Minister's Toolbox

Christians tend to move around.  They come to your church from another church across town because they are searching for something they haven’t found elsewhere.

When people come from other churches, we can be faced with several ethical dilemmas. For example, what about people who come to us as victims of spiritual abuse? What if it is a pastor we know?

During the podcast, we delve into solving these ethical questions and offer real solutions.

I can attest from personal experience that coming away from a spiritually abusive environment is not easy. Here is the reason: To become genuinely free of spiritual abuse, you must address what attracted you to it in the first place.

I republished a book about this experience I had more than 30 years ago and it is now available on Kindle, as a paperback and also on Audiobooks. It is entitled Spiritual Abuse: How To Break Free From Toxic Churches Without Losing Your Faith. The book shares my journey as both a congregant and a leader over 15 years of my Christian life. If you would like to read 3 chapters of the book, click this link and click synopsis.

In addition, I mentioned a few other resources. The first is a book entitled, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse and Healing Spiritual Abuse.

Someone says, “How are you doing?” Our #1 answer is: “Busy.”

Busy is a great word because it means absolutely nothing. People who are not in ministry honestly don’t understand fully what it means to work for God. You decide on what activities will be productive towards reaching the goals heaven has set for your life, family, and ministry.

I have always worked in non-denominational settings, so for the most part; I am master of my own time. That can be great or disastrous if a person is not disciplined.

Perhaps it is time to pull that blue tooth out of your ear and get your life back. You are not a machine after all. God did not create you to be June bug, bouncing off the wall of one crisis after another.

During the podcast, I share the three tips to help you become more productive together with a free download.

Chinese proverb: “He that chases two rabbits catches neither."

I also mentioned a free To-Do list download that you can access here. 

How does a hate-filled young man, mixed up in Kung-fu Karate and eastern mysticism find a path to Christ? Today, I share my journey that eventually led to full time church ministry.

During the podcast, I mention a free offer. You can get a free audio of the first 3 chapter of my (now published) book, When A Good Church Goes Bad. Listen here or get the entire book free at audible.com

In this second part of a two-part series, we address heresy INSIDE your church. How do you address people who intend to siphon people away from your church to build their own?

We offer a free download today, How To Address Heresy In Your Church.

I also mentioned MileIQ which is a great free tool to help you track the miles your drive to take advantage of legitimate tax breaks from the IRS. More information about MileIQ here.

Heresy inside and outside our churches is a serious responsibility all leaders must face at one time or another. How do we address it biblically?

I spoke of a national ministry that serves as an example of heretical teaching.

I also mention a website you can use to verify whether rumors are true before you pass them along on social media. It is called, Snopes.com.

I also invited you to submit a question for future podcasts on a new feature on our website at www.ministerstoolbox.com.

Can church leaders "fake it till they make it?" For a while, but our ministries can never truly have impact unless they are authentic. We are called to deliver fresh bread to our audiences, not stale sermons. How do we do that week in and week out?

I will be doing a survey to our email list. Please sign up to get a free eBook on how to be more effective with social media.

Church leaders often do their work unnoticed and under-appreciated. 

How do you respond to people who fail to acknowledge the hard work you do month after month or year after year? Some insights on today's podcast.

I also talked about a new affiliate tool that can be helpful this coming year for your taxes. It is called MileIQ. Click on this link for more information.

What did Jesus mean when he said, Judge not, or you will be judged?

Does that mean we cannot judge under any circumstances? How can we do our jobs as leaders if we are not allowed to judge? Does this even make sense?

Today we mentioned the best seller, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

We also mentioned Audible books where you can get a 30-day free trial.

The majority of people in western countries believe in Jesus, but see no connection between belief and participation in a local church. Why?

Has the gospel lost its relevance or are our church services at fault?

During today's show, I recommended a book by Watchman Nee entitled, The Latent Power Of The Soul. Click here to read a chapter on Amazon.

We do a great deal of praying in public, but does it really impact anyone? 

Is there a way to make a difference when we pray and ditch formal prayers that are quickly forgotten?

We offer a free download on today's show that give you the salient points from both this episode and last week. You can get it here.