The Pastor's Justification - A Book Review

Jared Wilson is fast becoming one of my favorite authors. He has a solid grasp on the gospel and a gifted writing style that keeps the gospel from becoming rote and academic.  I was very excited to receive a copy of his book, The Pastor's Justification: Applying the Work of Christ in your Life and Ministry.  This may be one of the most important books to my personal ministry that I have read in a long time. Jared does a masterful job of bringing together the calling to ministry and the daily implications of the gospel that we pastors, we are stewards of that same gospel, so often forget.

Ministry is an exhaustive exercise of trying to prove your worth and calling by trying to convince others, who are also fallen, sinful creations, to live the gospel. Every time we as pastors get together, we ask about the same metrics: "How many do you run in Sunday School?", "How many did you have in worship Sunday?", and "How many have you baptized this year?"  When you add to this equation that 85% of churches in America, including mine, are plateaued or declining, then you come out with a mix of pastors that are stressed about numerical success, depressed about their current ministry context, looking for greener fields somewhere else, or questioning their own calling.  The statistics about the spiritual health of pastors and ministers are frightening:

• Each month, about 1,500 ministers leave ministry altogether either by moral failure, ministry burnout, or forced termination.
• About 70% of pastors are fighting depression of some sort
• 50% of ministers say they would probably leave the ministry if they could find another job that would pay them what they are currently making.

This is why Jared Wilson's book is of fundamental importance and a clarion call in a desperate time.  Jared is a pastor who lives in the trenches of ministry every day.  He also has a profound ability to bring practical application of the gospel to everyday life. He shows us exactly what Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 that the gospel is not just something that has saved us, but that it is "the gospel in which you stand and by which you are being saved" presently.  Perhaps the desperate and tragic state of our churches is due to the fact that our pastors are not preaching the gospel to themselves everyday.  Perhaps our obsession with numerical success has blinded us to the fact that we are perfectly accepted by our Heavenly Father because of Christ's righteousness no matter how many people didn't show up last Sunday.  Perhaps the biggest reason there is a fundamental ignorance of the gospel in thew pews of our churches is because there is a fundamental ignorance of neglect of the gospel in the pulpit.  The issue of gospel application to the minister's calling and work is of fundamental importance and Jared does a masterful job of showing this in The Pastor's Justification. He shows how the gospel makes pastors holy, confident, watchful, free, humble, and justified. He also shows how the issues of faith, grace, Christ, God's word, and God's glory apply to the daily and weekly grind of ministry.

As I began reading this book, my first thought was, "I wish this book had been given me when I was in seminary."  I think that every person who seeks to minister in Christ's church should pick up a copy, absorb it, digest it, and master it.  This isn't a book you will fully comprehend in one reading.  The truths of this book will take years to digest and apply.  If you are a pastor, youth minister, worship leader, children's minister, lay minister, or just a concerned church member, you should definitely read this book.

I'm going to the Advance13 Conference

At least once a year, I try to attend a conference that will strengthen my understanding of the gospel or help in my practical leadership in the church.  Sometimes, that is a hard balance to find.  Some conferences are great on providing deep lectures about the gospel.  They are headlined by some of the great minds in the church.  I have been to several of these and am always stretched in my theological apprehension.  Other times, I have been to conferences that are focused on church leadership, growth strategies, and ministry nuts and bolts.  These always give me something new to think about, try to implement or adapt in my ministry context, or just be jealous that I didn't think of it sooner.

Very rarely do I find a conference that can balance these two things.  I believe that Advance13 will be such a conference.  I have been impressed by the team at Advance the Church for a couple of years now.  They have put together an impressive conference experience several times.  I haven't been able to attend because I am usually already committed to another conference by the time I find out.  I did attend a regional event with ATC in Hattiesburg, MS a couple of years ago.  I was impressed with the depth, the practicality, the speakers, and the price.  It was good to see guys within about three hours of me who shared some of the same concerns I did as a pastor.

