reposted from Strategic renewal

by Troy Keaton

Aug 05, 2016

I’ll never forget my first Monday as a pastor. It was July 1994 and we had moved the previous Wednesday, arriving just in time for the Wednesday evening service. My wife, two small daughters, and I had experienced the excitement of our first Sunday along with 19 other people (most of whom I soon learned weren’t regular attenders). On Monday I walked into the dark and quiet church office. Although there were 400,000 people in this city, it dawned on me that 99.999% of them did not come to this church. This church was a few funerals and a fuss away from being extinct. I had been trained with a ministerial degree, raised in a ministry home, and surrounded by the work of the ministry my entire life. I knew what this church needed. This church needed growth. I knew what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to grow this church! Continue reading…

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Since Christian leaders are to equip the saints, and the Body of Christ is to develop though members edifying one another (Eph. 4:12,16), check out this free online workshop by CCEF. It’s on the topic of “You Are a Priest: Considering an Underused Identity” by Dr. Ed Welch. Although Nouthetic Counseling usually operates from a different model of man and of sanctification than this web site’s editorial perspective, this topic is very important to help church members recognize that ministry is for every believer, not just the pastor.  https://www.ccef.org/events/ccef-live