BP Toolbox

Whether you fast one day, one week, one month, or longer, the goal of fasting is to disconnect from worldly distractions and prayerfully seek God. During your fast, indulge deeply in the reading of Scripture and longer seasons of private prayer. In addition, any opportunity to join with other believers in heartfelt praise, worship, and singing to the Lord will strengthen you spiritually. 

If my life could be marked by copies of Scripture, it would look something like this:

Have you ever noticed that when you watch a movie or television show and a nightclub is part of the scene, there seems to be two different types of security strategies?

As a pastor, I always looked forward to Vacation Bible School. It was a great opportunity to interact with the children and adults in our church, reach families in our community, and share the Gospel. It was one of my favorite weeks of the year! That being said, there are some good reasons not to do Vacation Bible School. Here are just a few:

Think of a man named Sam, who has benefited from seven years of Bible preaching. When he first came to church, he was a mess. Now he is an entirely different person. You have seen complete transformation in his life. This kind of life change is every preacher’s goal. Sam tells others about Jesus, votes his values, and labors in the community to push back darkness. And he does these mighty works in the name of Jesus.

The baseball legend Yogi Berra offered humorous and seemingly contradictory advice when he said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” All of us come to proverbial “forks in the road” when the choices we should make or the directions we should take are not immediately obvious.

I have been in pastoral ministry for more than 30 years and have seen many ministers burn out, quit when they shouldn’t or even disqualify themselves because they never learned how to deal with the inevitable stress that comes with ministry. Serving the local church, or any type of ministry, can become a grind if you don’t adopt some strategies to deal with stress.

What happens to missionaries once they leave our churches? We should all be asking this question when we launch missionaries from our congregations. However, for too many churches, the old adage “out of sight, out of mind” rules the day.

I get it. Numbers are not everything. Indeed, numbers are not the most important thing. But a balanced use of numbers can be helpful.

Book reading is on the decline. Fewer people read books these days, and those who do read less often than before.