How Successful Pastors Think

Last week, I took a first look at the habits of successful pastors. I cannot overemphasize the truth that the issue is not what they know or intend to do, but what they actually get done. Today I want to unpack how a successful pastor thinks. 

1. Successful pastors have an intentional walk with God. They have a disciplined intake of Scripture which is balanced and consistent. They get into the Word so the Word gets into them. Coupled with a disciplined intake of the Word is a consistent life of prayer. Jesus gave us a pattern for prayer in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 and 7. Paul taught us much about the importance of prayer as the alternative to worry. Be assured. God knows our needs, but often He waits for us to ask for His intervention. If something is big enough to worry about, it is big enough to pray about. If you have a need, take it to the Lord in prayer.

2. Successful pastors communicate on a variety of levels. Of course, their principal responsibility is to communicate the Word of God on a weekly if not daily basis. To do this effectively takes time, discipline, effort, and training. There is a price to pay to be effective in the pulpit. Aside from this, pastors need to communicate with staff, leadership, his congregation, and whenever possible to a larger audience. Successful pastors make use of social media and see themselves as agents of God's grace to a hurting world. If you study the Pastoral Epistles, you will find over 50 references to communicating in one form or another. Communicate!

3. Successful pastors evaluate everything in light of their concern for the church. No matter what the situation, every activity, every choice, every response, every decision, every allocation of time and money should be made in light of how it will affect their church and its witness. Before you do or say something you might regret, ask yourself "how will this affect my church's witness? Will this strengthen or weaken my church's influence for the cause of Christ?"

4. Successful pastors solve problems. Problem solving is looking at something in the past that either went wrong, did not work, or fell short of expectations. Then it asks, "what needs to be done to fix this situation?" Lay out the options, pray for discernment, and choose the best solution in light of the available resources. Successful pastors have learned to solve problems. Problem solving is oriented toward the past. It is looking back.

5. Successful pastors make decisions. This activity is present-tense in its orientation. It is looking at present resources of time, energy, and finances. Then, when options are seen clearly, it decides. Procrastination is often the enemy of effective decision making. Here is where deadlines are helpful. There is a time to gather information and there is a time to decide. Successful pastors and effective leaders know how to make decisions and then move ahead.

6. Successful pastors plan. Planning is oriented toward the future. Whether planning what to do tomorrow, next week, or next year, planning is essential if anything is ever to be accomplished. Successful pastors plan on a variety of levels. They plan their personal lives, they plan their work, they lead planning on behalf of their church and its ministries. Successful pastors and successful ministries, and successful churches are always asking, "God, what do you want us to do?" "What can we do that will make a difference for eternity?" "What can we do that will minister to hurting people?" "What can we do that will build up and equip believers for effective service?" Successful pastors are always looking down the road.

7. Successful pastors are life-long learners. Those who quit learning quit leading. It is as simples as that. Every successful pastor I know is a reader and a learner. So, what are you reading? And what are you learning? Who from the past and present is influencing you today? What 10 books have been most influential in your life and ministry? What magazines, journals, blogs, podcasts, and twitter feeds do you keep up with? Who is influencing you?

8. Successful pastors develop others. In Ephesians 4, Paul writes about the responsibility of pastors to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. It is incredibly important to equip and teach by example. If the one who is leading and teaching is not doing, or has not done, the work of ministry, how can they teach others? Pastor, how are you developing yourself, your staff, and your leadership? What are you doing to develop new leaders and ministers? What opportunities are you providing for potential leaders and ministers? What are you modeling for the purpose of developing others?

Next week I will wrap up this series of posts with a checklist of the successful pastor's perspective. What comes to mind when you think of a successful pastor? 

8 Habits of a Successful Pastor

Last spring I wrote about the characteristics of a successful pastor. Today, I would like to talk about what a successful pastor does. When the dust settles and time gives perspective, what a person does or does not do will in many ways determine whether or not they are successful. 

Successful pastors do the will of God. What does that look like in the life and ministry of the contemporary pastor's life? 

