One of the most exciting aspects of ministry for a pastor is the privilege of seeing other leaders developing in the church—whether they be staff or lay leaders. As a pastor, I embrace my responsibility to equip the saints for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11–12), and I am thankful to see staff members reaching their potential.

Every senior pastor should have a great desire to see his staff fulfilling their purpose in life and ministry with excellence. This includes wise hiring, systematic training, increased challenges and opportunities, and much more.

In this month’s spiritual leadership podcast lesson, we explore several aspects to the senior pastor’s role in developing a church staff.

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I thank the Lord for the team He has assembled here at Lancaster Baptist Church. I count it a joy to serve with these co-laborers and to help them reach their potential for Christ. (more…)

For the eleventh time in the history of Lancaster Baptist Church, we thrust our silver shovel in the ground, beginning a new building project by faith. Yesterday morning we broke ground for our West Wing Tower—the first in a three-phase expansion project for our auditorium.

From a human standpoint, starting a multi-million dollar building project during an economic recession is poor timing. But as we gathered on the lawn yesterday, we looked at another time in history when God’s people began a massive building project in uncertain days. Like Nehemiah and the Israelites who built the wall with him, we believe that “The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build” (Nehemiah 2:20)!

Many times over the past twenty-five years we have stepped out in faith and made the sacrifices necessary to provide more space. Every time, God has not only been faithful to provide each need, but He has also filled every new seat! This week, we embark on another spiritual journey that will expand our capacity to reach more people and will increase our faith in God to provide. (more…)

Terrie’s and my first Thanksgiving together was sure to be slim. I was a nineteen-year-old Bible college student, and I wasn’t exactly what you would call wealthy! At the time, I worked for Caterpillar Inc. in City of Industry, California. I was thankful for my job and grateful for the opportunity it gave me to provide for my new bride.

About a week before Thanksgiving, Jim Anderson, the General Manager gave every employee a small turkey. I could hardly believe his generosity—this few pound bird would mean that Terrie and I would have a Thanksgiving dinner.

My amazement was compounded, however, when I heard the older guys at work complain about the size of the turkey. (It actually was very small.) “What does Jim think we’re going to do with a bird this little anyway?” “He’s cheap—he just gives us this game hen to make us like him.”

I brought the turkey home, and Terrie and I enjoyed every bite. I also wrote a thank you note to Mr. Anderson. It was pretty simple—I just thanked him for his thoughtfulness and let him know I appreciated my job. I sent the note; we ate the turkey; and that was the end of the story in my mind. (more…)

How do you say “thank you” for God’s goodness? Really, it’s impossible to fully express our thanks.  But when your heart is overflowing with gratitude, it will find an outlet.

Psalm 100 is the outpour of a heart focused on God’s abundant blessings to His people. In this Psalm of thanksgiving, verses 1–2 reveal three ways a thankful heart expresses gratitude.

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

1. A heart of joy

Joy is the outgrowth of a thankful heart. Even in our darkest days, we have more blessings than we can count. And if we will actually pause to count them, as the song “Count Your Blessings” says, we will be surprised “at what the Lord hath done.”

Thankful people are joyful people. Count your blessings! (more…)

It’s just a simple box on the closet shelf of our bedroom, but it holds years of memories.

I first got the idea to incorporate the “Thanksgiving Box” into part of our family holiday tradition when our children were quite young. One year, after our Thanksgiving dinner, I gave each of the children a sheet of paper and a pencil, and I asked them to write down the top five things they were grateful for. This was not a pressured activity to think of the best things, nor was it a competition to see who could come up with the most. It was simply an exercise to write down what God had done for us. Terrie and I wrote our own lists as well. When everyone was finished, we put our lists into the creatively-named “Thanksgiving Box.”

The following year, we repeated the tradition. Only this time, we gave each child their list from the previous year to read before writing a new list. They enjoyed remembering the blessings of the previous year, and their old lists helped to ignite their gratitude for writing a new list. (more…)