Hi Pastor Dennis. I’d like to ask what’s your take about having confrontational issues to pastors ’cause this year was tough between my church pastor and other members. The pastors are starting to do things unreasonably in the congregation which leads to devastating decrease in church members. It was so sad that I needed give it a thought of what is really happening. Now, is it wise to talk to these pastors? Is it right to say negative feelings towards them? Is it okay if they get offended?

I wouldn’t know what the pastor is doing but I would encourage the church to move in honor. What that means is not to blindly look at the other side but confront the pastor but in the most loving way since he is the shepherd of the church.

Personally I have two options when things like these happen and personally I would want our church members to do the same thing to me since I am now a pastor.

1. Honor me by going straight to me with their problems and complain. I feel that the pastor has the right to know how you feel so that he might be able to either repent or air his side. Most of the problems that happen in church is miscommunication. Honor him by not talking behind his back. Honoring also means not questioning his motives since no one can judge one’s motives.I also recommend if your church is run by a board of elders to go straight to the people who could do something about the problem.

2. Honor the pastor by transferring to another church if you cannot follow his leadership. I think ultimately the pastor will be liable and accountable to God for his actions and only God can change him. Also do not leave by spreading news about him. If you have confronted the pastor and he does not react positively or would not accept church discipline, there are other churches for you to go to. Find a pastor you can follow and be under authority.

As I was reading 1 Chronicles yesterday, the word gatekeeper kept on coming up. Gatekeepers are people who are on the lookout for trouble that might be brewing up. They would be stationed in the high place of the tower to see if there are enemies approaching.

The gatekeepers were placed at every gate, the entrances to the tent of meeting, on the four sides, east, west, north and south (v.24). The chief gatekeepers were entrusted with the responsibility for the rooms and treasures in the house of God. Those gatekeepers would spend the night stationed around the house of God, because they had to guard it. They opened the gates each morning.

Gatekeepers play an important role in the safety of the kingdom. Gatekeepers reminds me of a ministry in the church that is often neglected which is prayer. As crucial as strategic plannings are, one of the things every leader must realize is that we are running a spiritual organization. Spiritual warfare is a given.

We need to have a strong team of gatekeepers or what we might call intercessors. Though all believers are called to pray, I believe that we must have a team of people who would champion it in our congregation. People who would rally behind the pastors in prayer. Gatekeepers who would sound a spiritual warning when they sense an impending spiritual attack coming.

Who are your prayer partners???

Some great resources on building a prayer ministry:

1.Partners in Prayer

2. Prayer Shield How to Intercede for Pastors, Christian Leaders, and Others on the Spiritual Frontlines (Prayer Warrior)

A blog written by Marcus Glover

Here is my simple and straightforward answer…yes. No caveats. No disclaimers. Just, yes. Here are a few reasons I feel so strongly about this:

Sunday is a work day for a pastor. I know it is the Lord’s Day. I know some pastors are preaching on Sunday and some are not. Regardless, while most are getting a break from their weekly grind on Sunday, the pastor is experiencing the pinnacle of it. Sunday is a joyful day, but it is also an emotionally draining day and is far from being low-key and restful.

A pastor never really leaves work. Regardless how we spend our evenings or how hard we try, the pastor never completely checks out. Even if the phone does not ring or no one stops by, the sermon is still on the mind and heart, that elderly saint’s battle with cancer still weighs on the shoulders, and there just is not a clock we ever punch that magically causes us to forget about the burdens of caring for souls until 9:00 am the next morning. Although the burdens never complete leave, a day where we can try to focus on our families and escape the daily grind is invaluable for our soul and long term ministry stamina.

A Pastor needs a weekly day where his family comes first and they know it. There are many sacrifices and crosses to bear by the pastor’s family. Because of this, taking a day when they know they will be “dad’s focus” helps them give dad up to the busyness of the other days. There are fewer effective ways to communicate your love for your family than for them to know there is a day for them, it is scheduled regularly, and regardless the craziness, it is coming soon.

One of the best decisions I have ever made for the benefit of my family and ministry has been to commit to a day off every week. Only funerals, true emergencies, and a few other exceptions causes me to compromise it.

My day off is Friday because it fits best in our schedule. Pick a day that works best for you and your family. The point is pick a day. Let your family and church know when that will be and stick to it. I still manage to work about 50-60 hours a week with a day off. For that reason alone, I am so glad I take it. My family looks forward to it. Your family will too if you schedule it in your week and honor it.

