Pastors and AI

Noah Senthil has a thoughtful post here related to four questions pastors should ask before using AI.

Public Trust in Pastors

According to the latest Gallup survey trust in pastors continues to decline. Only one out of three Americans (34%) rate the honesty and ethical standards of clergy as high or very high. See this article. 

Ten Books Pastors Should Read This Year

Here is the annotated list.

Social Media Toxicity

Thom Rainer has a good post here on six ways toxic social media affects pastors. I think Rainer's comments also apply to Christians in general. I recently saw an online exchange where a fellow preacher's reasonable comments were labeled dumb and ridiculous by a fellow preacher. Although I did not agree with the first preacher's comments, I winced when I saw the second pastor's demeaning response.

Pastors and Adultery

Last year, Lifeway conducted a phone survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors asking the question, "If a pastor commits adultery, how long, if at all, should the pastor withdraw from public ministry?" I was quite surprised by the results. But you should see the results for yourself here.

Advice to Younger and Older Pastors

Jimmy Draper has some good advice for younger pastors here and older preachers here.

Pastors Need the Psalms

David Gunderson writes about five reasons here.

Communication Challenges in a Divided Culture

Geoge Barna presents research here on the communication challenges that pastors face in our divided culture here.

Philippians for Pastors

Philippians for Pastors by John Kitchen has just been released. This 530-page work interacts with the Greek text (but not in an overly technical way) and also provides "ministry maxims," "digging deeper" questions and thoughts, and several helpful appendices. It is published by Kress Biblical Resources. You can get 45% off retail of this volume and on all titles that Kress offers with the coupon code "Spurgeon" but note that the code expires at the end of November. You can also get free usps media mail shipping on orders over $20. Kitchen also has two other helpful volumes, The Pastoral Epistles for Pastors and Colossians and Philemon for Pastors.

Pastoral Training

Christianity Today has posted an article here on the changing nature of pastoral training in the United States.

8 Tech Tools for Church Staff

See this article although I must admit I don't use any of these.

Twelve Pastoral Commitments

Kevin DeYoung has twelve pastoral commitments drawn from 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 that are worth considering here.

Developing Pastoral Sensitivity

David Murray has some really good advice developing pastoral antennae here. I remind my students frequently that ministry is people. Unfortunately, the pastor as CEO model has done great harm to the traditional pastoral ministries.

Pastors and Domestic Violence

Christianity Today has an interesting study of pastors perceive domestic violence here.

Text-Driven Preaching Conference

Those in the Dallas-Fort Worth area might want to consider attending the Text-Driven Preaching Conference being held at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on March 6-8, 2017. You can access more information here.

Recovering from a Sermonic Dud

Herschel York shares three helpful responses when one preaches a bad sermon here. I think number three is particularly important.

Guarding Your Study Time

Gerald Hiestand and Todd Wilson has some good suggestions here.

New Preaching Website

Those interested in preaching should check out this brand new website from the School of Preaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Writing Tips for Pastors

This post discusses the following five tips.

1. Make Writing a Priority
2. Don’t Waste Your E-Mail
3. Send Helpful Newsletters
4. Share Your Devotions
5. Thorough Sermon Notes or Manuscripts

A Survey of the Eschatological Views of Pastors

You can see a Lifeway Research survey of the eschatological views of pastors here.