, and can cast down the high walls of sinful hearts. It is not better preaching, and finer writing that is needed in this day—but more of the presence of the Holy Spirit.” —J.C. Ryle

If I can add my two cents’ worth to these eminent theologians:

  • Pray before you write your sermon
  • Pray while you’re writing your sermon
  • Pray before you deliver your sermon
  • Pray after you deliver your sermon

And then watch what the Holy Spirit does with your sermon!

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Preach It To Yourself

January 24, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Before I am a pastor sharing with my congregation, I am a saved sinner standing before God.

Before I open the penetrating brilliance of God’s Word to my church, I must stand in the spotlight of His Word.

In other words, I should never stand before my church with my finger pointed at them. Instead, the finger of God should be squarely pointed at me. Only then can I share with my congregation what God is doing in my life.

I’ve always tried to pastor this way, but recently I read this passage in John Bunyan’s autobiography which made this truth even more real to me—

“Sometimes I have been about to preach upon some smart and searching portion of the Word, I have found the tempter suggest, What! will you preach this! This condemns yourself; of this your own soul is guilty; so don’t preach any of it; or if you do, mince your words, as to make way for your own escape; lest instead of awakening others, you lay that guilt upon your own soul, that you will never get from under. … It is far better that you judge yourself, even by preaching plainly unto others, than that you, to save yourself, imprison the truth in righteousness.”

So, pastor, preach the Word to yourself first. Then go share with your congregation about what God is dealing with you.

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Copartnership

January 20, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Do you want your church services to be more engaging?

Do you want your pastor to preach more effectively?

Do you want to come away from church more energized?

If so, you need to enter into a partnership. E.M. Bounds, in his fascinating book The Weapon of Prayer, wrote this—

“Prayerlessness, therefore, as it concerns the preacher is a very serious matter. If it exists in the preacher himself, then he ties his own hands and makes the Word as preached by him ineffective and void. If prayerless people be found in the pew, then it hurts the preacher, robs him of an invaluable help, and interferes seriously with the success of his work. How great the need of a praying church to help in the preaching of the Word of the Lord! Both pew and pulpit are jointly concerned in this preaching business. It is a copartnership.”

If you want more engagement, effectiveness, and energy at your church, partner with your pastor in prayer.

If you don’t have a church home, I hope you can partner with me this Sunday at Calvary Assembly of God as I continue a series called The Danger Of Prayerlessness.

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Pastor Dad (book review)

January 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

I recently read a free ebook from Mark Driscoll called Pastor Dad. You can read it or download it for free by clicking here.

One of the Bible verses that I claim as one of my life verses is this—I have no greater joy than knowing all of my children walk in the truth (3 John 4). I don’t want to be so busy with my church and community work that I miss out on one of the greatest joys: Being my kids’ Dad and leading them in their walk with Jesus!

Pastor Mark’s book is a very helpful reminder and resource for Dads, to make sure we are doing what God has entrusted us to do. It’s not a lengthy nor difficult read, but it is both convicting and challenging.

Dads, I encourage you to check this out.

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Men, Not Boys

December 6, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is an in-your-face, no-punches-pulled, right-on-target message. Watch it, think about it, and share your thoughts in the comment below…

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A Pastor’s Work

September 28, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I have blogged before about how heavy I feel the responsibility of being a pastor. When I think of the awesome responsibility God has given me as His under-shepherd to His precious people, I am humbled.

Humility is a good thing.

Since the pastor is “out in front” at every gathering, speaking to the people, leading the church in a particular direction, people tend to view their pastor as their leader. And without humility, the people’s esteem can “puff up” a pastor. Unfortunately, I’ve been around pastors who have gotten a little too, shall I say, “puffy.”

So this dose of godly wisdom from J.C. Ryle is just the preventative medicine I need:

“We should beware of resting our claim to the people’s attention on our outward [pastoral] call only. It will never do to tell our people, ‘We are your ordained ministers, and therefore you must believe and follow whatever we tell you.’ On the contrary, we must tell them to prove our teaching by Scripture, and not to receive it unless it is scriptural. That man has no right to expect the attention of his people, who does not preach the Gospel and live the Gospel. The rule of Paul is clear on this point. He told the Thessalonians to esteem their ministers very highly ‘for their work’s sake’ (1 Thessalonians 5:13). When there is no ‘work’ done, it is vain to expect the people’s esteem.

Pastors, do the work of humbly working as God’s servant to His people. Use your position to serve, not to presume upon others.

Church attendees, make us pastors “prove our teaching by Scripture.” We don’t get to say, “Because I’m the pastor and I say so!”

UPDATE: This post went into my thinking for my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.

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Whale Done (book review)

August 15, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I love the business and intra-personal insights that Ken Blanchard shares in all of this books. In Whale Done, I learned from Sea World’s Shamu how I can inspire people to better performance.

Following the story of a frustrated business manager, husband, and father, Ken shows us how catching people doing something right is the key to turning around performance. And in the process, we also create more pleasant work and home environments. Ken’s premise is simple:

“The more attention you pay to a behavior, the more it will be repeated. …If you don’t want to encourage poor behavior, don’t spend a lot of time on it.”

Instead of focusing on what someone is doing wrong, we should be looking for opportunities to say to others, “Whale Done!” In other words, put the bulk of our energy into encouraging people to keep doing the right things, by redirecting our energy away from the mistakes.

It’s revolutionary, but it’s also very exciting. As soon as I finished reading Whale Done, I immediately handed it to my wife and said, “You’ve got to read this!” And I would say the same thing to all parents, pastors, teachers, and business leaders.

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Thursdays With Oswald—Fasting From Eloquence

July 21, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Fasting From Eloquence

     Belief in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the effectiveness of redemption, not by impressive speech, nor by wooing and persuading, but only by the sheer unaided power of God. The creative power of redemption comes through the preaching of the Gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher.

     Real and effective fasting by a preacher is not fasting from food, but fasting from eloquence, from impressive diction, and from everything else that might hinder the gospel of God being presented. The preacher is there as the representative of God—‘as though God were pleading through us…’ (2 Corinthians 5:20). He is there to present the Gospel of God. If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ. Anything that flatters me in my preaching of the gospel will result in making me a traitor to Jesus, and I prevent the creative power of His redemption from doing its work.

From My Utmost For His Highest

So much of pastoring focuses on the preaching. And yet Chambers says, “If it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ.”

He’s right: It’s not about me or my preaching. My focus is on what Jesus said: “And I, if  I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me” (John 12:32).

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Thursdays With Oswald—The Agonizing Grip Of God’s Hand

June 30, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

The Agonizing Grip Of God’s Hand

     Never choose to be a worker; but when once God has put His call on you, woe be to you if you turn to the right hand or to the left. We are not here to work for God because we have chosen to do so, but because God has apprehended us. There is never any thought of, ‘Oh, well, I am not fitted for this.’ What you are to preach is determined by God, not by your own natural inclinations. Keep your soul steadfastly related to God, and remember that you are called not to bear testimony only, but to preach the gospel. Every Christian must testify, but when it comes to the call to preach, there must be the agonizing grip of God’s hand on you, your life is in the grip of God for that one thing.

From My Utmost For His Highest

The agonizing grip of God’s hand: so empowering and at the same moment so humbling.

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