Archive for the 'Pastors' Category
A Pastor and His Wife
Perhaps the most important decision a pastor makes in his life and ministry is choosing the woman who will become his wife. Through my years of pastoring and leading churches, I have always found that a pastor and his ministry will not surpass his marital relationship in terms of healthy growth. If his marriage is healthy, his ministry has a much greater probability of being productive and effective. Conversely, if his marriage is unhealthy, his ministry will be extremely limited and affected greatly.
Jeana and I have been married over 36 years. I became a local church pastor in September 1976, and we were married on Dec. 31, 1976. Jeana was a piano major in college and I am convinced I received the call to my first church because they needed a piano player!
I want to share a few practical things for every pastor and his wife to consider and act upon in life and ministry:
You Are Partners
You are partners in marriage and in ministry. Yes, I wrote that statement correctly. Partnership in marriage many understand, but partnership in ministry is becoming a unique quality for a pastor and his wife.
Jeana and I have always been partners in ministry. We have walked together hand-in-hand through all our years in ministry. She is fully involved in the life of the church. Every pastoral candidate that I call to serve on our Cross Church team is joined by his wife at his final interview. That interview is more about her than it is him.
During that interview I talk to her and ask her:
*Do you go to worship?
*Are you involved in a ministry of the church?
Then I proceed to tell her along with her husband:
*If you come here I expect you to be in worship weekly.
*If you come here I expect you to be involved in a ministry.
*If you come here I expect you to be involved in our monthly staff wives luncheon that Jeana leads.
*If you come here I expect you to be involved in our annual staff advance.
At Cross Church, we expect a pastor and his wife to be partners in ministry. More importantly, God expects a pastor and his wife to be partners in ministry.
Live Life Together
A pastor and his wife need to live life together. Yes, ministry is busy and at times very demanding. Every job has challenging seasons.
However, a pastor and his wife need to live life together. When time away from ministry occurs, this should not mean that he goes his way and she goes her way. Go together! Live life together.
The strongest testimony of a pastor and his wife comes when your people see you together, enjoying life together and living life together. This also keeps both of you from becoming vulnerable to the enemy’s attacks of sexual temptation. When people see you and your wife living life together this lets all others know: She is mine and I am hers. If you are not together or you are rarely seen together, you are sending signals that are very unhealthy for your people. Therefore, live life together!
Be Consistent
Be consistent in your walk with Christ and your calling to ministry both at church and at home. Do not be a hypocrite! The last thing the wife of the pastor needs to see is a different man at home than she sees in the pulpit. This is especially true when children enter into your life. Equally, the pastor does not need to come home to a wife who is personified at church as a great woman of God, but at home is a tough lady.
Both a pastor and his wife need to be consistent in their daily walk with Jesus. Consistent in their daily time with God. Consistent in praying together daily. Consistent in their family life and church life.
The anointing of God cannot be fooled! God knows if you are real and consistent daily, wherever you are. Usually, the anointing of God is strongest to those who live consistently wherever they may be, whether at home, at the ball field, within a restaurant, or at the church.
Many More Thoughts
Yes I have many more thoughts on this, but let’s just think upon and pray about these for now:
*You are partners
*Live life together
*Be consistent
May the Holy Spirit empower you to be these things and more!
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
The Most Powerful Action The Church Can Do
The church is fighting to find a way to make a difference. Methodologies are tested endlessly. Strategies are adjusted continually. Even theologies are compromised periodically. Each is nothing more than a frail attempt to make some kind of difference.
Yet, at our fingertips is the hope to make a difference. Stirred by the words of Acts 12:5, God has placed upon me what I believe is the most powerful action the church can do. What does Acts 12:5 say?
“So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer was being made earnestly to God for him by the church.”
Peter was just hours before his execution under the leadership of King Herod. While he was in prison, the church was praying. The Bible says the church was praying earnestly to God on Peter’s behalf, meaning with great fervency and intensity they were stretched out before God, crying out to Him to save the life of Peter!
The Most Powerful Action The Church Can Do Is Pray
I write those words and ask you to say them out loud as you read them: The most powerful action the church can do is pray! Under the same conditions Peter faced, if they existed in our time, some modern churches would:
*Appoint a study committee to discover the needed actions or,
*Call a business conference to see what possible solutions may exist or,
*Contact an attorney to take some kind of legal action
What would your church do? I am convinced that the two most powerful words in Acts 12 are the words, “but prayer.”
Bondage Is Everywhere
Peter was in literal bondage and it was called prison. Yet, people all over our nation and world are living in bondage. Sadly, many of our churches only attempt new methodologies, or new strategies, or even lower themselves to adjust their theologies all in a futile attempt to help people overcome their problems.
Why Don’t We Pray
When the most powerful action the church can take is prayer, why don’t we pray? What is it about us that we will try almost anything other than prayer? When we pray we are depending on God! When we choose not to pray, we are depending on ourselves! God help the church to become the praying people He intended for us to be.
When We Pray, God Does Miracles!
Yes, I write it again and ask you to say it out loud: When we pray, God does miracles! In Acts 12, this is exactly what happened. God freed Peter from prison miraculously, all in response to the prayers of God’s people. God took this ordinary man named Peter, making him the recipient of an extraordinary work of God because the church prayed.
This Week, I Want To Challenge You
This week, I want to challenge you to take these four actions:
1. Pray for miracles: God is able to do anything, anywhere, at anytime, with and for anyone; therefore, pray for miracles!
2. Expect miracles: Because our God is Sovereign and in complete control of all things and He desires us to pray to Him about all things, expect miracles when you pray. Refuse to settle, expect God to move and to answer prayer.
3. Trust God’s sovereign will: Yes, He is in complete control of all things; therefore, when you pray, God moves your heart to receive whatever He so chooses to do in response to your prayers. The ways of God are often unexplainable; therefore, the sovereign will of God has to be trusted.
4. Church, rise up and pray: The greatest action a church can do is pray!
Believe it! Do it! I want our people to know that when their lives are falling apart, our church is praying. When the world is uncertain, our church is praying. When families are struggling, our church is praying. When hope is seemingly dissipating, our church is praying. Therefore, rise up and pray!
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.