Tag: Pastoring

  • Dan

    What I “bank” on

    I want to “bank” on the extravagant love, beauty, and power of Jesus. When those not following Christ currently encounter him through me, HIS incredible beauty shines through. I want to hope for a maturing body of believers unafraid to plunge into uncharted waters and trust the leading of the Spirit. Lead on, Holy Spirit.

  • Dan

    Activist Pastor

    THIS POST gives a good synopsis of how I view pastoring. I am grateful for these words. This what I envision for the church I am blessed to lead! Let’s be honest. I think the evangelical tendency to obsess over the Apostle Paul and his letters for local church life has created this visionless, pastoral inwardness. Pauline-obsessed pastors may demonstrate…

  • Dan

    Real Church. You may want to try it.

    Great thoughts here from Scot McKnight on the local church. Ordinary small churches are the norm and the reality of church life, of kingdom-now life. We have the ideal in our head, and lifted up as THE model for church, McKnight tries to burst that bubble. As pastors we can even have our ideals: Pastors smitten by the ideal of…

  • Dan

    Both/And, Part 2

    Both-And: Living the Christ-Centered Life in an Either-Or World by Rich Nathan and Insoo Kim has been a refreshing read. It leaves me challenged. Nathan takes on the really hard things we just don’t like to talk about. He discusses reaching out to and loving the homosexual community. There is something for everyone there to love… and hate. His conclusions…

  • Dan

    So, Pastor, what good are you?

    Some of my favorite cartoons for church have a line that goes something like this: A parishoner sees the pastor’s wife in a grocery store and asks the wife, “So, does your husband work, or he is still pastoring?” Those always give me a smile. But the perception is more reality than we, as pastors, like to admit. Recent surveys…

  • Dan

    Getting to the Authenticity of Ministry

    My other blog for pastors has this thought today. Go HERE.

  • Dan

    The Joy of Sacraments

    “Sacraments are funny things. They are short and simple, they involve the simplest elements in our environment, and they require few words. The more we get out of the way the better. Yet they change people. People remember them for their whole lives.” — David Hansen, The Art of Pastoring (Revised Edition) 

  • Dan

    Book Review — The Art of Pastoring

    The Art of Pastoring (Revised Edition) by David Hansen. I have had the first edition of The Art of Pastoring on my shelf for several years and picked at it a couple of times, but never got into it for one reason or another. The revised edition allowed me a fresh look, and it is a look I have enjoyed. There are no…

  • Dan

    Following Christian Movements Instead of Christ

    I was delighted to receive a copy of the revised book, The Art of Pastoring, from IVP. It was unsolicited, and I look forward to reading this new edition. Early on I find it intriguing. When the author, David Hansen, began his ministry in Montana, he inherited an entire library from the previous pastor. That pastor had left the ministry…

  • Dan

    Hobo Funerals

    We live next door to hobos. Literally. She has been hobo queen a couple of times. He has been hobo king a couple of times. When we first moved into our house, we hosted a hobo cookout in our backyard. The hobo queen is also a caregiver. They have live in foster care adults. One of those adults died a…