“Never has a teacher taken such trouble with his scholars as Jesus Christ will with those who preach His Word. He will spare no pain; no time will be too limited or too long for Him. In the love that took Him to the Cross, He wants to fellowship and converse with us, fashion us, sanctify us, and make us fit for His holy service. Will we not commit ourselves entirely to the love that gave up all for us and look upon it as our greatest joy to have daily fellowship with Him? All you who long for blessing in your ministry, He calls you to abide in Him. Let it be the greatest delight of your life to spend time with God; it will be the surest preparation for fruitful service.” —Andrew Murray
Effective Pastoring
April 19, 2013 — Craig T. OwensThe Domineering Pastor
April 12, 2013 — Craig T. Owens
I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. (3 John 9)
The King James Versions says that Diotrephes loveth to have the preeminence. He loved his title, his position of authority, and having everything in the church flow through him.
He wanted not only to approve who spoke in the church, but even with whom church people could socialize outside of church. He wielded his positional authority like a sword and cut off people from the fellowship of the church if they didn’t join lockstep with him.
He used fear and intimidation to demand people follow him, and wouldn’t receive a loving letter from the Apostle John. To counteract any who would question him, Diotrephes engaged in gossip and character assassination of any he perceived to be a threat to his position as pastor.
For shame!
This type of attitude has no place in the Body of Christ, especially among the pastorate! Jesus came to serve, and taught us to do likewise. Jesus didn’t snuff out the smoldering wick or stomp on the bruised reed, but ministered lovingly to all. Peter told shepherds to never use their position to lord it over others.
My fellow pastor, having the title of pastor doesn’t mean I’m the smartest person in the room, or that I have all the answers. I am one member of the Body of Christ. Each member of the Body needs all the other members of the Body. I should humbly serve, never demanding allegiance to me or blind obedience to my wishes. I should never try to hide behind my title, but be the most transparent, the most willing to admit my mistakes, and the first to forgive and to ask forgiveness.
Lord, guard my heart against the spirit of Diotrephes!!
UPDATE: This is one of the seed thoughts that went into my book Shepherd Leadership.
Leaking Influence
March 22, 2013 — Craig T. Owens
Jim Collins has great advice for leaders: When things are going well, look out the window (at your people); when things aren’t going well, look in the mirror (at yourself). This is as true for business CEOs as it is for pastors.
Pastor, you leak.
I leak.
We all leak.
It’s impossible to just maintain where we are. There needs to be a constant refreshing, a constant refilling. We need to keep learning, keep changing, keep renewing. If we don’t, well, this is how Oswald Chambers described it—
“If you are in a position of authority and people are not obeying you, the greatest heart-searching you can have is the realization that the blame does not lie with them, but with you; there is always leakage going on spiritually. Get right with God yourself, and every other one will get in touch with God through you.” (my emphasis)
Pastor, don’t wait: Look in the mirror today, get right with God, replenish what’s leaked out of you, and then watch to see how others in your congregation will begin to move toward God themselves.
Enter The Pulpit Without Embarrassment
March 15, 2013 — Craig T. Owens
“I am afraid of the pastor that is another man when he enters the pulpit from what he was before. Reverend, you should never think a thought or do a deed or be caught in any situation that you couldn’t carry into the pulpit with you without embarrassment. You should never have to be a different man or get a new voice and a new sense of solemnity when you enter the pulpit. You should be able to enter the pulpit with the same spirit and the same sense of reverence that you had just before when you were talking to someone about the common affairs of life.” —A.W. Tozer
My dear fellow pastor, your congregation wants a pastor-shepherd who is authentic, not plastic. One who is real and approachable, not high-and-mighty. One who is a tour guide on the journey with them, not a travel agent that stays behind. One who is the same in the pulpit, in the restaurant, on the ball field, in the “unguarded” moments.
UPDATE: I elaborate much more on this in my book especially for pastors and church leaders called Shepherd Leadership.
