As an independent Baptist pastor, I’m encouraged with the potential our churches have to reach an eroding society with the truth of the Gospel. As we are careful to maintain doctrinal integrity and biblical separation, the truth of God’s Word is given freedom to change lives for the glory of God. But sometimes we limit our influence by pettiness and strife.

This podcast lesson is my heart’s plea to independent Baptist pastors and leaders to see our potential reached by obeying the admonition of Philippians 1:27: “…that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”

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We’ve added a special feature to this lesson (originally preached at the Spiritual Leadership Conference this past summer): in-studio Q&A at the beginning and end of the lesson in which I answer the following questions:

• What excites you about what God is doing in our local churches today?
• What burdens you about the movement in independent Baptist churches today?
• What is most needed from the younger leaders in local churches today?
• What is most needed from the older leaders in our local churches?
• Most of our listeners know that you’ve been dealing with a trial as your son Larry has been battling cancer these last couple of months. What has God’s been doing in his life during this time?

We are ministering in the last days. Now is the time to strive together—young and old, east and west—for repentance and revival in our land. This is not the time to marginalize, but to march together holding high the banner of truth.

The Spiritual Leadership podcast is a free resource from Striving Together Publications (a ministry of Lancaster Baptist Church and West Coast Baptist College).

You can subscribe to this podcast through iTunes and listen on your computer or iPod. You can also receive the complimentary outline with each lesson. Click here for more information about subscribing to the outline.

More and more people prefer to read blogs “on the go” through their mobile device. I am happy to announce that you can now view this blog in a mobile version through your mobile phone browser (designed for iPhone, Adroid, or iPod touch.) Simply type in the URL and the site will automatically detect your mobile device and adjust the site. If you prefer to view the site in it’s original form, scroll to the bottom and turn the mobile view off.

I pray that the posts you find here will continue to encourage and strengthen you in the Lord!

Over the last several months I have spent a good amount of time in the evening and early morning hours working on my new book entitled The Spiritual Leader.

The Spiritual Leader is a guidebook for pastors and Christian leaders as they lead God’s people. There are six sections to this book:

The Spiritual Leader’s Heart
The Spiritual Leader’s Ministry
The Spiritual Leader’s Pulpit
The Spiritual Leader’s Team
The Spiritual Leader’s Trials
The Spiritual Leader’s Triumphs

In many ways, this book is the culmination of the principles God has taught me through His Word, through years of reading, and through years of leading. It is my earnest prayer that God will use this book to be of help in the lives of the leaders here at Lancaster Baptist Church, West Coast Baptist College and, should He allow, throughout our country.

Here are a few chapter titles to show you the direction of the book:

The Spirit-filled Leader
The Servant Leader
The Spiritual Leader’s Friends
The Spiritual Leader’s Priorities
The Overseeing Leader
The Administrative Leader
Leading Through Different Stages of Growth
Overcoming Barriers in Ministry
Leading a Biblical Church Service
The Spiritual Leader’s Music Ministry
The Spiritual Leader and His Wife
The Spiritual Leader and His Children
The Spiritual Leader’s Staff
The Spiritual Leader’s Motivator
Leading Through Crises
Leading by Intervening
And many more…

Spiritual leadership is a life-long journey and all of us, to some extent, have the privilege of leading and influencing others for good and for God. We will formally introduce the book at this year’s Spiritual Leadership Conference and we are taking early orders through our website at www.strivingtogether.com.

Please pray that God will bless this book and that it will be used to encourage others for His glory!

by Todd Hopkins and Ray Hilbert
published by Thomas Nelson Publishing

I think it would be safe to say that I receive an average of three books a week from people across the country. Many of these are given to me by friends and others I receive from people whom I have never met. Obviously, I am not able to read all of them immediately upon receipt. The Janitor was one of those books that sat on my shelf for a while. Recently, however, I picked it up and found it to be a tremendous blessing to me.

The title is somewhat deceiving, as one might think he will be reading a book dealing with tips for building maintenance. Quite to the contrary, the authors use a story line showing how a janitor of a large corporation is able to help the CEO determine what matters most in life.

The janitor shares several life-changing principles with the CEO and helps him find proper alignment regarding his values concerning family, the joy of life, and the importance of mentoring others. If you, like me, are busy in the ministry of our Lord, you will understand that sometimes it is easy to get out of balance and forget what matters most. If you are looking for a quick read that will touch your heart and help you re-align, I recommend The Janitor.

This book was recommended to me by my friend Clay Reed, and I appreciate the recommendation. I hope you enjoy it too!