Introverts and Extroverts

Jesus Creed has a post up today about introverts and extroverts.  In addition, I’ve been leading a small group through Romans 12 and talking about the various gifts and talents of people, and using those gifts the way God made us.  Of course, God made some of us as introverts and some of us as extroverts and we’ve spent some time talking about that.  Which are you?  How does it affect your gifts and the ministries that you are involved in?  What would you expect your pastor to be?

Pastors and Depression

This article focuses on pastor suicides, but it seems to me that the most important information contained in the article is about pastoral depression.   You have to read the article carefully to get to the important stuff regarding depression and pastors.  (While the information on pastors and suicide is important to note, it is also important to note that the article itself says – despite its own focus – that there is no statistical evidence to indicate that pastors commit suicide at a higher rate than the general population.)  Read on to see a few of the highlights.

Jay Leno’s Pastoral Moment

Jay Leno’s no pastor – we all know that, but he did have a pastoral moment with Kanye West.  Most of us know that an inebriated Kanye West blew it the other night when he interupted Taylor Swift during her nice moment.  Not a huge deal, but selfish, unkind and foolish in many ways.  You can watch the pastoral moment after the jump.

Thinking about Preaching…

David Fitch has posted a very interested blog about preaching in a post-Christian world.  Specifically, he interacts with what he believes are three common myths about preaching, followed by a statement on the purpose of preaching.  I’ve provided his post below…I’m curious about what you think.

Should You Go to Seminary?

Have you ever considered seminary?  Do you know anyone who is thinking about seminary?  In either case, you need to read John Stackhouse’s blog titled Seminary: Who Needs It? I think he surveys the landscape well and comes to some great conclusions.  Read more for the full text.

Grace Adventures: A Weekend to Remember

There are a lot of reasons why working with Jr. Highers is one of the greatest privileges of my life.  Here are just a few.  How can you not fall in love with them?

Transforming Leadership

I’ve read two things in the past few weeks that have me thinking about leadership.  First,  I read Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture.  Then I started working on Effective Men’s Ministry.  Niebuhr talks about the relationship between culture and Christianity, while the book on men’s ministry talks about leadership of, well, men’s ministry.  And I began to notice something about our culture:

How To Unclutter Life

Here are six suggestions for clearing the unnecessary information from your life.   Personally, I follow four out of the six suggestions.  Maybe I should consider the other two?

The Casual Pastor

I’m new to this pastoring thing, but already I’ve noticed a common question from people:  “What should I call you?”  I prefer just “John,” without any title, because that’s who I am.  I don’t think of myself as “Pastor John” or “Pastor Lemke” or anything else.  On the other hand, people from older generations still call me “Pastor John” and I never correct them – for them, it’s a sign of respect that they willingly give. 

Scot McKnight wonders if we pastors are getting too casual. 

Sheep for the Chief Shepherd’s Benefit

I started reading a book – Hit the Bullseye – in preparation for a MBGC board meeting I’ll be attending later this week. The author gave a new perspective on the sheep/shepherd metaphor that might make a few comfortable sheep angry and a few shepherds anxious.