Was Your Church Successful?

October 24, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

These thoughts are especially for my fellow pastors (although I think they pertain to anyone who attended a church service recently).

So… how successful was your church gathering this weekend?

Was it successful because lots of people were there? Or because the pastor preached a good sermon? Or maybe the offering was better than usual? Or because you could feel something special as the worship team sang and played their instruments?

How about these measurements:

“The great business of the church is not our number by addition, but by grace, by growing up in Christ.” (John Owen)

“The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of. Our attention would have been on God.” (C.S. Lewis)

“Revival is the church getting back to ‘normal.’” (A.W. Tozer)

I hope these quotes have you thinking about church “success” as much as they are working on me!

UPDATE: This post was one of the seed thoughts that went into fashioning my book Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Praying For Your Pastor

October 4, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

For the past few years, October has been designated as Pastor Appreciation Month. Honestly, I feel appreciated by the great folks at Calvary Assembly of God every single week! I can only pray that other pastors feel the same love I feel.

Here’s a simple way you can show your pastor appreciation both in October, and all year long: Pray for him or her. Multiple times the Apostle Paul wrote pray for us (Colossians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 3:1). Prayer is SO NEEDED for your pastor!

Here’s what the eminent pastor Charles Spurgeon wrote:

The members of the body of Christ should have a care for one another, but especially should the minister receive the prayers of his flock. I have sometimes heard his duties called arduous, but that word is not expressive enough. The works in which he is occupied lie quite out of the region of human power. The minister is sent to be God’s messenger for the quickening of the dead. What can he do in it? He can do nothing whatever unless the Spirit of God be with him through the prayer of his brethren.

He is sent to bring spiritual food to the multitude, that is to say, he is to take the loaves and fishes, and with them, few as they are, he is to feed the thousands. An impossible commission! He cannot perform it. Apart from divine help, the enterprise of a Christian minister is only worthy of ridicule. Apart from the power of the Eternal Spirit, the things which the preacher has to do are as much beyond him as though he had to weld the sun and moon into one, light up new stars, or turn the Sahara into a garden of flowers. We have a work to do concerning which we often cry, “Who is sufficient for these things?” and if we be put to this work but have not your prayers, and in consequence have not the supply of the Spirit, we are of all men the most miserable.

Show how much you appreciate your pastor by upholding him/her in prayer every day.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

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.

Posted in Pastoring. Tags: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Preaching At God’s Command

September 22, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

This post is specifically for my pastor friends. As you are finishing up your sermon prep for this week, here are some good words from Charles Spurgeon for us to keep in mind:

“We preach, at God’s command, the way of salvation by mercy, not by merit; by faith, not by works; by grace, not by the efforts of men. May God help us so to set forth that principle, that many may accept it. I do not care one snap of my finger about preaching so that the style shall please the ear, but I long to reach your hearts. I want you to receive the only sure method of salvation, and I pray the Holy Spirit to baptize my words in His own mighty fire, and make them to burn their way into your hearts, and subdue you to the obedience of faith.”

Pastor, I’m praying that the Holy Spirit will baptize your words. God said, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it,” and I am believing that for you this week!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Christian Disconnect

September 19, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

The Barna Group just released a study that looks at some of the disconnects between what Christians believe and how they live. You can read the full report by clicking here, but here are the main disconnects:

  • 81% of Christians say Jesus is important to them; but only 18% are committed to developing their relationship with Jesus.
  • 64% of Christians have confessed their sins to God; but only 12% realize how devastating their personal sin is.
  • Lots of Christians participate in “normal” religious activities every week; but “less than one out of ten have talked about their faith with a non-Christian, fasted for religious purposes, and had an extended time of spiritual reflection during the past week.”
  • Most Christians feel “comfortable” in their church; but their comfort level is only surface-deep, with no accountability nor confession.

As a pastor, I place the responsibility for these disconnects squarely on the pastors. On me.

Unless pastors are teaching this stuff—and living this stuff—the disconnects will always remain.

Gregory the Great (ca. 540-604) wrote, “There are some who investigate spiritual precepts with cunning care, but what they penetrate with understanding they trample on in their lives: all at once they are teaching the things which not by practice but by study they have learnt; and what in words they preach, by their manners they impugn. Whence it comes to pass that when the shepherd walks through steep places, the flock follows to the precipice.”

I’m challenged by this, and I’m going to spend some time in prayer this week regarding these disconnects. I want to take a good look at what I’m teaching and living, and allow the Holy Spirit to correct what needs to be corrected.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

United

September 9, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

These are the pastors of the Cedar Springs Ministerial Association praying together before our UNITED service. We truly are united. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful group of colleagues who will put aside any denominational differences, to simply focus on winning people for Christ!

