6 Reasons Pastors Should Blog
Two thumbs up for Abraham Piper’s recent post, 6 Reasons Pastors Should Blog. Here’s the intro:
In this article I want to convince as many pastors as possible to sit down and start a blog today. If I can’t convince them, then I want to convince churchgoers to hound their pastor until he does.
OK, all that’s overstatement, perhaps. You can still be a good pastor and not blog.
However, here’s why I think it would be good for you and your congregation if you did.
Now, click the link above and read the whole post.
We Need The Body of Christ
“If you followed the Lord for a thousand years, you would still need the ministry of the body of Christ as much as you did the day you first believed.”
-Paul David Tripp, Instruments In The Redeemer’s Hands, xi
You’re Not Biblical Enough…
“The sad fact is that many of us are simply not biblical in the way we use the Bible! Being biblical does not mean merely quoting words from within its pages. Being truly biblical means that my counsel reflects what the entire Bible is about. The Bible is a narrative, a story of redemption, and its chief character is Jesus Christ.”
-Paul David Tripp, Instruments In The Redeemer’s Hands, p. 27
Resurrection-Fest
“And David danced before the Lord with all his might.”
-2 Samuel 6:14
If King David danced before the Lord will all his might because of return of the ark of God, how much more reason do we have to dance before the Lord because of the resurrection of King Jesus!
Standing upon this exegetical foundation and soaked in the joy of Easter Sunday, last night our twenties ministry hosted the first annual “Resurrection-Fest.” In lieu of our normal Thursday night gathering, we threw a dance party:
Each of the six community groups that meet within our twenties ministry were assigned a different costume theme.
The community group my wife and I lead was assigned a “hip-hop” theme:
Incidentally, my pregnant, hip-hop wife won the “dance off” competition. I was proud of her.
Leon and Anthony sported athletic gear from the 70’s:
The Limbo contest was intense:
The first annual Resurrection-Fest was a hit. You might want to try doing something similar at your church. Just clear it with your fellow elders/pastors first so that you don’t get fired.
Depressing Church Services
After a six month absence from the pulpit, six months spent visiting churches and simply attending church services, Martyn Lloyd Jones reports:
“My general impression is that most of our services are terribly depressing! I am amazed people still go to church; most who go are female and over the age of forty. The note missing is ‘joy in the Holy Ghost’…There is no life, no power! We of all people ought to have it. Joy and power are intimately related. One without the other is spurious.”
Are You Living on Books Instead of on Christ?
Quoted in his biography, Martyn Lloyd Jones provides a great caution against the danger of living:
“a kind of second hand spiritual life on books…We may do this for years without realizing that we are living on books instead of living on Christ.”
Thinking of God That Produces Speaking & Singing to God
While rearranging the books in my office this afternoon (to make room for more books!), I came across this excellent quote:
“Prayer, then, for [Jonathan] Edwards was both planned and informal, scheduled and spontaneous, on a daily basis. From the time when his teenage soul first began to experience what he called ‘that sort of inward, sweet delight in God and divine things,’ it was as though Edwards could not think long of God without speaking or singing to him.’”
-Donald Whitney, A God Entranced Vision of All Things, p. 115
Together for the Gospel/Band of Bloggers: Who’s Going?
A number of you have contacted me, wondering if I’ll be attending next month’s Together for the Gospel Conference. Because of a mission trip to Cambodia I had scheduled/doing the math on amount of time away from my family this spring, I wasn’t planning on making it to T4G. But, as of yesterday, due to a recent schedule change, I’m now registered for T4G.
I’ll also be attending the Band of Bloggers event which takes place just before T4G gets underway. I’ll be attending Band of Bloggers along with the 101 bloggers/attendees who’ve already registered (I’ve got the #101 spot). It was interesting to note that, according to the Band of Bloggers Google Map, there are far more east coast bloggers than west coast bloggers:
Clearly I need to begin praying that God would raise up more west coast gospel bloggers, particularly Californian bloggers.
I’m curious, who else is going to T4G/Band of Bloggers?
A Reminder of The Power of Habits
What bad habits have you let creep into your life that you now need to starve and kill?
What fresh good habits do you need to begin putting in place?
I was recently reminded of the power of our habits by this old proverb:
Sow an action; reap a habit.
Sow a habit; reap a character.
Sow a character; reap a destiny.
Rooted in a robust understanding of the gospel, I encourage you to reflect on this proverb in light of the bad habits you need to starve and the good habits you need to feed.
