Pastors – Page 9 – Michelle Lesley

For Your Listening Pleasure

May 30, 2017May 25, 2017 Michelle Lesley

Need some great, biblical material to listen to in the car, while you exercise, or when you’re doing the dishes?

The mission of the Shepherds’ Conference is to provide the opportunity for men in church leadership to be challenged in their commitment to biblical ministry and to find encouragement as together we seek to become more effective servants of our chief Shepherd.

You don’t have to be a pastor or church leader to enjoy good preaching from mighty men of God, and that’s just what you’ll get if you click here. Conference sermons from John MacArthur, Mark Dever, Steve Lawson, Phil Johnson, Paul Washer, and more! Also available as an iTunes app. (Translated into several languages, so share with your international friends!)

Pastors’ Talk Podcast

OK, so this one is aimed at pastors, too. But I’ve been “eavesdropping” and learning a lot. I would highly recommend this brief weekly podcast from 9Marks Ministries for pastors and church members. It’ll help you understand some of the things your pastor has to deal with, why he does things the way he does them, how a biblically healthy church should function, and so on. Maybe it’ll even help you help your pastor. Click here to listen. (Also available on iTunes.)

Happy listening!

Discernment

And Rebuke Those Who Contradict It

April 25, 2017April 24, 2017 Michelle Lesley

“We have to be clued into the popular false teachers and know why we disagree with them,” says Pastor Casey Lewis in his excellent article, How Do We Lovingly Guide Church Members Away From False Teaching?

And, indeed, we do, pastors as well as as those of us in the pew. People ask me all the time why pastors don’t warn their church members about false teachers. This is why. Most of the time, they simply aren’t clued in. Pastors are extremely busy and stressed by their duties at church. They often don’t have time to research false teachers and the latest fads in false doctrine.

Your pastor might find Pastor Lewis’ article helpful, and there are a few things you as a church member can do to “hold his arm up” in this area:

1. Make sure your church isn’t placing so many demands on your pastor that he doesn’t have time to both preach sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it (Titus 1:9).

2. If you’re a faithful, trustworthy member of your church, offer to be a “research assistant” for your pastor. Let him know that if he ever needs somebody to vet an author or speaker you’ll be glad to do the legwork and report back to him so he can make informed decisions.

3. Pray regularly for discernment for your pastor and others in leadership at your church. Discernment is a gift only the Lord can bestow upon a person.

The pastorate can be a very demanding job. Love your pastor by doing what you can to help him.

Book Reviews

Book Review ~ Reviving New England

January 31, 2017January 30, 2017 Michelle Lesley

I’ve said it dozens of times: I don’t write book reviews. But I’m fortunate that there are awesome, godly people out there who do, and who do a bang up job of it. So today I wanted to share a great review of the book Reviving New England. The review was written by my friend Rachel Williams over at danielthree18.com, and the book was written by my other friend, Nate Pickowicz, pastor, podcaster, and blogger extraordinaire. They are both lovely, doctrinally sound people I’m proud to know, so I’m certain you’ll enjoy both the review and the book.

Reviving New England
(Why Women Ministry Leaders Should Read This Book)

by Rachel Williams

I ordered Nate’s book, Reviving New England: The Key to Revitalizing Post-Christian America, and I sit down to enjoy a treatise on the history of liberalism in New England, and what pastors in New England need to do today to turn the churches back to Christ.

Instead, I spent the majority of my time reading chunks of the books out loud to my husband, whispering, “YES!,” and underlining massive sections of it, realizing that every woman who leads women’s ministries across the United States (and beyond) needs this book.

Today.

Pickowicz does start the book with a brief history of the rise (and fall) of Christianity in New England. For those of you not students of church history, he does an excellent job of making this information relevant to today and fast-paced. (Trust me, I’ve heard my fair share of less-than-exciting lectures on this topic. He does a great job keeping your interest.) However, the history lesson is brief, and this is where the book becomes, in my opinion, necessary for women’s ministry leaders today.

The rest of the book is written for pastors and centers on how to preach the Word of God. He does a masterful job of navigating the problems in so many pulpits and offering real practical solutions to guiding the church back to sound biblical principles.

So why do I think women’s ministry leaders need this?…

Click here to continue reading.

Mailbag

The Mailbag: Should Women Take Church Concerns to the Pastor?

November 14, 2016June 8, 2019 Michelle Lesley

mailbag

My pastor says we should come to him individually with concerns instead of talking behind his back, so I have taken a concern of mine to him. Because a pastor can’t be alone with a woman, he had his wife at the first meeting and three members of the board at the second meeting. It then becomes a me vs. them argument with them saying, “Listen to the pastor, he’s always right.” Because he is the pastor and a man, should I not bring my concerns to him, even though he said we should?

