I’ve read and heard this before, but it’s always someone’s first time.
Daryl Dash expands on Arch Hart’s advice on ‘Why Pastors Should Consider Working Mondays‘. (ie. not take Monday as their ‘day off’.)
Briefly, the adrenal high and resulting drain that follows pastoral activity on Sunday means a lot of pastors simply shamble through Monday looking like the living dead and aren’t able to enjoy recreation or rest properly.
Dash: “The reality is that I need a weekly sabbath – not a day off, and not a legalistic day, but a day of joy and refreshment. It’s not a day to catch up around the house or to run errands. It’s a day to completely unplug and release myself from all obligations, and to enjoy relationships and activities that bring me joy. For me, Mondays simply don’t work. I can’t enter into this day of delight when I’m simply trying to recover from the day before.”
As someone whose personality tends more towards introversion than extroversion, I found Trevin Wax’s review of Introverts in the Church very interesting.
Wax comments: “Adam McHugh’s new book Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture (IVP, 2009) goes beyond superficial personality tests to address a real problem in evangelical churches today. McHugh makes the case that most churches are led by and geared toward extroverted personalities. Evangelicals tend to measure progress in discipleship by participation in essentially extrovert-focused activities. Even the wider society rewards extroverted traits, which leaves people with more introverted personalities feeling left out.”
Catalyst Space has interesting articles for church leaders.
Tony Morgan’s piece on ‘Leading VS Managing‘ was interesting and opened up lots of stuff for thought.
Churches need leading and managing, without leadership they’ll lack direction and without management they’ll lack stability. Knowing where your natural gifting lies is important so you can develop a leadership team that help your church have direction and cohesion.
One Decision from Stupid by Shawn Lovejoy & David Putman is an ‘always needed’ warning about how one decision can ship-wreck a life, a marriage, a family, along with a church and its wider witness. They offer a list of safeguards:
1) What is the real condition of my prayer life and study of God’s Word for other than the messages I teach?
2) Is there anyone in my life that has permission to ask me the hard questions and are those questions being asked regularly?
3) Do I have accountability software on my computer that keeps me off sites I don’t need to be on?
4) Do I take a weekly Sabbath? If so, what makes it holy?
5) Do I eat properly, exercise regularly, and get proper rest?
6) Am I spending consistent quality time with my spouse and children? Would my spouse and children agree?
7) Do I have a hobby/interest I’m passionate about outside of ministry that recharges me emotionally?
8) Do I spend formal and informal time with other ministry leaders who are winning at the nurturing their own vitality to learn from them?
Mount Gambier is a provincial town and we are able to conduct hospital visiting to those who identify as Presbyterian. About fifteen folk from the church are involved in this activity.
Kevin DeYoung posted a review of a booklet by Brian Croft, Pastor at Auburndale Baptist Church in Louisville, entitled ‘Visit the Sick: Ministering God’s Grace in Times of Illness’. DeYoung’s review reveals it to be a solid and helpful introduction to visiting the sick. We’ll probably grab some copies and give them to our visitors.
Mark Driscoll interviews R.C. Sproul. It’s great to see two generations of calvinist pastors getting on so well. The whole video is at The Resurgence, or you can watch it in edited highlights. I’d never heard the one about R.C. and Alice Cooper being golf buddies.
I want to finish this week with a YouTube featuring Dr. David Powlison sharing “a personal story of his own suffering and how the truth of Christ plus a small obedience made all the difference”. If you ever get who you are and what you do confused this is very helpful.
If you want another example of what sort of person Powlison is read this.
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