People in our church often let me know they are praying for me, and I am deeply grateful. Sometimes people ask for specifics on how they should pray for the pastor. At a recent meeting with our church’s Pastor’s Prayer Partners, we gave out the following acrostic with the prayer needs of a pastor:

Personal life—walk with God, family
Administration—counseling, leadership
Study—time, message preparation
Trials—grace, growth
Oversight—church ministries, care for the flock
Resources—strength, wisdom, building projects

I’m very thankful for the intercessory prayer of our people. James 5:16 promises, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”!

(Note: The Pastor’s Prayer Partners is a ministry in our church for which I am deeply grateful. One of our assistant pastors organizes this group so each person has a partner. These faithful intercessors work out a time to meet each week with their partner and pray for me, my family, and our church. A couple of times a year, we have a group meeting to re-partner and include new members.)

On Thanksgiving Day, when you are sitting around the table sharing your blessings, it’s easy to feel thankful. But we all have to work to maintain a grateful spirit every other day. Perhaps it would help to identify these four attitudes that are enemies of thankfulness:

Comparison

This is one of the most ignorant enemies of thankfulness. Comparison tends to make us feel inadequate, boastful, or lacking—all of which kill a spirit of gratefulness. We only see a small portion of the lives of others. It may appear that they have more or better than us, but we do not know all the other aspects of their lives and in what other ways God is working in their lives. It’s far better for us to trust God in His dealings with others and compare ourselves to no one but Christ. (more…)

(This is part 3 of a three-part post, highlighting a few key areas of Baptist distinction.)

What makes Baptists distinct? We already noted in part 1 that both faith and practice must come directly from Scripture, and in part 2 we saw Baptist dinstinctives regarding the church. Here we will see three specific practices that are unique to Baptists: (more…)

For years I’ve wanted to write a book for deacons. The deacons who serve our church have been a help to me—and to our entire church family—beyond what words can describe. Their ministry is vital, and its intricacies are definitely worthy of a book.

The Ministry of a Baptist Deacon is that book—just back from press. It is the compilation of years of lessons given at deacons orientations and meetings. It is designed to be a handbook for local church deacons, equipping them as servant leaders in the church. (more…)

(This is part 2 of a three-part post, highlighting a few key areas of Baptist distinction. See part 1 here.)

What makes Baptists distinct? In the last post, we noted that Baptists believe in Bible authority, and both our faith and practice is based on God’s Word. Now we see the Baptist distinctives regarding the church.

We believe the church is a special place—a local, called out body of believers, belonging to the Lord (Acts 20:29–29). (more…)