You Can Take Heart in Uncertainty

Uncertainty is a difficult thing to bear. We want to know where the provision is going to come from or if we’re going to die of this disease or how this child is going to turn out or if our job will still be there next month.

But as we see in Luke 9:57–58, Jesus makes it clear that his disciples must be able to bear uncertainty if they are to follow him.

“I will follow you wherever you go.”

I’m sure that whoever made this public declaration to Jesus was sincere. They likely had heard him preach and seen him perform amazing signs and wonders. 

As Jesus’s fame increased, so did the number of his would-be disciples.

What the person might not have known was that at that moment Jesus was homeless. Jesus and his cohort were traveling south from Galilee. He had set his face to go to Jerusalem, where his resolute purpose was to die. But to get there he had to travel through Samaria.

Getting the Context

Back then there was a lot of bad blood between Jews and Samaritans. More precisely, Samaritans had the bad blood. They were the result of centuries of intermarriage and religious syncretism between Jews and Israel’s former Gentile conquerors.   Continue at Jon Bloom

10 Secrets of Many Senior Pastors

I get to hang out and know many senior pastors. I have a great heart for them and understand, firsthand, some of the pressures, frustrations and joys, which are unique to the role of a senior pastor. In my recent blog survey, over half my readers are in ministry and half that number are senior leaders.

I previously shared this post over a year ago after sharing these points at a conference for executive pastors. I was asked to give my perspective as a senior pastor, since each of them report to one. I have revised some of them again and added a couple, so I decided to share it again.

Here are 10 “secrets” about many senior pastors:

• Leading from this position is overwhelming at times. We know Christ is ultimately in charge, but we also know it often seems everyone looks to us to have all the answers.
• People tell the senior pastor all kinds of things about what is happening in their life or in the lives of others…many we would rather not know sometimes…and sometimes the weight of others problems we carry is enormous.
• Most pastors walk with a degree of uncertainty, which keeps us in prayer, but also makes us question our abilities at times. It makes depression common for many senior pastors. (see 1 Kings 19)
• Many senior pastors fear the possibility of failing in their role, so they thrive on the encouragement and prayers of others.
• Sometimes we allow insecurity to cause us to become overprotective of our reputation and our position.  Keep Reading >>>

Global Financial Crisis, Uncertainty, Anxiety, and God - Part 1 and 2

Part 2