Still Not Professionals
Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors
Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors is a celebration and extension of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. With two brief exhortations from Piper and eight others from veteran pastors, this short ebook aims to strengthen and challenge Christians in general, and pastors in particular, for the labor of everyday life and ministry. The contributors were asked to express their “heart of hearts” for fellow leaders. You’ll find these chapters tap into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use, we hope, beyond the North American context of the contributors.
by John Piper Modal , Daniel L. Akin Modal , Thabiti Anyabwile Modal , Mike Bullmore Modal , Sam Crabtree Modal , Ray Ortlund Modal , Jeff Vanderstelt Modal , and Douglas Wilson
Read here by J.N.Wheels
Find the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionals
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Full Text:
PREFACE
February 4–6, 2013, we will gather in Minneapolis, God will- ing, for the annual Desiring God Conference for Pastors. The theme is “Brothers, We Are Still Not Professionals: Reclaim- ing the Centrality of the Supernatural in Ministry.” Just days prior to the conference is the scheduled release of John Piper’s revised and expanded book Brothers, We Are Not Professionals:
A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry.
This short ebook is a celebration and extension of that
book—born not only from an effort to whet the appetite for the coming conference, but in a hope to bless pastors and other Christian leaders beyond the book and conference.
In October 2012, Desiring God issued invitations to a hand- ful of ministry friends—all of them seasoned pastors whom we deeply respect—to contribute to this ebook. As the chapters came in, we posted them at the Desiring God blog; now that they’ve all arrived, we are publishing them together in one place as a resource we hope might have a long electronic shelf life.
We asked the contributors to express in these chapters their “heart of hearts” for fellow pastors—what comes to their minds first, or most profoundly, when they think about influencing
i
Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors
fellow ministers. Given their unique involvements and con- texts, what one thing would they want other pastors to hear?
We readily admit that the experiences and perspectives of our group are limited—the group is made up entirely of pastors in 21st-century North American contexts. However, we believe that the substance of these chapters taps into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use for Christian leaders far beyond our limited North American con- text. This is our prayer.
One more thing to address in this preface: why this ebook is addressed to “brothers” and not to “sisters.” Here’s how John Piper addresses that question in the preface of his Brothers book:
To those who want me to write for “brothers and sisters,” I say, let everyone be fully convinced in his own mind. As for me, the biblical teaching is clear: God calls spiritual, humble, Christlike men to lead the family as husbands and to lead the church as elders (Ephesians 5:20–33; 1 Timothy 2:12–13). I believe, and I have experienced for thirty years, that godly, gifted, articulate, intelligent, ministering women flourish in such families and churches.
We, too, in addressing this ebook to the “brothers,” believe that it is not at the expense of...
