July 2014 “where we are in the process” update

As I put in my last few minutes before officially starting a two week vacation, it seems a good idea to create a post updating you on where we are in our Transition Process at this time.

Here is the description of that: http://wp.me/P3etrg-ge

 

 

Why pastors need strong healthy boundaries (will be a series of posts)

“The pastor is called so serve God and his people, right?” the person said.

The pastor hesitantly responded with a “Yes.”

“Well then, when one of the people has a need, he should always be there to serve them, right?”

“No.”

At least that is my answer, and the answer of more and more pastors. We all will have our reasons…

Here is a link to the rest of part one of my fleshing this out: http://wp.me/P3etrg-gb

(the conversation above us a construct, not a quote)

 

How to distinguish between the truly concerned and the consistently anxious

Some questions and statements have me trying to think this through. What clues do I, as a pastor or a person, go by in my interactions with others by which I discern if the person is concerned about something in a healthy way, or is one of ‘the anxious.’

Here are my thoughts: http://wp.me/P3etrg-gk

On Confessional identity being important, yet hard to accomplish

My colleague and blog and internet buddy Paul VanderKlay, a CRC pastor in California and former missionary shared some thoughts I feel are worth sharing with you all:

http://paulvanderklay.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/why-the-church-must-have-a-solid-confessional-self-to-do-embody-gods-mission-to-the-world/

Communal Worship as celebration of spiritual growth

I gave a brief description of aspects of this line of thought on Sunday evening, but here is a post that lays it out in written words. The idea is that too many people come to Sunday worship with their spiritual batteries too low for an effective recharge that can last a whole week. It is better that people come as wells of living water, not as dried up cisterns. How fair is it if the majority arrive dried out like that and then expect the worship leaders and pastors to ‘fill them to overflowing’? It is not.

Here is the post: http://wp.me/P3etrg-g6