National Sin And Repentance
March 8, 2013 — Craig T. Owens
“It is a sad thing when a nation’s sins accumulate to the point that God says, ‘Here, if you want that, you can have all of it and the hideous things that come with it. You have removed yourself from My mercy and its preventative grace.’ Preventative grace is a term we use to describe the merciful actions of God—essentially unseen in their execution and, by many, seldom honored because God’s kindness is presumed to be our right (if indeed He does exist, as unbelievers say). …America, for instance, has invited God out of its life, His Word out of its educational system and His moral values out of its laws. The plagues of venereal disease, gang warfare, teen suicide, divorce (the list could go on) are the direct outflow of the darkness to which our land has surrendered. However, our nation has not yet been swamped to the point of complete ruin—and therein is our call. As people who know our God, prayer for our land can bring healing. The passage is a virtual signal flag, summoning us with the assurance that it is not too late yet. God’s mercy promises that with our intercession, ‘Help is on the way!’ (see 2 Chronicles 7:14; 1 Timothy 2:1-5).” —Jack Hayford, The Secrets Of Intercessory Prayer (emphasis added)
What a powerful promise in Scripture:
If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Pastor, God’s blessings can return to our nation IF our people will humble themselves and pray. But our people will not do this unless we go first, and model the way for them!
Look how Nehemiah identified with the sin of Israel, and went first in his prayer of confession and repentance—
Let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer Your servant is praying before you day and night for Your servants, the people of Israel. I CONFESS THE SINS WE ISRAELITES, INCLUDING MYSELF and my father’s family, have committed against You…. (Nehemiah 1:6)
Lead the way, pastor, before it is too late for us.
(You may also be interested in this post: How to See a National Revival.)
My Brothers
February 1, 2013 — Craig T. Owens
Pastor, I love how the Apostle James consistently addresses his audience in his epistle. Over a dozen times in his five short chapters, Pastor James addresses his congregation as my brothers (sometimes the phrase is even my dear brothers).
The word brothers is always the Greek word adelphos, which means from the same womb. James didn’t elevate himself, nor put down others in the church; he constantly put himself on the same plain. He was saying, “Look, I struggle with what you struggle with—we all have the same issues. I’m not immune to these things because I’m the so-called leader of the Jerusalem church. I have to keep alert and keep on working in these areas too!”
Sometimes James adds the adjective dear (or as the KJV says, beloved). This word is from the root word which means to be fond of someone, to love dearly, or to be well pleased. James, in essence, is saying, “I like you! You’re not just someone that goes to church with me, but you’re a dear friend.”
As the adage goes—People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. So almost every point James covers in this epistle is introduced by the my brothers tag. It’s his way of reminding them, “I’m sharing this with you because I really like you, and I want us to grow closer to God together.”
Wow! What a great example for me as a pastor. I’m not immune to struggles. I’m not in a separate category. I’m in this with my dear brothers and sisters, and I want us to all overcome and grow in our level of intimacy with God together.
UPDATE: This is one of the major themes in my book for pastors called Shepherd Leadership. I hope you will check it out!
The Contemplative Pastor
January 25, 2013 — Craig T. Owens
Pastors can get caught in a rut, just like anyone in any number of other professions. That’s why it’s so vital for us to pause often to make sure we haven’t slipped into something without being aware of its impact.
It is absolutely vital for pastors to have regular quiet time with God. Read the Word, pray, contemplate, read other pastors (especially the “old guys”), pray, and contemplate some more. Let the Holy Spirit point out to you any blind spots.
I’ve been contemplating two quotes from the “old guys” over the last few days.
[1] “We prefer to build up converts to our own point of view.” —Oswald Chambers
I want to make sure I’m always allowing the Holy Spirit to be as unique with others as He is with me. I need to be cautious that I’m not making my practices the universal practices for everyone. I need to give these converts a solid biblical foundation, and then let the Spirit build them up as He knows best.
