Five to Live By

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

Want to Change Lives?

Mike Emlet of CCEF talks about The Number One Mistake People Make Using Scripture to Give Advice.

Want to Grow in Grace? (A Two-for-One)

Two of my favorite bloggers, Kevin DeYoung and Tullian Tchividjian have been blogging about Christian living. To learn about growing in grace, read Kevin’s response (with links to the previous posts) in Gospel-Driven Effort. And, just in time for posting, another response by Kevin: Is Sanctification by Grace Alone?

In a related post, the question is raised, “What role should discipline have in our Christian lives?” Learn the answer from Lina AbuJamra who is the Women’s Ministry Director at Harvest Bible Chapel and a Pediatric Emergency Physician. Read her post Only the Discipline Survive.

Want to Learn the Remedy to Life’s Problems? (Another Two-for-One)

Al Mohler addresses the only cure for what ails us in Theology, Therapy, Twitter, and the Scandal of the Gospel.

Also read Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile as he shares about the antidote to the ensnaring, soul-destroying vice of lust in Lust and Chastity.

Want to Blog?

Have you wondered about starting a blog? There’s no one better to learn from than Tim Challies, one of the premier Christian bloggers. Learn from his blogging wisdom in How to Start a Blog.

Want to Learn about Church Government? (Another Two-for-One)

There have been a number of solid responses to a post by James MacDonald against congregational government. To read the rest of the story, see Fred Moritz’s Response to James MacDonald.

Also read the 9Marks response Like He Uses Everything Else.

Join the Conversation

Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Tags: 9Marks, Al Mohler, Kevin DeYoung, Lina AbuJamra, Mike Emlet, Thabiti Anyabwile, Tim Challies, Tullian Tchividjian

Don’t Make Your Pastor a Statistic

Yesterday at the 9Marks blog, Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile shared some alarming statistics about pastors. Having been a pastor for a dozen years, and having ministered to pastors for over fifteen years, though these statistics are alarming, they are not surprising.

Read Pastor Thabiti’s article Don’t Make Your Pastor a Statistic.

Read the original article from the Schaeffer Institute: Statistics on Pastors.

Some Summary Pastoral Statistics

Hours and Pay

• 90% of pastors report working between 55-to-75 hours per week.

• 50% of pastors feel unable to meet the demands of the job.

• 70% of pastors feel grossly underpaid.

Training and Preparedness

• 90% of pastors feel they are inadequately trained to cope with the ministry demands.

• 90% of pastors said the ministry was completely different than what they thought it would be like before they entered the ministry.

Health and Well-Being

• 70% of pastors constantly fight depression.

• 50% of pastors feel so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.

• Only 23% of pastors report being happy and content in their identity in Christ, in their church, and in their home.

Marriage and Family

• 80% of pastors believe pastoral ministry has negatively affected their families.

• 80% of spouses feel the pastor is overworked.

• 80% of spouses feel left out and under-appreciated by church members.

Church Relationships

• 70% of pastors do not have someone they consider a close friend.

• 40% of pastors report serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month.

• The # 1 reason pastors leave the ministry: Church people are not willing to go the same direction and goal of the pastor. Pastors believe God wants them to go in one direction but the people are not willing to follow or change.

Longevity

• 50% of pastors will not last 5 years in the ministry.

• Only 10% of pastors will actually retire as a minister in some form.

• 4,000 new churches begin each year and 7,000 churches close.

• Over 1,700 pastors left the ministry every month last year.

• Over 1,300 pastors are terminated by their local church each month, many without cause.

Join the Conversation

How could praying and living Hebrews 13:17 help to change the lives of pastors and their families?

“Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

Tags: 9Marks, Pastoral Ministry, Pastors, Thabiti Anyabwile

Five to Live By 

Linking you to the top 5 Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living.

Is God Likeable?

Pastor Steven Furtick is always cutting-edge. He does so here in an insightful post It Doesn’t Matter if I Like God.

Psychiatry and Biblical Counseling

David Powlison answers the vital question Can I Pursue Psychiatry as a Vocation While Maintaining a Biblical Worldview? His answer might surprise.

How to View Our Failures

Matt Johnson at The Resurgence helps us to think through the vital mature of Why Your Failures Are a Blessing.

Is Church Membership Important?

Jonathan Leeman at 9Marks shares Twelve Reasons Why Church Membership Is Important.

Comprehensive Consequences

Steve Cornell at Wisdom for Life addresses Seven Consequences to the Fall of Humanity. Yes, it really was that horrific and we can’t understand life today unless we understand what happened then.

Join the Conversation

Which post impacted you the most? Why? What blog posts have you enjoyed this week that you want to share with others?

Tags: 9Marks, David Powlison, Matt Johnson, Steve Cornell, Steven Furtick

The Best of the Best Around the Net

One of my passions is bridge-building, connecting, and highlighting other ministries and ministry resources—so that the Body of Christ is built up and Christ is magnified (Ephesians 4:15-16). My weekly post, The Best of the Best Around the Net, links you to blog posts that provide robust, rich, and relevant insights for living. Check out the following links you can trust.

Strategic Discipleship

Over at Church Matters, the blog site for 9Marks Ministry, Pastor Deepak Reju has posted a very helpful blog on “Picking Fruit Off of a Tree.” He explores practical principles for discipling leaders.

Scandalous

John Bird over at Discerning Reader reviews D. A. Carson’s Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus. “In his inimitable style, Carson returns us to where we must forever dwell theologically: Christ’s cross and resurrection.” Read the rest of John’s review here.

6 Views on Brian McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity

I normally don’t post about my own post, however, this really isn’t “my” post. I’ve updated a post where I link you to six different views on McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity. If you’re interested in what to make of this book, visit here.

What Is the Character of God and Why Does It Matter to Me?

Ed Welch of the CCEF has a very practical blog where he asks, “Is God Picky?”. How we see God is the most important thing about us.

Ingredients of Successful Blogs

Michael Hyatt is the leading Christian thinker about Web 2.0, social networking, blogging, ministry-based-marketing, etc. In this post, he invites a guest blogger to discuss “The Third Ingredient of a Successful Blog”. Also find the links to the first two posts in the series. What good does it do if you write a great blog, but nobody reads it? Or, put another way, “If a blog is written in the woods, does anyone see it?”

Join the Conversation

Of my Best of the Best Around the Net, which post impacted you the most? Why?

What blog posts have you read this week that you want to share with others?

Tags: Best of the Net, Carson, CCEF, Discerning Reader, Ed Welch