Pastoral Ministry

“Most pastors have heard of deconstruction and some say they’ve seen it in their pews, but no one knows exactly what faith deconstruction means.” - Lifeway

“the first English Baptist confession, John Smyth’s (1609), lists ‘bishops and deacons.’ The First London Confession of 1644 lists ‘pastors, teachers, elders, deacons,’ while the Second London Confession of 1688 returns to two: ‘bishops or elders and deacons.’ In fact, nearly all Baptist confessions mention only two” - 9 Marks

Baxter (1615–1691), as the late J.I. Packer has described him, “usually called himself his people’s teacher, and teaching was to his mind the minister’s main task.” - Desiring God

“Maynard was president of the Fellowship of Missions since 2011. Previously he was state representative of the Michigan Association of Regular Baptist Churches from 1990 to 2006—the longest tenure of any MARBC representative” - GARBC

“Run the simulation on a [pastor/elder] candidate: Would the most natural commendation, relative this particular man, be … ‘He’s able to teach—if you put a gun to his head?’ Or would it be … ‘He’s the kind of man who will hardly stop teaching—even if you put a gun to his head.’” - 9 Marks

“National research by the Barna Group indicates that pastors are discouraged, with 43 percent of pastors saying that they have given serious consideration to leaving vocational ministry.” - RNS

“…some reasons pastors don’t pray. We’re “fixers” by nature….We’ve had no role model prayer warriors….We’re afraid to tell anyone when we struggle with prayer….We have so much to do” - Chuck Lawless

“Baptists do believe that humanly speaking, you are certainly free to believe whatever you wish. However, you do not have the right to believe, or disbelieve, anything you choose and still call yourself a Southern Baptist.” - Richard Land

“Make an official handwritten record of all the junk you’ve suffered and put up with in this church….Name names. Use bold print, underline, and add exclamation points. Then, take this official document, this masterpiece, and shred it. Then burn the shredding.” - David Brumbelow

“The PCA takes up the case of a church leader who responded to sexual harassment claims with a defamation lawsuit against his accusers.” - C.Today