In my own ministry I was very concerned about my sermon content, so for the first ten years or so I used a manuscript when I preached. This didn’t mean, of course, that I was slavishly committed to my manuscript when I preached, but it did give me peace of mind to know that I had my remarks planned out in detail.

One of the biggest dangers in the pastorate is growing bitter towards your church. Ministry can wear on you very quickly. Whenever I’ve heard a pastor tell me that they’ve served for twenty or thirty years, I always comment that I’m impressed. Why? Because years in the pastorate are dog years—they take a toll.

In my interaction with these various levels of the church I found that one of the most important is the session, or my elders. In the life of the church I quickly discovered the importance of keeping my elders close.

One of the complaints I sometimes hear from some graduates is that they believe their seminary education did not adequately prepare them for the various counseling challenges they face in the pastorate.

It may seem counterintuitive, but there are times when you shouldn’t accept a call even if a church issues you one. When should you decline a call? Ultimately answering such a question calls for wisdom, as this is a circumstance that is not black and white.

Did you ever think that late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon could offer sage advice regarding getting your next call? While Fallon didn’t use his late night platform to discuss seeking a pastoral call, an online video of Fallon interviewing Nicole Kidman certainly made a very practical point.

As a pastor I have seen first-hand what pornography can do to a marriage relationship and the devastation it leaves in its wake.

It seems like far too many people treat relationships of all sorts as being disposable. As soon as they hit a rough patch of any sort they decide to pull up stakes, move on, and find a new relationship. This is especially the case, I believe, when it comes to church membership.

What happens when you lose your pastoral call and you think you should change vocations? Or what happens if you graduate of seminary and after a number of years you still haven’t been able to get a call? Should you hang up your cleats? Making such decisions can be difficult and heart-wrenching.

Despite all of our modern pretensions to advancement and evolution, even though 1,500+ years have passed since Augustine’s day, our so-called evolved society still has bloodlust and regularly lathers its hands in violence as a form of entertainment.