Eugene Peterson on pastoring

“The pastor’s question is, “Who are these particular people, and how can I be with them in such a way that they can become what God is making them?” My job is simply to be there, teaching, preaching Scripture as well as I can, and being honest with them, not doing anything to interfere with what the Spirit is shaping in them. Could God be doing something that I never even thought of? Am I willing to be quiet for a day, a week, a year?”
-The Contemplative Pastor (Introduction)

Logos for Mac

I’m no pitch man, but I need to tell my mac friends, that Logos for Mac is finally available for purchase.  I have when I switched from PC to Mac, the only thing I missed was Logos.  I used their beta release and loved it and now that it’s available for purchase this could be the greatest christmas of all.

The great news for those like me who had logos on the PC platform is that we don’t have to buy the whole package, they’ve made it easier for us, by allowing us to buy only the Mac Engine and transfering our old licesnes in.  It’s a pretty sweet deal.

But if you are brand new to the Logos system, there are several different packages and prices that you can consider.  I would highly recommend the Scholar’s Library.

The beauty of Logos is the the ability to carry around thousands of books wherever you go.  Our church preaches expository sermons, so rather than lugging a bunch of commentaries around, I can download several and have them accessible wherever I go.  It’s pretty much awesome.

I highly recommend you go out on the Logos For Mac site and purchase this bad boy.  If you use a PC I would still recommend it, for your platform as well.

Welcome Forest Hills Church

I just saw that Forest Hills Church linked to my review and response to other opinions on The Shack.  Thanks so much for the link.

Forest Hills Church is doing a Christmas Series called Christmas At The Shack.  Here’s where you can find the messages.

On another note, I listened to an interview with William Paul Young, the author of The Shack, and it was really great, it’s from Catalyst so there is a discussion before hand that you gotta get through, but the interview is worth it. You Can download that here.

Success?

I know senior pastors can go through some pretty depressing thoughts on Sunday afternoon, and monday.  Re-hashing what they said, what they could have said, what the church needs to do better or differently, feeling like a failure.

Well youth pastors can go through that too.  I’ve been feeling it lately.  I know that the size of our ministries weekly attendance is small, and I have a certain amount of internal and external pressure to see it grow.  And that sucks.  I try to play it cool, like it doesn’t affect me, but it does.  The frustration grows and the ministry doesn’t.

This morning I started my work week by sending in last nights youth group numbers.  And I commented for the first time on my frustration.  I never do that.  I usually just email in the numbers and move on.   I didn’t know why I did that.  I cleaned out my inbox, and then went to my google reader account to read some of my blog mentors.  I find this is a good way for me to start the day.  Email, check the blogs, and then focus on my projects the rest of the day.  That’s just my process.

The 2nd blog I read was from Craig Groeschel.  He writes short weekly series around a central theme.  This week his theme is on success.  Man I needed to read this. Go read the post, and keep up with this weeks series it’s going to be great.  the central idea is this:

The size of your ministry does not determine the level of your success.

So where am I seeing success in my ministry?  I see success when a student wants to take ownership over our missions giving.  I see success when a parent says “Thanks for investing in my child.”  I see success when I go to Kellogg Middle School, and the students want to just talk to someone, and I’m available to be there and give them the attention that they deserve.  I see success when students tell me they’ve been thinking about something we talked about, or that they disagreed with me and they want to talk about it.  I see success when prayer request go beyond school and into matters of life and death.  I see success when students actually pray for each other.

Jesus drew a crowd on several occassions but his ministry was 12 guys and one of them wanted him dead.  So I find great comfort in that.