The theme for Advance13 is "Building a Faithful and Effective Ministry".  These guys have both an appreciation for the depth of the gospel.  But more than that, they are practicioners of the church.  They are pastors who are in the trenches of church leadership every day.  Speakers at this year's conference include John Piper, Bryan Loritts, Matt Chandler, J.D. Greear, David Platt, and Tyler Jones.  Breakouts are offered that are very practical in nature.  There will be networking times for participants to meet other guys and exchange ideas.

Here is an excerpt from their blog about the conference:

There is a false dichotomy in the church today, between faithful ministry and effective ministry – depth and width – making disciples and reaching the lost. Most of our churches are good at one or the other. Churches that prioritize faithfulness make mature disciples, but don’t always reach the lost. Churches that prioritize effectiveness reach the lost, but often don’t make mature disciples.

 The gospel calls for both. Faithfulness and effectiveness cannot be separated. Churches that grow wide without growing deep are not producing width that lasts. Churches that grow deep without growing wide are not as deep as they think.

We need faithful AND effective churches.

This is a major tension I am feeling as a church leader right now.  I am looking forward to seeking the Lord on this matter and the insights I will glean at Advance13.  It's not too late to register.  You can still make it to Raleigh and if you do, call me up and we'll grab coffee.  I am sure I can learn a lot from you too!

Dangerous Calling - A Book Review

Paul David Tripp has written a book that I firmly believe should be in the hands of every pastor in America.  From the first pages of this book, Tripp drew me into the deep, dark world that is my own duplicitous heart.  Very few people outside of ministry understand the danger that exists for pastors and ministers about having a public, ministerial persona and a private, personal persona at home that is actually more of who we are.  To be honest, most everyone struggles to a certain extent with the real person in private and the public person they want everyone to see.  However, for ministers, this duplicity has very drastic effects on both our personal walk with God and our ability to accurately give to others the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tripp's book, Dangerous Calling, is painful to read. There were many times that I wondered to myself how the author had access to so many of the private thoughts and actions that I am embarrassed that anyone would know about.  I believe that I have been much more aware and diligent to avoid this ministerial duplicity recently, but it is not a problem that goes away easily.  Like some, I have learned some hard lessons from seeing very good friends of mine that are no longer in ministry because they fell victim to "doing ministry" as a professional but were not accurately walking with Christ or allowing their lives to be dramatically impacted by the continual truths of the gospel that we are all still in the midst of our own sanctification, that we desperately need to depend on grace and not our skills, that we have a tendency to check out and escape into mindless activities that blind us to the gospel.  Tripp lays the gauntlet down in the first chapter with a powerful discussion of his own personal downfall and why he got there.  The second chapter follows with nine "signs that a pastor has lost his way" that every minister should read.  The rest of the book flows from these premises over and over.

One area of concern that I had is that Tripp seems to be very hard on seminaries and religious education institutions.  As someone who attended a seminary, I see many of his points.  He argues that professors need to be people who model for their students gospel dependency and see the opportunities they have to "pastor" these future pastors.  Instead, many seminaries create and foster a performance-based culture, keep relationships at a surface level, and actually create a perfect environment where this duplicity between the public minister and the private person can incubate.  I know from personal experience because I lived that life as a seminary student in the early 90's.  I don't think ultimately this is a fault of the seminary as much as it is the product of a religious culture that has dominated the church for decades.  Many of these professors that Tripp criticizes are just fostering a Christian culture they grew up in.  However, I do appreciate that Tripp calls seminaries out to reevaluate what they are doing.

Another weakness of the book is that is sometimes seems repetitive on certain key points.  The reader starts a new chapter reading a gut-wrenching story but then reads three points that sound a lot like what the author wrote two chapters ago.  However, I think that is just Tripp's way of reinforcing over and again that there are certain fundamentals that we as ministers need to preach to ourselves every day.