How good and pleasant it is when brothers [and sisters] live together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)

I hope other pastors can learn from this group and experience the blessing of being united.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

More Amateurs Needed

September 7, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

Did you know that the origin of the word clergy comes from the Latin meaning “learned men”? These are the men and women who are supposed to lead our churches, because they have the education that others don’t. They are professionals.

Now compare that with the definition of laity: “the people outside of a particular profession, as distinguished from those belonging to it.”

Did you catch that? The laity are outside and uneducated. They are amateurs.

The origins of clergy is traced back to the 12th century, and laity first appears in the 16th century. But long before this, the Apostle Paul had a different idea —

Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? (1 Corinthians 1:26-28 from The Message, emphasis added)

There is a HUGE PROBLEM when we think that only the professional clergy is equipped to do the ministry of the church! What makes a healthy church (like the first century church we read about in the book of Acts) is when EVERYONE is actively involved in ministry.

These words from Howard Hendricks are tough to hear, but right on target:

“I believe a great problem in evangelicalism today—whether in the local church, missions, seminary education, or what have you—is we have too many big-time operators! And too few servants. … 

“The typical church hires a clergyman to rob them of the privilege of exercising Christ’s gifts. … The greatest curse on the Church today is that we are expecting a small group of professionals to get God’s work done.”

I hope I haven’t stepped on too many toes with this one. My intent is not to offend, but to get the church thinking. I want to see EVERYONE that calls themselves a Christian actively involved in ministry.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

God Is The Gospel (book review)

August 18, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

John Piper is always a challenging read for me. He stretches my horizons, challenges my paradigms, and forces me to dig deeper into Scripture. In God Is The Gospel, I felt like he was writing to me specifically in my role as a pastor of a growing church.

The gospel is good news, right? But good news about what? Or more importantly: Who? Here’s how Pastor John himself describes why he wrote this book:

“The point of this book is that the Christian gospel is not merely that Jesus died and rose again; and not merely that these events appease God’s wrath, forgive sin, and justify sinners; and not merely that this redemption gets us out o Hell and into Heaven; but that they bring us to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as our supreme, all-satisfying, and everlasting treasure. ‘Christ… suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God’ (1 Peter 3:18).”

Too many times as a pastor I’m guilty of pointing people to the gifts of salvation, and not to the Giver of salvation. The gifts are wonderful, but the Giver of the gifts is supremely important!

This is a book about glorifying God. This is a book about worshiping God for Who He is, and not for what He gives.

Everyone will benefit from reading this book. But I would most recommend it to those who are called to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

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.

Posted in Pastoring, Uncategorized. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »

Three For Pastors (book reviews)

May 3, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

I consider it such an awesome privilege—and a heavy responsibility—to be called to be a pastor. Despite the challenges, I love doing what I’m doing! And although I don’t want this message to become diminished by over-use, I truly do mean it: I ♥ My Church!

Because I want to be the best pastor I can be, I frequently study the lives of historical pastors, and I try to keep current on thoughts from my contemporaries as well. So, if you are a pastor (or if you want to better support your pastor), here are three books I recently read which I would highly recommend to you.

The Heart Of A Great Pastor by H.B. London and Neil B. Wiseman emphasizes how pastors need to take personal responsibility to make sure they are continually giving their best. From revisiting the call of God on their lives, to maintaining a vibrant private prayer and devotional life, to organizing ministries in the church, pastors can never coast. I love this insight from the authors:

“The God-initiated summons takes us [pastors] into life’s main arena where people wrestle with ultimate issues such as birth, life, death, sickness, broken relationships, health and hope, as well as ambiguities and apprehension. This partnership with God takes us to private and public places and to sorrowful and cheerful places. It is our lifetime ticket to represent Jesus at weddings, hospital waiting rooms, grave sites, baptisms, Holy Communion and life-shaping questions that good people have reason to ask, such as ‘Where is God now?’”

Elite Prayer Warriors by Dave Williams is a renewed call to prayer. I grew up with a cliché ringing in my ears and my heart: The church moves forward on her knees.  If this is true for the church (and I firmly believe it is), it is even more true for pastors who serves the church as her under-shepherd. Elite Prayer Warriors encourages pastors  to raise up a team of people who will commit to the spiritual battle of praying for their pastor.

Then Pastor Dave Williams addresses an area that can derail a church in Toxic Committees And Venomous Boards. I’ll let the cat out of the bag right up front: Pastor Williams states unequivocally that committees are unscriptural. After showing the biblical basis for his claim, he then makes the case for a scriptural form of pastoral support: teams. He says, “Committees meet; teams score!”

I also like this quote in the book from Rick Warren:

“Committees discuss it, but ministries do it. Committees argue, ministries act. Committees maintain, ministries minister. Committees talk and consider, ministries serve and care. Committees discuss needs, ministries meet needs.”

Three outstanding books to help you be the best pastor that God has called you to be.

I am a Decapolis book reviewer.

Posted in Pastoring, Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »
« Older posts
Newer posts »