My dad had a plan for everything and a chart for most things. He had charts for the miles he walked, his weight and the glasses of water he drank. He did not have a chart, but he did have…
Why I have a growing appreciation for preaching
I have been engaged in the preaching task since I was 20 years old. That means I have been at it for 31 years. Preaching is my lifestyle. There is always a biblical text and a developing sermon in my…
If your pastor hasn’t had a pay increase in several years, now is the time to make it right
On multiple occasions in the last few weeks, I’ve had conversations with pastor friends who have said in passing, “I’ve not had a salary increase since I got here.” These pastor friends are not bitter, and they weren’t complaining. They…
As church staff roles evolve, the SBC is forced to define the word ‘pastor’
Sixty years ago, Baptists would have had little reason to debate the meaning of the word “pastor.” In those simpler days, “the pastor” was the primary staff leader of a congregation — the person who preached most Sundays and provided…
As a pastor, knowing it’s time to move on comes with joy and sorrow
Scanning the last page of my notes, I throw myself into the benediction with the force of a poorly hung door caught unexpectantly by a summer breeze. I attempt to hold the moment by stitching together a series of detached…
Daniel Vestal writes of the changing chapters of life and faith
The Daniel Vestal attending this week’s Cooperative Baptist Fellowship gathering in Dallas is in some ways a very different Christian than he was the first — or even most recent — time he attended a general assembly. That’s because the…
Learn to serve and lead where God takes you, T.D. Jakes advises
Serve and lead at the table where God places you, no matter your position or title. That’s the message I heard from T.D. Jakes during a recent interview. This was my fourth time to interview the pastor of The Potter’s…
Pastor reveals her true identity in live-streamed Sunday sermon
“I want to proclaim to my transgender siblings that I believe in a God who knows your name, even if that name hasn’t been chosen yet.”
Pastor, judge, activist, agitator: As he strives for justice, Wendell Griffen stretches the lexicon of adjectives
Wendell Griffen, 66, is all of these things. But his persona is so large, his reputation so loud, his “rightness” so locked in and eagerly defended, that the man’s depth can be lost in the shallows in which he must wade.