Minister's Toolbox

Ministers are often called on to pray at public gatherings. Do these prayers ever impact anyone?

How should ministers pray in public?

A book I recommend for personal prayer devotions is The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds. Very practical and inspirational. 

As church leaders, we are called to know, understand and be led by God's voice, but what does He sound like? How can you tell if you are hearing Him or just your imagination?

Today, we chat about 3 sure ways to hear God speak.

I also mention a free download which sums up each point that you can get here.

Listening both to God and people is an essential skill for anyone seeking to minister on behalf of Christ. 

Today, I share five simple tips that you can do right now to become a better listener. Click here for a free download summarizing these tips.

Since this podcast, my book was published. If you would like to read the first three chapters for free, click here.

A “loose cannon” is a person lacking insight. Their whose actions and/or speech jeopardizes the safety of people in their proximity or under their authority. In the body of Christ, we have powerful and gifted people who can do great good or great harm. 

The only way that power and gifting have focus and ultimate effectiveness is when each cannon is under the authority and command of the captain. Cannons left to themselves always damage other Christians, and if left unchecked can bring down the whole ship.

One of our jobs as a minister is also to help people discover their spiritual gifts and then create avenues for them to use those gifts to help grow the church. The difficulty comes when a member wants to use their gift or gifts to find acceptance and affirmation instead of serving.

The Greek word for ministry is doulos: serving. Not yourself and your agenda; the body of Christ and His agenda.

As a pastor or leader, you’ve been entrusted with a vision of where God wants to lead your church. It doesn’t mean that you have all the answers. You don’t. It doesn’t mean that some in your congregation may have great, God-breathed ideas that can help; they do.

God sends people our way to disciple them. 

I would have rather have ten people who know how to serve than 1000 loose cannons. I absolutely do not care how much talent, credentials, abilities or commendations they have. Are they willing to serve? Do they show up early and leave late? Are they coming to you and asking how to help.

If a person is a servant of God, the ministry is all about Him; it is all about his church. They don’t need or want a spotlight.

What do you do with loose cannons? I share three tips during the podcast and in the download here.

We spend many hours readying, praying and studying to preach sermons each week, but after a few hours they are often forgotten. People get busy doing other things and we have seven more days before another sermon is expected.

Are there effective ways to make our sermons last longer? On today's podcast, I mention two:

First - record your sermons and put them on your website. You can do this for free or at little cost by going to www.sermon.net. There, you can upload MP3 files and post them on your site and even on ITunes or Sticher.

Second - publish your sermons in book form. Here is a recent example.

Go to Kindle Publishing to get started! 

You're a leader in God's Church. What exactly does that mean?

 In Ephesians 4: 11-12, Paul told us that Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to His Church. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people. By definition, a leader trains disciples with their gift.  

If you cut me open, you would not find a pastor, functionally speaking. Teaching forms the foundation of my calling. I teach spiritual truth to whoever is willing to listen.

If you are around me for any length of time, you will gain understanding in ways you have not thought about before.  I am not a fountain of knowledge. This does not occur because I am talented, brilliant or insightful. Christ installed a teaching gift for me to benefit other people.

Teaching is a gift, not an ability. God has given this gift to thousands to advance His kingdom purposes. My mission is to be sure that when I stand before God, I have used this gift the way Christ intended.

The way I equip people is to impart spiritual truth.  Jesus gave four other gifts to fulfill his main objective which is to mature the church. Which one most closely matches your passion and mission in life? We discuss these at length during the podcast. 

Most of the pastors I know are not gifted as pastors. They do pastoral work but in their hearts, God wired them differently.

Are you doing the ministry God asked you to do? In churches throughout the world, the paid position for a leader comes with the title, pastor. If God wired you differently, you will never be satisfied until you function in your gift properly.

Every leader loves the body of Christ and wants to serve God if they are truly called. You are not supposed to be the pastor, evangelist, teacher, apostle, or prophet of your church, any more than you are called to be the administrator, church bus driver or children’s church director.

Are you spending the majority of your time doing the things that you are gifted to do?

Minister's Toolbox is all about tools to help you do ministry more effectively. Today, I share 4 that I highly recommend.

They are:

• Evernote
• Sermon Central
• Sermon.net
• Canva

Visit our Tools Page for links to these and other resources.

Rodney Dangerfield became famous for opening his act with the words, "I don't get no respect."

What about you? Do you get the respect you deserve? Are there things you are doing that signal to people you are not worthy of respect?

Without respect, people will not apply your preaching to their lives. How can you gain respect from people that belittle your ministry?

During the podcast, I offered a free download of the show notes. You can get them here. 

Anger is more of a problem for church leaders than we care to admit. 

If we are not careful, it can ruin our current and future ministry. Today, we talk about ways to change anger to a more productive approach.

Download a free download of Tips to Overcome Anger For Ministers here.

Ministry is stressful. Nearly all church functions center around food.

Many church leaders struggle with their health. Today, we share some actionable steps towards living a more healthy life as a pastor.

Want the show notes? Download here.

During the podcast, we mentioned myfitnesspal which is free.

We also mentioned audiobooks by Amazon which is free for the first month. To try it out and receive a free book, click here.