A pastor told his congregation one Sunday that he would be taking a few days off to repair a broken fence in his backyard.  A little boy heard the announcement and showed up the next day at the pastor’s home.  As the preacher began working on the fence, the little boy just stood there silently and watched the man of God as he worked.  This went on for several days until the man asked the boy if he would like to help.  The boy responded, “No sir, I just want to see what a preacher does when he hits his …

Every year thousands of preachers, pastors, and evangelists leave their calling.  It is true-God redirects some men into different locations and fields at various times.  On occasion God will close and open the doors of ministry.  But others leave with the intent to only go through one final door, and that is the door out in the vestibule.

While ministry is the greatest privilege of a man’s life, it is also difficult-only those who have never been in it will say otherwise.  Ministry is full of disappointments, heartaches, mud-slinging (yes, mud-slinging), tears and aggravation.  However, much of the difficulty we …

The Lord wants us to bear fruit. As a matter of fact, this is the natural order of creation. On the third day, God created the vegetative world and ordered it to produce after its kind. He placed within each plant, tree, shrub, bush, and flower a seed to bring forth fruit. Throughout the history of the world this has been the divine order. God has designed creation in such a way to be self-producing. Again, the Lord wants us to bear fruit.

I believe it is safe to assume that rational, well-meaning Christians want to bear fruit as well. …

1. What Do You Do?

The old joke says the pastor only works an hour and a half each  week: thirty minutes on Sunday morning, thirty minutes on Sunday night, and thirty minutes on Wednesday.  Though most people realize that is not true, they may wonder what the pastor does on a daily basis.  My grandfather used to tell me that “preaching is the easy part” of ministry; I didn’t understand the magnitude of that statement until I became a pastor.

The responsibilities of the man of God are many: reading, writing, studying, counseling, visitation, evangelism, preaching appointments, organizing, planning, …

In a wicked, violent, and corrupt generation Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  He was assigned the daunting task of constructing something that had never entered into the imagination of mankind; but no worries, God had the blueprints for this project in His heart, and gave it directly to His servant.  We have historically insinuated that it was Noah’s ark, but it really belonged to God; Noah was just the superintendent of the project.

Being the superintendent of such a painstaking task takes time, energy, patience, and perseverance.  It is safe to assume that Noah dealt with …