Archive for the 'Pastors' Category
A Pastor and the Providence of God in his Life and Ministry
Providence is God’s guidance and protection in our lives. Pastor, I know we teach about God’s providence to His people regularly. We counsel people with a deep belief and conviction about God’s guidance and protection through life. Yet, when it comes to our own lives and ministries, do we believe it with the same level of conviction and operate our lives accordingly?
God Knows What is Best for Me
I have often struggled with understanding many things in my own life and ministry. I have wondered why certain doors have closed when I thought their opening would be the will of God. Conversely, I have often been overwhelmed with God’s gracious blessing of opening doors for me that I knew I did not deserve. After all these years it is still hard to write them in confession to you: but I understand that God knows what is best for me, even when I do not know what is best for myself. Yes, He protects me from things I may want or believe, when in reality, they are not best for me.
Trusting the Providence of God
The Lord is always working around us. He desires to work through us. People, places, provisions, and experiences are all under His guidance and care. When He desires to intersect them into your life, you will see His sovereign will fulfilled. Therefore, by faith we must trust God’s sovereign will. We want to join Him in all He is doing. As He invites us to join Him, trust Him. He is worthy to be trusted.
Therefore, how do we trust the providence of God in ministry?
1. Trust in His providence even when things are not going well.
Ministry is not an easy calling or job. Most pastors I know are under the scrutiny of people continually. They are weary from constant criticism and cutting cynicism. Many wonder if their future is in jeopardy. Often times, they live on the edge from one month to the next, hoping and praying for revival or deliverance!
Pastor, God has not forgotten you. He is with you. He wants to teach you.
I will never forget one of the most challenging times I ever faced in ministry. Through that experience God showed me that He had me in that particular place in life to teach me. He had me there more for me than for the church! This overwhelmed me with conviction from the Spirit of God. I learned through that experience, and many times since, that He guides, protects, and provides even when things are not going well. Trust in God’s sovereign will for your life.
2. Trust in His providence even when you do not want to.
So many times in life, we want to take our life and ministry in our own hands. We want to manipulate the circumstances or spin our own reality. If we want to be honest with one another, there are times when we struggle with anger about what we are experiencing and even with where we may be serving. In the ministry, jealousy can even override our judgment at times because others are receiving recognition that we believe we are more worthy of receiving. In reality, all may line up on our sheet of unfairness.
Yet, we must trust in God’s sovereign will. At times, trusting Him and His will may be far more difficult than trying to take matters into our own hands. Trusting God in ministry involves surrendering our entire life and future to Him! We have to take our hands off of our own future, leaving all of our future in His hands. Pastor, trust in God’s sovereign will for your life.
3. Trust in His providence for your future.
Pastor, trust in God’s providence for your future in life and ministry. He knows what is best for you even when you do not. He is more involved with you personally than you realize. He is moving in the world of today in order to prepare you for the world of tomorrow.
I believe God has big plans for your life and future. No, you may not see it right now, but He is preparing you for them. Do not try to dumb-down God into your perspective of the world. He sees the end from the beginning. He knows every gift in your life that He Himself gifted you with. At the right time, He will raise you up and trust you with your future. Pastor, practice what you teach and preach.
It all begins with you:
*Being available to God without placing any restrictions on your life
*Surrendering yourself and all you are to Him, holding nothing back
*Trusting in God’s sovereign, providential will for your life and ministry
Trust God’s providential guidance and care for your life and ministry!
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Insecurity: Pastors, Church Leaders, and Churches
One of the major challenges that prevent many churches from being focused on their mission can be summarized in one word: insecurity. It eliminates opportunities for evangelism, planting churches, ministry expansion, and making disciples because it creates conflict in the church. I have even seen insecurity ruin ministries.
A testimony: I will never forget talking with a leader who served with his Pastor for decades in one of the strongest ministries in America. I asked him about the challenges of adjusting from leading church staff leaders from people in the world. He remarked, “I have found that ministers are the most insecure people I have ever met in my life.”
Since insecurity can hurt ministers, churches, and ministries, we need to consider ways to overcome this problem. Here are some helpful tips for identifying the signs of and solutions to insecurity.
Signs of Insecurity
1. Competitiveness – One of the biggest problems insecurity carries with it is overt competition. Churches try to “out-do” one another. Pastors find themselves competing with other pastors. This competitiveness occurs because of insecurity and further results in jealousy and a critical spirit.
- Solution:Remember that as a Christ-follower your only competition is the world, the flesh, and the devil, not other pastors or churches. Remember who you are in Christ and abide in this spiritual reality.
2. Combativeness – I have seen many pastors and church leaders ruin their ministry by the incessant need to have their way. God has not called ministers to always be right, but to be godly. In my book Ten Things Every Minister Needs to Know, I talk about this issue in detail. I am convinced we can do the right thing in the wrong way. We need to operate with the Spirit of Christ at all times.
- Solution:Recognize that not every hill is worth dying on. Sometimes the best, most Christ-like way is to humble yourself and see that the best idea is not always your own. Listen to others. Learn from others. Learn from your own mistakes. Do not let a word, a sentence, or attitude take away from your main message. Your goal is always to be like Christ, not always be right in the eyes of others or even in your own eyes.
3. Complaining – Some of the whiniest people I know are ministers. It also happens that pastors are some of the most insecure people I know. The two often go together. Complaining is a serious obstacle for many ministers of the Gospel. How can we expect others to be attracted to our message and our leadership if we are complainers? This does not magnetize people to the message but it distracts them from the message.
- Solution:Return to the reason you are in ministry. Church leadership roles are often very hard. When all the bad stuff starts coming your way, instead of complaining about it, keep your heart in the Word of God and keep your eyes on Jesus and the lostness of the world. Most of all, return to your call from God to go into the ministry… this is why you are doing what you are doing.
What We Do Not Have Time For
We don’t have time to play games and be insecure. We are not competing against the pastor across town. We are not competing against a church across America. While every church is called to make disciples of all the nations, we have to carry out this commission in the different contexts God has called us to serve. We are not entitled to getting everything our way because we’re in a church leadership role.
Insecure Pastors and Churches
Insecure pastors create insecure churches. Insecure churches are ineffective churches. Competitiveness, combativeness, and complaining do not have a place in the church of Jesus Christ, especially in the life of a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So let’s set aside the competiveness, combativeness, and complaining and focus on taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world and making disciples of all nations.
Why There is No Need to Be Insecure
Our Lord’s command to go and make disciples is prefaced by the statement, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” and is followed by, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18, 20). Because we live in and with the authority of the Great Commission, there is no need for insecurity. There is no need to be insecure… the Lord is with you always!
Daily, I pray for the authority of the Great Commission to operate within and through my life as a leader. Knowing that the One who has all authority is with us, we can face anything in life and ministry.
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.