The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director. Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year. God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started i...
Did you ever notice how many people leave full time ministry or even their denomination and then want to criticize everything that's wrong with it? It's like some believe they've been given some grand insight now that they aren't on the inside anymore, as to what's broken. Evidently they have found they key as to why things will or don't work and ruminate about why things should or shouldn't be. They have no shortage of comments on what's wrong with pastors today, church people today, worship trends today, bible colleges today, denominations today, and the list goes on. Boy they are just great at commenting on a world they aren't a part of. How easy it is to criticize where you don't contribute. What do these guys and gals eat for breakfast? Sour grapes?
It reminds me of that old saying, "Those who can't do, teach." I love this version I heard from a blogger:
Those who can, do.
Those who can't, teach.
Those who can't teach, write about those that do and teach.
There are a lot of examples I personally know of this but these are two...
I know a blogger who is an ex-pastor, and doesn't attend church anymore. To be fair, he had a lot of stress at the most recent church he pastored for many years. But what pastor doesn't face adversity? And truth be told some of that stress was due to his departure from the doctrines of his denomination. So now he has left the "institutional church" but doesn't miss it a bit due to the "revelations" that he's been receiving and can't wait to share with his readers. He calls himself a "pastor at large" because he writes a blog and gets a decent amount of comments. Well, so what? So does Perez Hilton! When did blog traffic translate to ministerial credentials? I'm a little nervous as any day now Rosie O'Donnell may announce her ordination! Anyway, this blogger believes he is ministering to hurting souls on his blog who would never step foot in a church. This wouldn't be altogether bad if he was actually pointing them to Jesus but the majority of his writings simply provoke his readers to doubt everything they ever believed in , not spur them on to faith. I don't subscribe to the blog anymore because it was too much of a train wreck and only brought me down, not closer to God or His people. If high traffic and response qualify you to be a pastor, then this guy needs to move over because a ton of atheist blogs have more traffic than he does. His blog shows an uncanny resemblance to those anytime I have checked in on it. Sometimes I do that just to see if he's come to his senses yet...it's fast going from universalism to only God knows what.
Another guy whose blog I used to read was a mega church pastor who had an affair and was put on discipline by his denominational officials. Instead of submitting to the process of restoration he started his own church down the road from his previous one. This was after he left his wife and kids and is now married to the lady he had the affair with. He's still blogging away, dispensing a ton of his own rhetoric on all that's wrong with his previous denomination and group of former pastor friends. He encourages his current readers and commenters (I'm not among them anymore) to see him as no different from David in the Bible...to develop a fuller understanding of grace. Evidently no one understands grace quite like he does. He rails out against the "institutional church" that he was once a part of, having now been "set free" to truly follow this new path God has him on with Sis. Bathsheba. Delete, delete, delete. (FYI - Pastor Perry Noble addresses the issue of pastors comparing themselves to David and how to avoid a meltdown in this regard better than anyone else I've ever heard.)
Isn't it interesting the amazing epiphany some folks have about the church world when things don't work out for them? I'm sure they would chalk it up to "hindsight being 100%" but reality is they are blind spiritually and don't realize how foolish it makes them look to give a dissertation on what's wrong with a world where they no longer serve.
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I absolutely love and respect teachers so part of me hates the "those who can't do teach" quote, and I'd love to re-write it...
Those who can do.
Those who can't criticize.
What about those who could do but simply chose not to? Do they have a platform? That's an interesting thought. I have a lot of ideas about that but will just say, no one will ever know if they could, because they didn't. Henry Ford once said that you can't build a reputation on what you're GOING to do. I would say that you also can't be a voice of influence by telling people what you could do if you wanted to.
It reminds me of that old saying, "Those who can't do, teach." I love this version I heard from a blogger:
Those who can, do.
Those who can't, teach.
Those who can't teach, write about those that do and teach.
There are a lot of examples I personally know of this but these are two...
I know a blogger who is an ex-pastor, and doesn't attend church anymore. To be fair, he had a lot of stress at the most recent church he pastored for many years. But what pastor doesn't face adversity? And truth be told some of that stress was due to his departure from the doctrines of his denomination. So now he has left the "institutional church" but doesn't miss it a bit due to the "revelations" that he's been receiving and can't wait to share with his readers. He calls himself a "pastor at large" because he writes a blog and gets a decent amount of comments. Well, so what? So does Perez Hilton! When did blog traffic translate to ministerial credentials? I'm a little nervous as any day now Rosie O'Donnell may announce her ordination! Anyway, this blogger believes he is ministering to hurting souls on his blog who would never step foot in a church. This wouldn't be altogether bad if he was actually pointing them to Jesus but the majority of his writings simply provoke his readers to doubt everything they ever believed in , not spur them on to faith. I don't subscribe to the blog anymore because it was too much of a train wreck and only brought me down, not closer to God or His people. If high traffic and response qualify you to be a pastor, then this guy needs to move over because a ton of atheist blogs have more traffic than he does. His blog shows an uncanny resemblance to those anytime I have checked in on it. Sometimes I do that just to see if he's come to his senses yet...it's fast going from universalism to only God knows what.
Another guy whose blog I used to read was a mega church pastor who had an affair and was put on discipline by his denominational officials. Instead of submitting to the process of restoration he started his own church down the road from his previous one. This was after he left his wife and kids and is now married to the lady he had the affair with. He's still blogging away, dispensing a ton of his own rhetoric on all that's wrong with his previous denomination and group of former pastor friends. He encourages his current readers and commenters (I'm not among them anymore) to see him as no different from David in the Bible...to develop a fuller understanding of grace. Evidently no one understands grace quite like he does. He rails out against the "institutional church" that he was once a part of, having now been "set free" to truly follow this new path God has him on with Sis. Bathsheba. Delete, delete, delete. (FYI - Pastor Perry Noble addresses the issue of pastors comparing themselves to David and how to avoid a meltdown in this regard better than anyone else I've ever heard.)
Isn't it interesting the amazing epiphany some folks have about the church world when things don't work out for them? I'm sure they would chalk it up to "hindsight being 100%" but reality is they are blind spiritually and don't realize how foolish it makes them look to give a dissertation on what's wrong with a world where they no longer serve.
.
I absolutely love and respect teachers so part of me hates the "those who can't do teach" quote, and I'd love to re-write it...
Those who can do.
Those who can't criticize.
What about those who could do but simply chose not to? Do they have a platform? That's an interesting thought. I have a lot of ideas about that but will just say, no one will ever know if they could, because they didn't. Henry Ford once said that you can't build a reputation on what you're GOING to do. I would say that you also can't be a voice of influence by telling people what you could do if you wanted to.
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