Original post here

Pastor Dennis, I learned something disturbing about a pastor in our church. I’ve had the utmost respect for him before but now, totally nawala (gone) because of what I learned. How do I deal with it?

First of all I don’t know your situation with your pastor, how you got hold of the story. Was it an accusation? Is it a confirmed story? Have you heard both sides of the story? I have been in numerous accusations been a victim of hearing just one side of the story. My advice is to hear both sides of the story if the story/ accusation is true.

In case the accusation is false, make sure to inform the pastor being gossiped. I think he needs to know. Also be the bridge so that the accuser and the pastor could meet face to face and talk about it. In our case, if there is an accusation made against one of our pastors and leaders, I ask the accuser if he is willing to go with me and confront the pastor being accused. If he begs off even if I told him that I will accompany him/her, it means the accusation won’t stand. On the same breath, I do confront the pastor and would ask for his side of the story.

In the case the accusation is true, it would be best to go straight to the other pastors of the church or elders of the church. Get only the people involved in the problem. Even if the story is true, we need to move in the spirit of honor which means only all the people who are either part of the problem or part of the solution should be involved.

Got questions? Post it at my formspring site, http://www.formspring.me/askpastordennis

As a pastor, one of the things we cannot escape from is the ministering of God’s word to our congregation on a more personal level. I do preach regularly but after the preaching, a lot of discipleship happens through VICTORY GROUPS and consultations. ( I deliberately did not use the term counseling since I don’t have a counseling degree and I don’t intend to counsel people professionally.)

So when well meaning people/couples come to us asking for help or consultation, we as your pastors know where our limit is. ( Well some pastors don’t, so this might serve as a good guideline on what we as pastors cannot do for our congregation)

1. We cannot save our congregation.

Only Jesus saves. We cannot save their family, their marriages or their business. Jesus does that not us. Only Jesus can save us from ain so we must always remind ourselves that we serve the Savior and we are not the savior.

2. We cannot solve their problems.

Sin is too ingrained in the lives of the people and in our culture and it would take forever if we are to solve it for everyone. The Holy Spirit is the only one capable of changing the hearts of people and solving their problem.

So what can we do?

What we can do is serve.

By the grace of God we can love and serve this people by telling them the story of the gospel and the redemptive work of Christ. We can remind them of the sanctifying work of the Spirit that can be achieved through faith and not by the flesh. We can remind them that apart from Christ, they are and they can do NOTHING.

Here is a video of Pastor Macdonald and Cj Mahaney talking about pursuing pastoral ministry

I was reading through the book of Judges yesterday when I came upon chapter 17 of the book where a man hired a personal priest/pastor to meet his needs spiritually.

Judges 17:6-13 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.  Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; he was a Levite, and was staying there.  The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.  And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” ¶ So he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to stay.”  Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him. So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah.  Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since I have a Levite as priest!”

I think the verse depicts how we also treat a lot of ministers today whether pastors or priests. We have an expectation that they are readily available for us 24/7. We tend to forget that their main job biblically is not to minister to your needs or be your personal spiritual butler. Ministers are people to who have a life. So what does the Bible say our job is as ministers.

Ephesians 4:11-13 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,  for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,  till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

The Bible makes it clear that the job of your pastor is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry so that the body of Christ maybe built up. So the next time you find yourself taking your pastor’s time too often because you expect him to be your spiritual butler – and not your spiritual mentor, then think about the dynamic of your relationship.

Same goes with the pastor reading this blog – ask yourself. Am I fulfilling the biblical mandate to equip God’s people for works of service so that the church may be built up or am I just being somebodies spiritual butler?

Seth Godin blog something really remarkable that every pastor should take heed. I am reposting his blog and will comment

The first rule of doing work that matters

Go to work on a regular basis.

Art is hard. Selling is hard. Writing is hard. Making a difference is hard.

When you’re doing hard work, getting rejected, failing, working it out–this is a dumb time to make a situational decision about whether it’s time for a nap or a day off or a coffee break.

Zig taught me this twenty years ago. Make your schedule before you start. Don’t allow setbacks or blocks or anxiety to push you to say, “hey, maybe I should check my email for a while, or you know, I could use a nap.” If you do that, the lizard brain is quickly trained to use that escape hatch again and again.

Isaac Asimov wrote and published 400 (!) books using this technique.

The first five years of my solo business, when the struggle seemed neverending, I never missed a day, never took a nap. (I also committed to ending the day at a certain time and not working on the weekends. It cuts both ways.)