8 Habits of a Successful Pastor

1. Successful pastors value their calling. They understand that the work they have set out to accomplish is God's work and not their own. And they understand that they serve a Master who has called them to a higher calling. They understand that they are to follow where He leads and to stay until He says "go." What they do carries eternal results and consequences. What they do is more important than making money and making a living. They are God's representative, God's ambassador, God's spokesman. As such, they take seriously the stewardship of responsibility. They do not sell themselves cheaply, neither do they sell themselves short. They understand the value of their giftedness, their training, their experience and their scars. They have an intrinsic grasp of their value to God's Kingdom and refuse to let the world discount that value.
2. Successful pastors grasp the task. Serving as a pastor necessitates the cultivation of numerous skills. Yet, all the skills in the world are worthless if you find yourself doing the wrong things. The calling of a pastor is primarily doing the will of God God's way with the ultimate goal of extending God's Kingdom. If the Apostles' work serves as a pattern, then that calling's tasks consist of leading, feeding, and interceding. Over the course of decades, the successful pastor works to cultivate these skills and abilities. This is a life-long endeavor. School is never out nor over.
3. Successful pastors live with purpose. Pastors should have purpose-driven ministries. Pastors should keep before them the purposes for which their congregations exist: evangelism, discipleship, worship, fellowship, and ministry. The pastor's work is to insure that these purposes in balance are the primary activities of the church.
4. Successful pastors live by priorities. An old adage says that "those who fail to prioritize find themselves in the thick of thin things." So what should be a pastor's priorities? First, his relationship to The Lord. Let's not be so busy in the wok of the Kingdom that we do not have time for the King. Second, his relationship with his family. Third, the ministry of the church. If these priorities ever get out of sequence, difficulties in ministry will be close behind.
5. Successful pastors manage their time well. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. So what can you do to make the most of your time? First, work from a calendar and a day-planner. To know ahead of time what you must plan for is of critical importance and precludes you from getting caught off guard unnecessarily. I work off a "projects for the week" list on an ongoing basis. Second, prioritize what must be done first on a day by day basis. I suggest doing that the day before. Third, delegate what you can, and do what only you can do. Fourth, learn to say "no." You cannot do everything and everything is not worth doing. Finally, take time to take care of yourself. Burn-out is not a spiritual condition. 
6. Successful pastors work with diligence. When it is time to work, it is time to work. Determine what needs to be done, and get busy. As pastor, you set the pace. Planning and preparation will help you to be more productive. What is your schedule? What are you trying to accomplish? Write it down and check it off when the job is done.
7. Successful pastors compartmentalize. Too many times, I have seen pastors consumed with worry and fretting over "what-ifs," and consequently they are semi-paralyzed. Successful pastors know how to put things they cannot control into a box with the understanding that they can get to that subject later. Being preoccupied with too many "other things" can cause the pastor to be ineffective in the moment. If there is a concern, write it down, reflect on the alternative steps of action, and pray about it. Then, put it away. One reason our sub-conscience will not stop mulling over something, is because we are afraid we will miss or forget something. If we write it down, the sub-conscience will let it go.
8. Successful pastors guard their heart. They understand that their entire life's work is in the context of a spiritual war. Satan is out to destroy men and their ministries. Destruction too often begins internally with an unguarded heart. I challenge you to continuously monitor the state of your heart. Only clean vessels are useful in the hands of God.

Which of these habits is most challenging for you? How do you continue to grow in these areas? 

Looking for more about pastoral success? Check out 7 Pillars of a Successful Pastor's Attitude and What Successful Pastors Desire. 

5 Assumptions of Prayer

Luke 18:1 states that Jesus taught His disciples that "at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart (give up)." In fact, the challenge is for us "to cry to Him day and night." Jesus concludes that God the Father will will bring justice quickly, then asks a salient question: "when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" In other words, will He find His people praying and trusting, or complaining with despair?

I’d like to remind us all, myself included, of prayer's assumptions.

1. God is God of the universe. He created it and sustains it with purpose. By sending His Son to earth, God initiated His desire for reconciliation with all humanity. With reconciliation comes relationship, and with relationship comes both responsibility and privilege. Prayer is both.

2. We as humans live in a world of multiple planes. The horizontal is what we see. The vertical is what we do not see. The vertical controls the horizontal. The spiritual controls the physical and social.

3. Here is where prayer steps in. Every concern should be lifted to God in prayer. Every challenge should be a matter for prayer. If something is big enough to worry about, it is big enough to pray about. Every opportunity should be processed through prayer. Every hurt and insecurity and perceived injustice should be taken to The Lord. Every problem, decision, and plan should be laid before The Lord. That is how God designed us to live.

4. We were created to live in harmony with God's will. How can we do His will if we do not know it? Should we not go to Him and ask what it is that He wants? Yes, much of His will is found in His Word. But, the specifics of our lives on a day by day basis depend on our asking.

