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Accept the Pastoral Position God Has for You
The past few weeks have brought much discussion about the role of women in the church, seminaries, in ministry. To be honest, I found myself several times yelling at my computer screen for reasons I can only describe as temporary insanity. I huffed, not because of the discussions, but because of how nasty the people of God behaved. A bit ironic, isn’t it? Mostly I found it disheartening to read the attacks on those who shared their beliefs. If I could, I’d sit and have coffee (or tea) with all of them. I would pray with them and give thanks to God for the gift we have in thinking beyond…
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Can a Woman Be a Pastor? Looking at the New Testament
Recently someone raised this question: Were there any mentions in the New Testament of men/women who were actually titled “pastor”? I keep hearing arguments that there were no women pastors in the Bible, but I can’t find any men called “pastor” either. The observation that no one, male or female, is called “pastor” is absolutely correct. We don’t see “Pastor Paul” or “Pastor Mark” or “Pastor John” in the Bible. Or “Pastor Phoebe” for that matter. In the same way that no one person is ever referred to as the giver (imagine “Giver Aquila”), the exhorter (Exhorter Priscilla?), the evangelizer, the teacher, the mercy-shower…there is also no one in the New…
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Truth: Does it Blind or Break?
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken As long as truth is theory it blinds. As soon as truth becomes real it breaks. This is something I’ve learned across the years of my life. When I first graduated from seminary, I knew much truth. I could answer nearly every question in some way, often with biblical support. What I could not see was what I did not know. I still can’t, but I’m better at seeing some of my blind spots than I used to be… Every once in a while in my teaching preparation, I go back to an old file and review previous work on a particular passage.…
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WWJD? Why Ask? Just Do It!
Leadership is Broken Because Leaders Are Unbroken WWJD has been around so long it’s become passé. Even people who don’t know or care what Jesus would do know what it stands for. The wristband days are over, but I never understood why the question ever came up in the first place. Why ask a question with such an obvious answer? What would Jesus do? What He did: out of a heart of love teach truth and disciple others. He would do the same thing today that He did when He walked the earth. In fact, that’s exactly what He is doing right now through those who want to do what…
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Restoration and Reliance
Physical pain is something I run from. I have a low tolerance for pain and often look for ways to quickly alleviate it. Whatever it takes! In Ephesians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul talks speaks of prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers and evangelists equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. The word equipping is often understood as teaching or instructing. In addition to this meaning, equipping means to restore or mend as if setting a broken bone back into place. That sounds hopeful yet painful! Sometimes restoration does not feel like things are being restored. Sometimes it feels like things are getting worse. Sometimes the things…