In short: show up.

They say pastor don’t have a 9 to 5 job and it is quite true. For some pastors they go beyond 9 to 5 and if they don’t check their schedule they may end up having a wife who despises him and kids who don’t know him because the church has taken him away from his family.

BUT at the same breath let me say something important.

A lot of pastors mismanage their time. The reason ministry time is eating up most of their time is because they never showed up when it really mattered. A pastor must exemplify work ethic because we are in a way looked upon as people who serve God literally.

I’ve learned a valuable lesson about ministry and work and Ive blogged about it in one of my post last year. I learned it from pastor Steve Murrell when he shared to us the principle of logging on and logging off. Click here to read the post and it might save your life.

Pastors we need to show up. That means being in your office and working. That means being on time in meetings. That means your church staff should know where to find you when needed. That means your church staff should know when not to disturb you because you have set a time for work and a time for rest. That means meeting people that matters to your work. I hope you get what I mean?

Landmines in the Path of the Pastor
Don’t let hidden dangers sabotage your ministry by Charles F. Stanley

From time to time, God will bless a pastor with unexpected, tremendous popularity. His church quickly mushrooms. Everyone wants to be a part of his congregation or learn from his innovative approach. People begin to make predictions about the effect his leadership will have on the next generation. Sadly, sometimes these men do not pass the test of time. Their ministries fail or simply fade into obscurity. After a few years, I look back and wonder, What ever became of them?

Leaders never plan to get sidetracked from God’s best for their lives. Satan deceives us into thinking we can be prideful and autocratic, isolated from genuine accountability, or secretly complacent about the choices we make in private. But we suffer when we separate ourselves from absolute commitment to God’s will and His ways.

Some people believe the Enemy uses obvious means to draw us off course and onto a battlefield where he has placed his dark arsenal. But I believe his most devastating weapons are hidden and lethal, like landmines. When we stray from God’s will onto ground that is riddled with sin and corruption, Satan’s landmines explode beneath us, leaving us writhing in emotional pain. Feelings of guilt, shame, and regret quickly construct a barrier between God and us, and eventually undermine our ministry.

How Spiritual Landmines Destroy Us

The spiritual landmines that I believe are the most common include pride, jealousy and envy, insecurity, compromise, unforgiveness, discouragement, fear, sexual immorality, and slothfulness. These are the devices Satan places in our path in an effort to prevent us from experiencing God’s love.

First, Satan wants to damage our close, personal relationship with the Savior. God created us for fellowship. His greatest desire is for us to know and love Him. But you will not find it possible to enjoy God’s fellowship if, in the back of your mind, you’re wrestling with thoughts of moral compromise, fear, insecurity, and pride.

Pride causes us to put ourselves first—above God. A pastor who has stepped on the landmine of pride does not consider how the Lord has gifted him for his calling. Instead, he looks at his accomplishments and thinks, Look what I’ve done! He begins to take to heart praise about his teaching, leadership, or advice. A person who is prideful soon begins to value his ministry more than his personal devotion to the Lord. God may let him get away with pride for a season, but ultimately, it will end in destruction (Prov. 16:18).

Second, the Enemy wants to distract us from the Lord. He wants us to focus only on ourselves, and he will use thoughts of discouragement, insecurity, fear, and jealousy to achieve this. We live in a world of comparisons, where we are trained by the media to watch those ahead of and behind us. Am I keeping pace? Am I reaching my goals quickly enough?

God is primarily interested in one thing: a correct focus. He wants us to focus on Him and His will for our lives. When our thoughts are wrapped up in our heavenly Father, He provides the discernment we need to locate the Enemy’s landmines and disarm each one as we turn away from temptation and sin. If a passing thought comes to mind, we can ask God to speak His truth to our hearts. For instance, we may be tempted to gauge our spiritual success on the number of souls saved each week, the number of members, the square footage of our facilities, or our annual church budget. The truth is, God’s approval is based on His unconditional love for us. Nothing brings our Creator greater joy than when we surrender our lives to Him, follow His guidance, and walk intimately with Him, secure in the fact that He has our destiny under control.

Third, the Devil’s primary goal is to discourage us. He wants us to give up. He tempts us to yield to sin. And if we do, he whispers accusations to our minds, telling us how awful we are. He thinks that if he can manipulate the circumstances enough, we will fall for his deception and become discouraged. An area the Enemy commonly uses is sexual sin, because this particular trap stops ministry in its tracks. It not only brings deep shame and sorrow but also causes feelings of worthlessness and isolation. The results are devastating—not only for ourselves, but for our family, friends, and congregation.

