Writing

This blog helps pastors and church leaders foster spiritual discernment and maintain a healthy work-life balance, offering reflections and practical advice to lead with clarity and purpose rooted in a strong connection with God.

The Listening Stage

We met again last night to develop a listening strategy. A listening strategy is the plan to hear voices around us. It includes listening to outsiders, to the congregation, to God. It might seem strange to have a strategy for listening. Yet, we em...

The Exploring Stage

I met last night with a group of leaders to begin working through a decision. Developing this discernment process has been difficult and complicated. Yet, we feel that it directs the decision-making process. As we gathered last night, it was inter...

Testing the Process

Today is the first day of August. So far, I am on track in terms of my thesis schedule. I thought I would give you all an update. I am working with a team developing a process for decision-making at First Baptist Church Muncie. We have developed ...

Listening

Last night, I met once again with my MSG (Ministry Support Group). We are in the middle of developing a decision-making process. We hope to have it ready for testing by August 1. The more we work toward this, the more complicated it seems. There a...

Not Foolish Anymore?

We are heading into a sermon series on 1 Corinthians. As I prepare for these sermons, I am struck by the clash of the gospel with culture. In 1 Corinthians 1:18–2:16, Paul describes the gospel as “foolishness” to those in his culture. The Greek wo...

Drafting a Process

Developing a process of discerning for church leaders is a daunting task. Frank Rogers, in Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People (edited by Dorothy Bass) describes the difficulty. Unfortunately, there is no method that gua...