I personally wish I could give a copy of this book to every pastor and minister that I know and make them read and discuss it.  I wish that every young pastor and seminary student in his 20's would read this book very carefully as a warning and decide to implement the author's suggestions.  If so, maybe the landscape of the church 20 years from now would actually be much more gospel-centered because pastors are actually ministering from the gospel instead of just throwing it around like a buzzword.

Get this book if you have been called by God to lead in the church.  It will be painful.  It will be awkward.  But, it will be rewarding.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Crossway book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Thoughts from a younger SBC pastor (part 1)

I just got through reading two great posts by Ed Stetzer over at Between the Times.  His two articles were about his reflections on the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando.  I would highly encourage you to read them here and here.  I think Stetzer is right on target with his observations about the growing loss of presence at the SBC among younger leaders.  His points accurately reflect much of what I have felt and have observed talking to other young leaders I know, some of whom have come through my ministry or I have met in my doctoral work at NOBTS.

I attended this year's SBC in Orlando. It was my first time at the SBC since 1996 when it was in Atlanta.  I have watched with interest some the past years to the online streams, but until I became a senior pastor last summer, I had no real compelling interest in going.  I think that statement describes a lot of the people my age and younger - no compelling interest.  This year's compelling interest that motivated my attendance and many others was the debate over the Great Commission Resurgence.  I had my own feelings about the GCR and had trusted leaders on both sides of the debate.  Many of the pastors in my own state and association were not in favor of it.  There were many reasons given, much of which I thought sounded like "old school politics" rather than New Testament practices.  I was torn even on my way to Orlando because I saw the pros and cons on both sides of the aisle.  In the weeks leading up to the SBC, I told many of my friends and mentors that one of my biggest concerns if the GCR didn't pass was that we would lose many of the rising young leaders in the SBC.  As I attended the convention, that concern was even more validated. 

I have been a Southern Baptist since I was saved at age 17.  I have attended a SBC church since I was in cradle roll. I listened to my pastor growing up inform me about the conservative resurgence and the battles that were being fought to get liberalism out of the SBC.  I attended an SBC seminary and benefited from the support of the Cooperative Program.  I have a strong personal fondness for men like Adrian Rogers, Charles Stanley, Jerry Vines, and many others who have handed me a conservatively sound SBC. 

However, the more I grew, the more I became concerned that much of the denomination I love seemed out of touch with what I saw being the relevant issues of the day.  I was tired of seeing the SBC known only as the "cranky people who are boycotting Disney" even if the reason for the Disney boycott was a valid one.  In recent years, it seemed like the SBC was becoming more known for self-preserving the "good ol' boys club" than really listening to the young leaders that were coming up.  I have also been concerned because of the divide over the "Young, Restless, and Reformed" crowd.  It seemed like those who had been a part of the SBC for so many years were so quick to dismiss this growing group of young leaders like they were over-caffeinated teenagers "who will learn someday."  I was troubled that some of those who had gained power seemed to be using that power to quell tertiary issues instead of listening to some of these young leaders passion for real missional change.  I am saddened when someone from the floor of the SBC will make a recommendation to ban Mark Dricoll's books from Lifeway as though he were Richard Dawkins  or Madelyn Murray O'Hair.  I understand that you may not agree with some of his theology, his occasional tendency to push the envelope of crassness, or the fact that he's become the poster-child for the young, reformed, missional movement.  The fact is - ACTS 29 has done as much if not more to be a church planting machine in the last decade than the politically engorged machine of the North American Mission Board.  That statement is not meant to denigrate NAMB, but to point out that while our mission agency has been mired in leadership turmoil, others have found successful ways to plant New Testament churches.  Stetzer and many others have said often the last few years how many times they have seen sharp, young pastors with a heart to plant a church who have tried to work with NAMB and the State Associations only to be bogged down and turned away.  As a result, they have turned to or founded other organizations that are now setting the trends in church planting while the SBC is now "resurging" to focus more on it.