5. Prayer, intense focused prayer, can change the direction and trajectory of our lives personally, corporately, our families, churches, communities, and even society as a whole. There is no issue that God is unable or unwilling to resolve. But He waits for us to ask. We should pray and not give up. We should pray day and night. We should be a people who are known for our faith and for our prayers!

Time to Move

Some rights reserved by phil_g

Like so many other people, I have been greatly encouraged over the years by the work of Focus on the Family. This past week I read an article by one of their writers, John Barner entitled, "When Is It Time to Look for Another Place ofMinistry?" He begins by noting the present high turnover in today's church world which he describes as "alarming to say the least."  If his latest set of stats are accurate and the average minister is only staying about two years in one place, the trend is getting progressively worse.

Barner goes on to say that a variety of reasons can account for the extreme turnover rate. His initial explanations revolve around two observations. He suggests, first, that some pastors are simply not equipped to deal with conflict--hence, they leave--or, that pastors are looking to better their standard of living with its added influence and recognition. Hence, they leave. Barner then asks, should the trend and whatever motives are driving them be viewed as good, bad, or indifferent? After acknowledging that sometimes ministers are running from situations they should have stayed with, and therefore are running from what God intended for their good and their growth, he concedes rightly that there are legitimate reasons when moving is the right thing to do.

Barner's 3 reasons for moving on:

1.    When leaders in the church are unwilling to negotiate on important issues.

2.    When his family is adversely affected due to abusive and demanding tactics of ungodly opponents--this which should be considered absolutely unacceptable.

3.    If the church cannot or will not take care of the minister's financial needs.

My initial response is to "Amen" what Barner wrote and offer some additional observations and considerations.

1. Determine the purpose in the pastorate. Sometimes, a seminary student is serving a small congregation that has for years demonstrated unhealthy dynamics. Leaving there for any of the given reasons seems perfectly acceptable. Nevertheless, the question needs to be asked, "What is God's purpose in this place for the church and the minister?"

Years ago in my first pastorate I had a difficult situation arise with an obstinate leader. Dr. James Eaves gave me some advice: "Determine if this is a long term assignment from God for you. If yes, you'll need to use dynamite to remove the stump; if not, just plow around him knowing that your days there are numbered." Good advice.

Yet, I am very much aware that any great work for God may take years of commitment and the pastor or minister who is not invested in the long haul will very likely be perceived as a hireling rather than a shepherd. It is a risky decision to put down roots with a congregation. So, what can be done to maximize the potential long-term successful relationship between pastor and people?

2. Be thoroughly honest in the interview phase. Coupled with that, I encourage my students to draw up a "memorandum of understanding" with a new congregation which the entire church approves when the new pastor is called. This minimizes any misunderstandings. Sadly, I have seen search committees make promises to pastors they do not have the authority to keep. In the process of leaving a pastorate where I had served for over two decades, I received an interesting letter from a naive but well-meaning lady. In the midst of conflict, she wrote me and said, "when you came, we wanted a preacher, not a leader who would make changes." In a nutshell, here are seeds of misunderstanding planted years before that returned to bear some bitter fruit. Longer tenures in pastorates build stronger churches in the long haul. These start with clear understandings with the pastor and congregation on the front end.

In my next post I'll address this question: "When is it time to leave?"

6 Critical Steps To Take In the First 90 Days As Pastor

by Michael Watkins

A couple of years ago I read the book the First 90 Days. Michael Watkins unpacked the important considerations for a manager moving into a new leadership position. Today I'd like to offer my own suggestions for a new pastor.

With over 20 years of experience as a senior pastor and almost a decade in ministry-equipping academia, I have often reflected on the most important first considerations for a new pastor. The first great task of the Church is to fulfill God's command to take the Gospel to the world. Coupled with that is the mandate to bring those who come to faith into Christian maturity. In light of these two priorities, what are the most important first steps for a pastor to take when he begins work with a new congregation? 

1. Clarify expectations. A new pastor needs the church to be clear about what he expects from them, and clear on what they expect from him. The lack of understanding and clarity on the front end has created unnecessary difficulties for way too many churches and pastors.  

2. Encourage the church family to embrace their responsibility to invite lost and unchurched people in their spheres of influence to join them for worship. The most effective outreach for any church is the satisfied member who cares about the people inside their circle of influence.

3. Study the church and seek the Lord to know what messages need to be preached. Even as Jesus had a specific word to and for each congregation addressed in Revelation 2 and 3, He has a special Word to each congregation today.

4. Challenge each member to take seriously their role in the church. This would include encouragement to be faithful in their daily devotions, witness, character development, stewardship, and consistency. Each member is either building up or tearing down the Body of Christ (the Church) by their attitudes, actions, behaviors, participation, and words. Personal responsibility must be taken seriously!

