The Pastor in the Middle

Fred and Matt discuss a recent Barna study on pastor's satisfaction in ministry, and then how pastors can find joy in the gift God has given them in ministry.

Here's the Baptist Press article mentioned in the episode: https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/pastors-satisfaction-certainty-of-call-in-rapid-decline-barna-finds/

Fred and Matt interview special guest Dean Inserra, founding and lead pastor of City Church Tallahassee (citychurchtallahassee.com). We discuss casting vision as leaders in the local church.

Fred and Matt discuss the importance of theological education for the pastor, as well as pros and cons of different methods of getting that education.

Fred and Matt discuss the importance of prayer for the Christian in general and the pastor in particular. We share some helpful practices and things we've learned regarding personal and corporate prayer.

Fred and Matt discuss the biblical role of deacons in the church, as well as ideas on recruiting and developing deacons.

Fred and Matt continue their 2-week discussion of the ordinances. This week they address baptism.

Fred and Matt start a 2-part series on the ordinances, including a discussion of the concept of theological triage. This week covers the Lord's Supper, with baptism coming next week.

Here's a link to the Lord's Supper document Matt uses with his deacons when they take the Lord's Supper to shut-in or homebound church members: https://sermonillustr8r.wordpress.com/2023/02/20/communion-for-the-homebound-guide/

Fred and Matt discuss the why and the how of strategies for developing church staff members.

Sample staff evaluations mentioned on the podcast can be found at the link below. One is for ministerial staff, and the other is for support/administrative staff.

https://sermonillustr8r.wordpress.com/2023/02/13/sample-evaluations-ministerial-and-support-staff-for-pastor-in-the-middle-podcast-episode-17-staff-development/

Fred and Matt discuss the pastor's reading and the building of a pastoral library.

Resources mentioned in the show:

1) LibraryThing.com - a personal library database

2) Daniel Akin's "Building a Theological Library" - https://www.danielakin.com/pdf-download-building-a-theological-revised-edition-2019/

3) Bestcommentaries.com - recommendations and rankings of Bible commentaries (Matt accidentally said ".net" on the episode. It's ".com")

4) Thomas Schreiner's New Testament commentary recommendations:

https://www.9marks.org/article/recommended-new-testament-commentaries-for-evangelical-pastors/

5) Desiring God Commentary Recommendations: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-commentaries-does-dg-recommend

Fred and Matt discuss the use of church facilities.