The other day, I posted an announcement about serving at Bloomingdale Friends church for the remainder of 2017 as their Transitional Pastor. I want to follow that up by writing a little about what a transitional pastor is (and isn’t). If you really want to dig into what the position […]
Transitional Assistance…
So a former southern baptist youth pastor who works for a non-denominational parachurch ministry walks into a Quaker Church… This is not the lead up to a really great “preacher joke”, this is life right now, and truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. When you follow God’s call, you don’t […]
Sermons
In response to request from some ministry friends, I am going back and publishing audio and PDF notes from messages I’ve given at rural churches in Illinois and Indiana. Pulpit supply has been a sizable part of my ministry lately. I have been able to serve Pastors and churches in […]
You’re Tracking The Wrong Metrics in Rural Ministry…
I know, I used a buzzword. Whether you are in Church Growth, Business, Marketing, SEO, or Fantasy Sports, the word “Metrics” carrries a heavy connotation. Its one of measuring and evaluting everything for the sake of making things better. In a lot of rural churches, this would be a large […]
Just Stop It Already!…
“Why do we do this ministry every year?” “Well…kinda because we’ve always been the ones to do It?….” We have all had that conversation in our churches. There seems to be that one ministry in every church that is a sacred cow that happens every year only because it happened […]
The Importance of Families in Youth Ministry…
The longer I serve in Rural Ministry, there are a few things that I have seen that catch my attention and scream their importance. One of these important factors is the role of Family in youth ministry. If you asked 100 youth pastors if they believed that it was vital […]
Rural Ministry in a Grocery Store…
At a local Pastor’s prayer breakfast, I heard the following statement: I do a large part of my ministry at the local IGA. I see people that would never walk into my office for counseling. I ask them how they are doing and they tell me. A lot of times […]