5. Be diligent to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place to effectively support the ministries of the congregation. Without the supporting team, any organization can collapse under its own weight.

6. Ask yourself and the church tough questions. For each congregation, the questions must be asked: 

• What does God want us to be and to do? 

• How are we gifted to fulfill the will of God in our locale?

• In what areas does God want us to minister and serve?

• What does God want to accomplish through us in this time and place?

• What potential does God want to birth into reality here and now?

• How can we effectively cooperate in fulfilling the Great Commission in our generation? 

• What does God want to do in our midst that will help the watching world know that God is real?

These are the six steps I think are critical for the first 90 days in the pastorate. What do you think? Do you have anything to add to the list? 

7 Steps to Becoming Spiritually Prepared to Preach

It was said of Charles Spurgeon that he was more concerned with preparing himself than his sermon before he preached. Today I want to address the issue of preparing yourself and your congregation so that the Lord can use you to maximum effect. What should you do by way of preparation?

1. Be studied up. Paul wrote to Timothy,"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). When you stand to speak, are you confident that you have adequately prepared? That is a spiritual matter!

2. Be prayed up. James 5:16b declares, "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." Have you prayed over your message, your people, your prospects, against the devil's work, pleading with God to move in the hearts of the people? We even prayed for decent weather. If something is big enough to worry about, it's big enough to pray about!

3. Be confessed up. No preacher in their right mind expects God to use a dirty vessel. We get cleaned up as we confess up! John wrote,"If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"(1John 1:9). Let's do what God said and trust Him to do what He said! We cannot preach with power if we are holding on to unconfessed sin.

4. Be filled up. Concerning the early Church, on the heels of persecution and prayer, Scripture records, "And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word with boldness." Paul instructed the Ephesians to, "be filled with the Spirit." To be filled in both of these contexts means to be controlled by the Spirit. This requires intentional surrender and submission. "Lord, I surrender myself afresh to you today" is our hear's cry!

5. Speak up. Again in the early Church, the Disciples proclaimed, "for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20). And earlier, we read of Peter asserting,"let this be known to you and give heed to my words" (2:14b). When you stand to preach, act like you own the place. You represent the One who does!

6. Look up. Hebrews 12:2 instructs us to "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." I remind you that Jesus Himself promised, "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive" (Matthew 21:22). And again from Hebrews, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (11:6). When we preach, it is absolutely necessary that we hold to a confident expectation that God will move. He will do what He said! "Lord, I thank you and praise you in advance for the people who will be saved and the lives that will be impacted today" is our constant cry of faith!

7. Gear up. When Jesus fed the multitudes, he had the Disciples prepare for the distribution as well as the collection of leftovers "so that nothing will be lost" (John 6:12b). Jesus demonstrated a confident expectation of the increase and conservation of the Father's answered prayer. If you had 5,10, or 50 responses to your message the next time your folks gather to worship, would you be prepared to conserve what the Lord gave you? Perhaps He would give us more fruit if we were geared up and prepared for His harvest.

Let's be spiritually and organizationally prepared for God to use us! A holy and prepared man is an awesome instrument in the hand of God!

Dr. Sutton is the author of A Primer on Biblical Preaching. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Habits of Effective Communication

As a second installment on effective communication, I want to continue sharing some principles on preparation from my text, A Primer on Biblical Preaching. To be an effective communicator, preparation is not a luxury but a necessity.

My first post discussed preparation from the macro perspective. Now, I would like to address the issue from a micro perspective. How can a speaker, a minister, or teacher approach his or her task on a week by week basis?

I teach my students that if they desire to be effective in the pulpit, they must cultivate a rhythm and a discipline in their preparation. Again, remember, there is no substitute for planning ahead. My desire is to help you work smarter not harder although preparing to speak on a regular basis is hard work. I point out to my students that all great communicators have a method of preparation. Probably, no two communicators have the exact same method but each has method nonetheless. I teach my students my method then encourage them to adjust it according to their schedule and demands. Remember, any method is better than no method when it comes to sermon preparation. Here's mine.

I spend all day on Monday working on four items. Assuming I am preparing two messages for next weekend, I prepare two exegeses, one for each message, and two outlines. Again, one for each sermon. Normally, this work would take me all day on Monday and at times the early hours of Tuesday.

In the exegesis portion, I work through all the materials in my file folder designated for the week's messages. At this juncture, I am light years ahead of the guy who wakes up on Monday morning wondering what he will speak on next weekend.