Great question. It’s important that pastors and church members communicate clearly about any concerns that arise in the life of a church. In this situation, there are several things to sort out:

1. Any church member, male or female, should talk (kindly, lovingly, and respectfully, of course) to the pastor about any concerns. Your pastor is right to encourage you to bring concerns to him and to discourage gossip and backbiting. (There are some concerns that can be handled at a lower level initially, for example, going directly to a person committing a sin {Matthew 18:15-20}, or concerns that should first be taken to an elder in keeping with any existing church policies regarding this. This is not because of a male/female thing, but to keep the pastor from being overwhelmed. Kind of like the way Jethro told Moses he should get some elders to help him judge the people in Exodus 18.)

2. Your pastor is also right and wise not to meet alone with a woman. It protects him as well as the woman.

3. If the elders are literally saying “the pastor is always right,” that’s problematic. There are some things you’ll need to think about and ask about if that’s what they’re saying. Is it possible you misunderstood what was said or that the elder(s) misspoke? Is this their standard answer to every problem raised by a church member? Does the pastor know they’re saying this, and, if so, does he approve of them saying this or has he corrected them? If he knows this is the elders’ standard answer to people and he approves of it, that is not biblical. Pastors are not infallible dictators. Pastors are to be accountable to the elders; the elders are not to be a rubber stamp for the pastor.

On the other hand, you didn’t indicate what your concern was. Perhaps they were just saying the pastor was biblically right in your particular case. Perhaps you’ve brought a concern to the pastor that was an issue of personal preference instead of a biblical issue, and the pastor is going in a direction that is biblically correct but doesn’t sit well with your preferences. In those kinds of cases, Scripture does say that we’re to submit to our leaders (Hebrews 13:17). Maybe this is what they meant.

It’s great that you want to deal with your concerns in an above board, biblical way. Be prayerful about the situation and ask God to give you wisdom and a godly heart as you seek to work through the problem.

If you have a question about: a well known Christian author/leader, a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.

Prayer, Top 10

Top 10 Ways to Pray for Your Pastor

September 23, 2016September 23, 2024 Michelle Lesley

Do you pray for your pastor regularly? I hope you do. Being a ministry wife myself, I’ve gotten to know oodles of pastors over the years. The old joke that a pastor only works an hour a week couldn’t be farther from the truth. Ministry is hard. In the midst of the joys it brings, it’s long hours, lots of stress, and dealing with sometimes stubborn (and sometimes downright mean) sheep. In fact, I’ve often said it’s ministry, not the Peace Corps, that’s “the toughest job you’ll ever love.” Here are ten ways you can pray for your pastor.

1. Pray that he will excel at his job.
Ask God to help your pastor “hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” (Titus 1:9) This is the Bible’s main job description for pastors. Pray that yours will fulfill it well.

2. Pray that he will be a good Berean.
Pray that God will help your pastor prioritize vetting the theology of anyone he quotes in the sermon, whose reference materials he uses when studying, or whose materials the church is considering using.

3. Pray that God will protect his time.
Weddings, funerals, outreach events, meetings, even fixing the leaky toilet in the men’s room- they all take up a pastor’s most precious commodity: time. And time, particularly uninterrupted time, is what it takes to adequately study and prepare sermons and whatever Bible studies he might teach. Pray that God will provide your pastor with the time he needs (and good time management skills) to attend to study, sermon prep, and all his other pastoral duties.

4. Pray for rest.
There are some pastors out there who are working upwards of 60-80 hours a week, but even a 40 hour week of ministry can be exhausting. Pray that God will help your pastor to get the rest he needs and that he will sleep well.

5. Pray for his areas of pastoral weakness.
Some pastors are really good at preaching but are poor administrators. Some are great at marriage counseling but stink at hospital visits. Pray that God will strengthen your pastor in his areas of ministerial weakness, whatever those might be.

6. Pray for wisdom in difficult church circumstances.
The roof of the sanctuary was damaged in the storm and the church can’t afford to have it fixed. A couple everyone thought was married turns out to be living together and needs to be confronted about their sin. Even if it’s something you don’t know about, your pastor is probably dealing with some sort of difficult church situation. Pray that God will give him the wisdom to make the best and most godly decisions possible and carry them out in a biblical way.

7. Pray for his personal walk with the Lord.
Does your pastor have time to get alone with the Lord for his personal relationship with Christ? Maybe he’s struggling against a particular sin or striving to be more committed to prayer. Pray that God will grow your pastor in Christ as an individual.

8. Pray for his joy.
Hebrews 13:17 says: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” It does the church no good to have a pastor who groans at dealing with his sheep because they’re stiff-necked and contrary. Pray that God will make your pastor’s job a joy by praying for the spiritual health and submission of your church.

9. Pray for your pastor’s family relationships.
Before he’s your pastor, he’s her son, her husband, their brother, their father. Pray that God would help your pastor have the time he needs to spend with his family, and to be a godly husband, father, and loved one.

10. Pray about how you can help your pastor.
Pastors have a lot on their shoulders. Is there any way you could take something off your pastor’s plate and allow him to focus on the things only he can do? Could you fix that leaky toilet, teach that class, fill that volunteer slot, counsel that sister, vet that proposed small group study? Could you at least offer him a word of encouragement on a regular basis? Ask God to show you ways you can help out your pastor.