Mark Dance

Pastors don’t need to serve in fear. However, we do need to be protected from all of the dangerous threats to our lives, families and ministries.

What does the pace of your day usually look like? Sane? Sensible? Sustainable? Or are you rushing through life at a pace that will inevitably lead to a crash?

Discipleship is much easier to preach than it is to practice. Often, pastors are more eager to make disciples than to be discipled. One of my mentors, Dr. Dan Garland wisely notes, “To make disciples, we must first be a disciple.”

Discipleship is much easier to preach than it is to practice. Often, pastors are more eager to make disciples than to be discipled. How can a pastor receive the care he needs?

How do you know whether the hand of God is on your life and your ministry? I noticed Ezekiel often stated, “The hand of the Lord was upon me,” so I looked deeper to find out what God’s anointing looked like in his ministry.

Admit it. You do not have enough time or energy to do everything that is expected of you. I’m in that same leaky boat. The good news is that we are not supposed to. Although our gifts and calling are irrevocable, they don’t make us invincible. What if we refused to be the solution to […]

Early in my first pastorate, I was advised to avoid favoritism by treating all my church members exactly the same. It took me several years to root this ministry myth out of my system.

In Luke 8:14, Jesus said, “As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.” When God’s Word competes with our wills, it will expose a cluttered, selfish heart. There are three common culprits of a cluttered heart: worry, wealth, and wants.

On March 9, 2016, an off-duty Jacksonville, Fla., police officer was taking his 14-year-old son to school when he decided to pull over a Cadillac that was driving erratically. The driver, Kevin Rojas, had just threatened his girlfriend with a gun and fired shots in their house before taking off in his car.

Why is “retiring” such a scary word for so many ministers? I’ve written before about preparing for retirement, proposing three reasons pastors avoid the subject: fear of boredom, obsolescence, and financial failure. Now, I want to revisit retirement through the lenses of our faith and God’s faithfulness.