Pastoral Ministry | CJ's View from the Cheap Seats

Pastoral Ministry Defined

March 7, 2016

I want to interrupt our tendency to unfavorable comparison, unattainable aspirations, and the resulting discouragement of soul. I want to ask a question: Why are we discouraged? Often we are vulnerable to discouragement because we have forgotten what pastoral ministry truly is. We measure ourselves against unattainable standards, and inevitably we do not measure up. So if you find yourself discouraged, you’re not alone. I’m familiar with this state of soul. And the most effective way I can encourage you…

Called, Gifted, and Discouraged

March 3, 2016

Some pastors are extraordinary gifts to the church—Al Mohler, Mark Dever, Lig Duncan, R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, John Piper, and Thabiti Anyabwile among them. It is a privilege to listen to and learn from these men. When I think about these men, I often think of the PGA tour motto: “These guys are good.” These guys are smart. These guys are unusually gifted. (Although that certainly isn’t how they see themselves.) Chances are, if you’re a pastor, you think of…

Ordinary Pastors

February 29, 2016

We tend to overlook the “ordinary” things in life. We don’t watch a keynote speech live online to see the unveiling of a new model of an ordinary mobile phone. We don’t buy expensive stadium tickets to watch ordinary athletes compete. And ordinary YouTube videos never “go viral.” The common, the everyday, the routine, the uneventful, the garden-variety…none of it grabs headlines or our attention. We notice the extra-ordinary, and when it comes we will watch it, buy it, and…

The Spirit Leads Us To The Cross

February 25, 2016

As we lead our churches to grow in the fellowship of the Spirit, we must remember that the Holy Spirit always glorifies the Son. The primary role of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the Savior and to testify to the gospel. Our pneumatology must never take precedence over—and in fact cannot be understood apart from—the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s avoid adopting the Corinthians’ erroneous definition of spirituality. They equated maturity with giftedness, spirituality with the spectacular. They thought…

Celebrate the Breadth of God’s Work

February 22, 2016

As we examine what Scripture teaches us about the Holy Spirit, we see that his work in the church is multifaceted. As is evident in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, the Spirit’s work is diverse and broad. I think Gordon Fee got it right in his summary of Paul’s understanding of the person and work of the Spirit. He writes, “In Paul, power is not to be thought of merely in terms of the miraculous, the extraordinary. . . ….