[2] “Recollect, as ministers, that your whole life, your whole pastoral life especially, will be affected by the vigor of your piety. If your zeal grows dull, you will not pray well in the pulpit; you will pray worse in the family, and worst in the study alone. When your soul becomes lean, your hearers, without knowing how or why, will find that your prayers in public have little savor for them; they will feel your barrenness, perhaps, before you feel it yourself.” —Charles Spurgeon
I need to be a praying pastor. My sermons must be birthed in prayer before I deliver them, and sealed in prayer after I deliver them; my appointments must be covered in prayer; my schedule must be directed by prayer; my relationships must be nurtured through prayer. I must be in prayer continually if I am to be effective at anything.
My fellow pastor, I hope you are taking the time to contemplate: to be quiet as you ponder how the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. It is absolutely vital for the health of the part of the Body of Christ to which we minister.
Hypocritical Pastors
December 18, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
I was reading a passage from Jonathan Edwards’ Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer, where Edwards warned pastors against neglecting the sacred duty of private prayer. Edwards says that pastors who spend more time praying publicly than they do privately are hypocrites.
T.M. Moore commented on this—
“So we [pastors], when we attend upon public prayers—even leading them, during morning worship—but have no prayer life of our own to speak of, practice hypocrisy of the first water. We seem to be men of prayer, but we are hardly ever calling on the Lord of glory.”
There is a simple remedy to this: Pray!
- Pray every day
- Pray about every thing
- Pray in private
- Make prayer your continual and ongoing habit
Pastors, may we always pray!
The Heavy Responsibility of Shepherding
December 13, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
My dear pastor, our task is not an easy one. It is one of heavy responsibility: Caring for God’s sheep.
They are God’s sheep. They are not your sheep or my sheep. But you and I have been given the stewardship care of God’s precious lambs.
I hope these words God spoken through the prophet Ezekiel don’t describe you. But may all of us pastors take them as a sober reminder of the weightiness of our role as the under-shepherds of God’s flocks…
Then this message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. So My sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.
“Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you abandoned My flock and left them to be attacked by every wild animal. And though you were My shepherds, you didn’t search for My sheep when they were lost. You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I now consider these shepherds My enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to My flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock, and I will stop them from feeding themselves. I will rescue My flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey.” (Ezekiel 34:1-10)
UPDATE: This post was one of the seed thoughts that went into fashioning my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.
Showers Of Blessings
December 7, 2012 — Craig T. Owens
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
Pastor, please carefully read these words from Oswald Chambers, written nearly a century ago, but still so relevant for us today—
“God’s Word is a seed. The ‘seed-thought’ idea is one that preachers and evangelists need to remember. We imagine we have to plough the field, sow the seed, reap the grain, bind it into sheaves, put it through the threshing machine, make the bread—all in one discourse. …
“The truth is we don’t believe God can do His work without us. We are so anxious about the word, so anxious about the people who have accepted the word; we need not be, if we have preached what is a word of God it is not our business to apply it, the Holy Spirit will apply it. Our duty is to sow the word, see that it is the word of God we preach, and not ‘huckster’ it with other things, and God says it will prosper in the thing whereto He sends it. …
“He says, ‘My word…will not return to Me empty.’ Every temptation to exalt the human, human experience, human interests and blessings, will fall short; the only thing that prospers in God’s hands is His own word.”
From God’s Workmanship, emphasis added
I need to be reminded of that again. Perhaps, my fellow pastor, you needed it to. This Sunday just preach the word God has given you, and then let the Holy Spirit take it from there. God WILL bring the harvest in His time.
UPDATE: In the final chapter of my book Shepherd Leadership (a chapter entitled “Applause”) I wrote this:
Did you catch that? Twice Paul reminds us that it is God who makes things grow [1 Corinthians 3:4-8]. God, not man. So is the only successful ministry the one that harvests? How did they harvest without someone watering the seed? What exactly were they watering if no one had planted any seeds? And even with everyone doing the work, it is still God who makes things grow.
According to Paul, what does God reward? It’s not numeric growth, but shepherds “will be rewarded for their own hard work … the work the Lord gave us.”
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