One thing Baxter does so well in The Reformed Pastor is to lay out the gravity of the task. Some of the student quotes in the previous post alluded to this. While I would also want to say the task is also a source of deep joy, this truth of the gravity of the task …
This is No Fairy Tale, by Dale Tolmasoff (Crossway Books, 2005), hb. 32 pp. This book seeks to explain to children the story of Jesus by contrasting it with the typical elements of fairy tales. This works well especially for families (like ours) which talk about fairy tales and adventure stories. This can be very …
The students in my pastoral ministry course have now read and responded to Baxter’s, The Reformed Pastor. I thought it might be helpful to pass on some of their thoughts and evaluations. Perhaps their thoughts will encourage and challenge you, and even urge you to read (or re-read) this book carefully yourself. “I was utterly …
The Fantastic Journey of Pieter Bruegel, by Anders C. Shafer (Dutton Children’s Books, NY: 2002), 40pp. I stumbled across this book one evening in a bookstore and was really interested in the story of this painter. I did not previously know about Pieter Bruegel, but searching through some sources I discovered that he is generally …
Continue reading ‘Pieter Bruegel, 16th Century Flemish artist’ »
I have mentioned previously that I think Hebrews 13:17 is a key text for understanding how pastoral ministry holds together. It is crucial that we ask what task pulls together all the various tasks of the pastor and acts as the controlling force of the others. Failure to think in this way has led to …
Continue reading ‘Oversight: the essence of Pastoral Ministry’ »
I have had a deeply moving time this morning simply in re-reading the 8 pages of quotes I have gathered from Richard Baxter’s, The Reformed Pastor, in preparation for the discussion today in my Pastoral Ministry class. I cannot recommend this book too highly. Baxter is simply at his best in working out the practical …
I have for some time gained help and encouragement from this quote from Spurgeon. If you read him it is clear that he is not hear in any way demeaning the value of diligent study. What he is doing is warning us not to thinking learning alone is sufficient. It is thus similar to Luther’s …
I Love My Bible!, written and illustrated by Debby Anderson (Crossway, 2005), hardback, 32 pp. This is a new book for us and just this week I read it to my three year old (Benjamin) with my other boys (9, 8 and 6 years old) listening in. Benjamin usually gets to listen in as I …
In a recent blog from Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, interim pastor Aaron Menikoff provided this wonderful quote. This fits well with my previous post, and both of these inform the discussion of video church. The faithful minister is found preaching the gospel from house to house, as well as in a more public …
My pastoral ministry class is discussing the list of qualifications for pastors in these passages. Many important observations can and need to be made from these passages, but we have focused a bit so far on the big picture. Here is a particularly well-put comment from one of the students: “The qualifications of an overseer …
Continue reading ‘Qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1’ »