No one is a spiritual island. We need each other. It is my prayer that you will find someone with whom you can develop an accountability relationship. Ask God to bring into your life a friend who sticks closer than a brother, who can encourage you when you are weak (Prov. 18:24). Whatever you are struggling with, you are not alone.Get the help you need before discouragement undermines your ministry.

Finally, Satan wants us to give in to doubt and fear. A fearful person is an easy target for the Enemy. There was a time when I faced deep sorrow. The temptation to doubt God’s goodness was strong, but the thought of becoming fearful because of my circumstances was even stronger. God in His faithfulness reminded me of a Scripture He had given me when I was young: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). We never have reason to become fearful, because the sovereign God of the universe loves us with an everlasting love, has a plan for us, and is committed to keeping watch over us.

How to Detect and Uncover Satan’s Landmines

1. Surrender your life to the Lord. An intimate relationship with God is the most important line of defense that you have. If you are still trying to control certain areas of your life, then you are already standing in the middle of a minefield. The next step you take could be deadly. Without thinking of the consequences, people become jealous, controlling, or unforgiving. They compromise their convictions, open the door to immorality, or yield to laziness of mind and heart, and then wonder why life has turned dark and stormy. On God’s battlefield, surrender is not waving a white flag of defeat. Instead, it is a bold step taken toward victory, peace, and blessing. My friend, determine right now to submit your will to God on a daily basis.

2. Ask Him to teach you His truth. In chapter six of Ephesians, Paul lists the full armor of God. I believe putting on the armor each morning is an essential part of being in the Lord’s armed forces. There is only one offensive weapon that He has given us, and it is all we need to stay firm in our faith against the attacks of Satan. It is the same weapon that Jesus used when facing the Enemy’s temptation—the Word of God, which is God’s eternal truth spoken to man. If your private time with God frequently turns into sermon preparation, try reading a different translation of the Bible or using a paraphrase. No matter what, find a way to read God’s Word for your own benefit, not just for your congregation’s.

3. Be committed to following Him, even in times of difficulty. There is no escaping disappointment and pain in this life. All pastors go through seasons of hardship, but we do not have to become discouraged. Adversity is a powerful tool in God’s hand. Usually, the difficulties we face provide perfect opportunities for God to prove His faithfulness. God knew just how to use the personal disappointment and frustration in Moses’ life to train him to lead the Israelites. All those years that he spent in the desert were a season of preparation for something greater. Don’t waste your life and time by harboring feelings of unforgiveness and jealousy. Instead, be grateful when God allows you to wait for His blessings to come. You may feel as though you’ve been overlooked or pushed aside, but God is not finished with you. If you will trust Him, you’ll experience His goodness at the right time and in the best way.

4. Ask the Lord to give you godly discernment and wisdom. Prayer is absolutely essential if you want to avoid landmines. Ask God to teach you more about Himself so that you’ll know His ways and be able to avoid Satan’s traps. God knows every landmine the Enemy has hidden along your path. Trust the Holy Spirit to make God’s will clear to you—and to teach you to follow only His voice. Then, be willing to obey His call. Obedience to God will not only expose any landmines hidden in front of you, it also prepares a safe way for you to travel straight through any difficulty. The Enemy’s tactics do not have to destroy you. You are more than a conqueror in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:37).

Dr. Charles F. Stanley demonstrates a keen awareness of people’s needs by providing practical biblical truths for everyday life.  He is a best-selling author with more than 3.5 million copies of his books in print.  He is also pastor of the First Baptist Church of AtlantaIn Touch Ministries.  On Tuesday, September 4, Dr. Stanley releases his newest book, and founder of Landmines in the Path of the Believer: Avoiding the Hidden Dangres.”  It is now available for order.

Billy Graham, one of the most respected and long-lasting evangelist and pastor, has always kept his integrity intact inspite of the busyness and the temptation he faces as a travelling minister. The secret is OPEN DOORS. One of their associates has this to say about the open door policy of Pastor Billy Graham:

“I have always appreciated how the men have been in their attitudes towards the secretaries. The doors are always left open. There’s a high regard for the lack of any kind of privacy where a boss and secretary are involved. They have kept everything above reproach. You have to take precautions. I’ve always respected the way they have handled that. It has been beautifully done.”

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1. I can’t trust myself