I will read through the text 15 to 25 times before I do anything else. I will attempt to grasp the flow of the text's meaning and message. I will examine the genre and the context. I do word studies and try to grasp the essence of what the text says and what it means. When the exegesis for each message is complete and I have that grasp of the text's main theme, I begin to break the text down into bite-sized bits as I outline it. Honestly, at times I have produced twenty or more outlines for one sermon before I am satisfied with it.

First thing in the office on Tuesday, my outlines are typed and copied for a 9:30 Worship Team meeting. In that meeting, we do three things. One, we critique last Sunday's services. What went right? What went wrong?  Where can we improve? Did we start and conclude on time? The goal is to have a seamless service with no dead time while being sensitive to the Spirit's leading. Second, I do a Bible study on my sermons with the worship team. At its conclusion, I solicit age appropriate feedback from the team. They give me insights, illustrations, or

applications that are appropriate for children, students, or single adults for example. I play scribe and take notes as the worship team provides feedback. I use their feedback as I continue to craft next weekend's messages. We conclude the meeting by having the music team share the music packages planned for the upcoming services. Because we planned ahead, all of our services were themed. Everything said and done revolved around the one biblical theme of the service. Note, at times, my team would say they did not like the outline and I would solicit suggestions on how to improve it.

By the end of the day on Tuesday, I have final outlines completed. Then, I go through the outline placing checkmarks where I think I need illustrations. I spend time Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday looking for appropriate illustrations. The purpose of illustrations are two-fold. First, they are like windows that let light in thereby clarifying what is being taught. In essence, we learn through analogies. Second, illustrations are like mirrors that help us see ourselves.

On Friday morning, I have an interactive outline prepared and reproduced. This is "fill in the blank." I always place the answers on the back page of the notes. Also, a powerpoint is prepared so that those in the services can follow through the outline as the message unfolds.

This is a snapshot of how I work on a micro or week by week basis. I hope it helps. The next post in this series will not be about preparing your messages, but about preparing yourself.

How do you prepare the week before you speak? 

Principles of Effective Communication

Over the next few weeks I’m going to share some aspects of what I have taught in preaching classes and included in the textbook I wrote called A Primer On Biblical Preaching. If you are a Liberty Theological Seminary student, you may recognize it as the Homiletics textbook. These principles are beneficial to anyone who has to speak for a living. Of course this applies to ministers but should also prove beneficial to teachers, business leaders, and anyone else who has to stand up in front of a crowd and say something constructive.

One principle I stress repeatedly is the necessity of preparation. I do not believe anyone can be over-prepared before they speak. Besides being the antidote to fear (in speaking, the less prepared you are the greater your stress and fear), preparation is also the pathway to excellence. (I wrote some more thoughts on preparation here.) Why anyone would settle for mediocrity when they can strive for excellence escapes me.

Preparation for a preacher or public speaker comes in two packages, the macro and the micro. The macro package is how we plan for the year. I encourage my students to plan their preaching a year at a time. When I was a senior pastor, I would plan my January sermons in September or October so we knew ahead of time where we were going. Then, I would take a week some time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s to plan out the rest of the upcoming year's messages. In preparation for that planning week, I would keep a file folder of interesting articles or notes that I accumulated over the year. If it was interesting, I would save it in my file. Sometimes I would shoot or scan something of interest on my smartphone. Do not be afraid to tear out articles from magazines or newspapers. Evernote is a fantastic tool for this. I would also keep a notebook of observations and insights that I would consult. In my planning week, I would take my calendar, determine how many weeks I would have for a series, then schedule a new sermon series beginning on major breaks.

In my planning week, I would mark resources that I knew I would need in next year's preparation. For example, all New Testament sermons would have a photocopy of the Greek text, AT Robertson's Word Studies for that text, and Reinecker's commentary on the Greek text. Coupled with that were a few select commentaries and any articles I considered helpful.

I would create a file folder for each sermon I intended to preach in the upcoming year. Each would be labeled with the date, series title, sermon title, and the text. By the first of the year, I would have a complete set of files for the entire calendar year. By doing this, I would work smarter, not harder. By taking this approach, I would have better series, better sermons, and better services.

Please be reminded that it is easier to deviate from a plan than to have no plan. Even with a plan, you can be flexible when necessary.

This is a snapshot of my macro approach to preaching. If you will incorporate a model like this, you can save time and preach more effective sermons. Next week, I will address the micro package. What can you do on a week by week basis to be more effective?