These are just a few of my thoughts about the SBC I love and the time it is in.  I don't believe that all the younger pastors are right.  I think many of the younger pastors would do well to remember that we do stand on some significant shoulders.  I heard someone I admire say recently "all the heroes of the younger pastors are themselves" meaning that maybe we don't have the affinity or have taken to time to show the respect for those who have gone before us.  The impulsiveness of youth always makes us think we can do it better.  Right now, I am in a transitional phase.  I am about to turn 42.  I am no longer a younger evangelical.  I am not in the old guard yet.  But, I will be closely watching both groups and trying to be a bridge-builder as much as possible. 

My 10 Ministry Fears

I recently had the privilege to speak to the pastors and my spiritual brothers here in the Tallapoosa Baptist Assocation. I felt compelled to share with them a little of my heart regarding ministry. I gave them what I call "My 10 Ministry Fears". I will share them with you here.

1. Preaching without Depth - I have found it far too easy to preach with little preparation in the hard work of exegesis or in the agony of prayer. It is easy to stand on a platform and give spiritual advice. It is difficult to say "Thus says the Lord."

2. Church Growth without the Gospel - I was blessed to serve for 13 years in a fast-growing church with one of the most gifted staffs in the state. However, planning programs and doing public worship that attracts people is easy. Bringing the gospel to life is difficult. I know too well how easy it is to sit in a conference room and plan an event and never ask what it has to do with the gospel or the Great Commission.

3. Personal Success without Spiritual Intimacy - Unfortunately, I also know too well what it is like to have a successful growing ministry at the cost of my personal intimacy and time in God's Word.

4. Choosing Competition over Cooperation - Whenever we pastors get together, we always play the numbers game. We read the yearly report in the state paper regarding baptisms and CP giving and see where we stand up with the other churches. Unfortunately, billions of people have no access to the gospel and thousands in our community lack relevant ministry, but as long as we are in the top 5 in baptisms, we take delight.

5. Discipleship without Life Change - It's easy to have a program with Bible study and classes that focus on fulfillment in the Christian life. It's difficult and messy to actually disciple people - to focus on true accountability, focused prayer, and spiritual maturity. If we have a "discipleship" class and someone attends for at least one year and does not have the ability to personally disciple another person, then that discipleship class is a failure.

6. Leadership without Wisdom - Our culture has brought several advances in the marketplace regarding leadership. Much of it is very applicable to the work of the church. I have been personally challenged by John Maxwell and Seth Godin's writings in addition to Jim Collins' Good to Great. However, our leadership advances need to be grounded in the wisdom and plan of God. Just because you are the leader of an organization does not mean that you are the smartest person in the organization or the most sensitive to the Spirit.

7. Church Success without Family Failure - I have been more personally convicted about my lack of truly discipling my three boys and lack of prayer with my wife. The landscape of ministry is littered with men who faithfully served God's bride and neglected their own. That is spiritual adultery. I can't make disciples of all nations if I can't make disciples in my own home.

8. Ministry without Vision - It's far too easy to spend my ministry focusing on my church and our budget. The vast majority of churches spend 95% of their budget on internal ministry and very little on accomplishing God's global ministry. It's too easy to be happy with baptizing my few and not focus on sending dozens out to the ends of the earth. My former pastor taught me to pray that God will give me a vision so big that if He isn't in it, I are doomed to fail.

9. Putting on a Ministry Mask – One of the things that makes my stomach turn as a minister is the mask that each and every one of us put on. Ministry is full of inauthentic, insecure, and shallow leaders that are overly concerned with the opinions of their fellow ministers than being authentic. This inauthenticity bleeds down through the church and fills our pews with people wearing their own masks and robs the church of biblical community and depth.

10. Developing an Unteachable Spirit - I have been known for a while as a person who reads a lot. The reason is that I want to always have a teachable spirit. I have seen too many ministers who pride themselves that the read "God's Word", but little else. They believe that because of their comfort level, they have arrived at doing ministry and don't need to learn anything else. This creates a spiritual sedentariness that breeds apathy, jealousy, negativity, and stalls vision.

Those are some of my biggest fears. What are yours?