A Joy to Pastor

Over at CJ Mahaney's blog, they have been posting some snippets from the third episode of the Sovereign Grace Leadership podcast. Today they've got some great thoughts about what it means to help foster joy in the pastor of your local church. Here's a portion of CJ's response:

And it would be wise for everyone listening to ask another question: Am I a joy to pastor?

And don’t confine the evaluation of yourself to yourself. I would encourage everyone listening to approach your pastor and ask, “Am I a joy for you to pastor? And if not, why not? I want to be a joy to pastor. I want to bring you joy in pastoring.”

So I think Scripture is clear: By appreciating the character of their pastor and the labor of their pastor, by encouraging their pastor, by the member’s own participation in the local church, they can be a pure joy to pastor.

God wants happy pastors. Any other kind of pastor does not accurately represent God. Yet happy pastors are, to some degree, dependent on individuals who make it a joy to pastor.

Let's make it a point to pray for and encourage the men who labor in the pastoral ministry of our local church. Let's be a joy to pastor.

Do You Consider Your Pastors A Gift?

This past Sunday, C.J. Mahaney was at our church to speak, particularly in light of the recent announcement from our pastoral team that we would be transitioning to a new senior pastor. C.J. preached from 1 Cor. 3:18 - 4:5 and encouraged us to receive Christian leaders as gifts from God. However, he cautioned us not to identify primarily with one leader, for in doing so we can cut ourselves off from other leaders that God intends to use as means of grace in our lives. We should avoid sinful comparisons between our leaders and guard against a preference for one over the other.

I find this can be a difficult challenge, particularly in the information age. Even for those who sit under great preaching at their churches, it's easy to download messages from Piper, Dever, Sproul and a host of others and start to compare. Not to mention the fact that we have the writings and teachings of so many great Christian leaders throughout the history of the church available to us. It's easy to go from hearing these messages in an edifying way that supplements what you are receiving in church to critiquing your local pastor for not living up to these other teachers. Obviously, I am not suggesting that you shouldn't evaluate what your pastor is preaching, but I do think it's easy to desire another teacher over the pastor that God has ordained to faithfully preach the gospel to you week after week and care specifically for your soul.

We should not be cutting ourselves off from the ways that God intends to use our pastors in our lives by preferring one over another. Rather, we should rejoice at the way God is using the specific and unique gifts of our pastors to serve our local church in a meaningful way. And we should give God the glory for the way he uses them to build us up and encourage our faith.

Reading A Book For All It's Worth

There is a great post today over at The Blazing Center. After identifying himself as a fellow "book freak", Stephen Altrogge goes on to share some advice from CJ Mahaney regarding how we approach reading. CJ basically advocates getting to know a small list of great books extremely well over trying to read massive amounts of books and not getting as much out of it. Stephen's post has some good tips on what this might look like.

I know my tendency can be to get so excited about getting new books and reading the next book on my list that I may fail to get as much out of the book I am reading as is possible. Anyone who knows me can attest to the eagerness I have to talk about books and how I get excited when I hear about a cool new (or old) book coming out. I need to remember that the primary goal is not to read the most books or accumulate the most knowledge but to be conformed to the image of Christ and to grow in godliness.

Hopefully this blog will continue to be a help to me as I strive to more deeply understand what I am reading and to apply it. Also, when you see me, please ask me about what I am reading. I'd love to talk about it and to hear about what you are reading and how God is using that to create change in your own life.

HT: The Blazing Center

Your Week In Review

Have you ever had the feeling that you are unprepared as you go through the week? Ever feel that it can be tough to be organized when it seems you have so much on your plate that you don't have time to think about the next thing until it happens? I've definitely felt this way and it doesn't help that my sinful laziness and procrastination can combine with a general lack of organization or the everyday onslaught of responsibilites and obligations. If I've made any progress in this area it's because God humbled me. I knew it was something I was weak in and awhile ago I read a book called "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. It's a popular productivity book among IT types and offers a practical system for organization.

Amongst other helpful advice, there is a part of the system that David Allen recommends called the weekly review. It consists of setting aside a set time every week to manage your organizational system and review what is coming up for the week ahead. I've heard CJ Mahaney state that he does something similar. Not just in terms of organizational systems, but also looking to the week ahead and seeing how he can serve his wife and his family and the church, as well as caring for his own soul. Every week he sets aside a certain time and goes to Starbucks to considers these things. Since he has an idea of the priorities and activities in the week coming up, he can effectively accept or decline other tasks or obligations which may arise. He notes that there will always be more things that we are asked ab out than we can do and if we know our responsibilities and limitations we can decline wisely and graciously without feeling guilty and without failing to meet existing obligations to those around us.

I definitely see the value in this, as God has shown me over the past several years there is a great advantage in being intentional and prepared instead of only letting things happen to me and reacting. So, I have been contemplating starting to do a weekly review. I typically have time before church on Sundays that I use for reading or other things that I feel might be a good time. I think a mix of evaluating the previous week and preparing for the upcoming week could serve me and allow me to be more effective.

So, I'm working on an agenda of sorts for the weekly review. Just some baseline questions to ask myself and areas that I should be considering. Obviously, I need to look at my calendar and consider the events that are upcoming. But more specific questions like "What opportunities do I have to serve others this week?", "How can I be looking to share the gospel with those around me?" or "How can I be seeking to pursue God more this week than last week?" are necessary as well.

What questions do you ask yourself on a regular basis to evaluate your walk with God? Can you think of any questions that would be good to add to my weekly review? What questions might help me to consider important areas of my life and Christian growth that I might otherwise ignore?

Let me know if you have any ideas in the comments and I'll try to post a more finalized list of questions and let you know how the weekly reviews go once I start.