This morning I had a kind email from a brother in Africa thanking me for ForYoungerPastors.
It got me thinking that rather than use this format, I might provide a periodic (monthly most likely) email listing articles and books that I feel are of value.
If you would like to be included in this list, please email me at bogert@fastmail.com and let me know, and I’ll send something out on occasion that will hopefully be helpful.
Peter
When I was a kid I regularly watched the Mickey Mouse Club, resplendent in gorgeous black and white on my parents’ television. Each episode of the show would end with a rather mournful group of kids singing, “Now It’s time to say goodbye to all our company.”. Then Mickey would come on and tell us to tune in the next day at the same time.
If you go back to the February 13, 2021 post, you can read a brief explanation of why this blog was launched. A reader had nicely (and rightly) taken me to task for my lack of regular posting. I explained the reasons for that and he was very gracious in responding.
In the two months that have followed I have tried to post more regularly, but the other week I received a notice that my WordPress fees were up for renewal. I talked to a couple of people, including one person who was instrumental in my beginning this blog, and their response was that if I didn’t enjoy doing it anymore, let it go.
Hopefully I’ve provided you with some good resources over these last two years. But after thinking this through I have come to the point where I believe the blog has served its purpose – at least in my life. Selfish? Maybe. But with heading back into ministry I need to focus my efforts there. By the time I am finished at the end of the day, my creative juices are pretty dry. I could go on posting links to articles, but I would recommend that you follow them yourself: Peter Mead, The Gospel Coalition, 9Marks, and of course, Tim Challies. Oh, and make sure you check in on For the Church. Jared Wilson’s blog has been filled with helpful articles.
When this article is posted I am going to contact WordPress and cancel my account. I am going to retain ownership of foryoungerpastors.com in case I want to start it again. I’ve also read that cancelled blog domains have often been used for nefarious purposes.
To those of you who have visited frequently, thanks. I can still be reached at bogert@fastmail.com. I’ve had occasional contact with a few younger guys that has been meaningful and if any of you men are reading this, please stay in touch. But “now it’s time to day goodbye.”
May God bless us all in the work he has called us to!
In Christ,
Peter Bogert
Here’s a mix of theology, practical theology, and help for hurting pastors. I hope you find something in here encouraging.
HB Charles, Jr. – When It’s Time to Leave A Church
Ronnie Martin – Another Easter
Jason K. Allen – Guarding Your Life and Doctrine While in Seminary
Rhyne Putnam – Addressing Fraternal Disagreements in the Body of Christ.
Peter Mead – Five Pointers for the Discouraged Pastor
Giovanni Colantonio – The Best Office Chairs Under $300. Yeah, I know. Weird. But how much time do you spend sitting in your office chair? Secular source may contain “secular” language.
Travis Hearne – Your Eschatology Has Consequences
Justin Poythress – 4 Predictions for the Post-Pandemic Church
Ed Welch – Ministry, Personal Limits, and Saying “No”
Trevin Wax – A Word to the Weary Pastor
John Folmar – 4 Principles for Raising Up Elders
Dan Doriani – Doriani on Romans (an excerpt from a coming commentary!
Tim Challies reviews a new book – Fierce Wolves Are Coming
Well, you might be interested in this. I got the first shot of the Moderna vaccine and a week and a half later broke out in a rather nasty rash. I scratched like a chimp until I went to the doctors. A week later it’s better but not gone.
Secular source, may contain secular language.
Have a great week!
Busy times, but I have a lot of good stuff to share. I’m going to break it up thematically a bit. This post will include articles that you can use in counseling and distribute to your congregation.
Why Should We Remember What God Forgets? – Tim Challies
Trevin Wax – 4 Ways to Prepare to Hear the Voice of God
Show Up! – Mike Gilbert-Smith
Stephen Witmer – Will I Ever Change?
Please Stay – The Palest Ink
Matthew Miller – Looking for Assurance in All the Right Places
God Has Not Forgotten You – Vaneetha Rendall Risner
Campbell Bortel – Pain Our Teacher
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I’ll be back Monday with some articles for pastors, including several for pastors going through hard times. Pastors go through hard times??
Have a blessed weekend.
I hope you had a wonderful Easter! Here is some great reading for this week.
A must read: Anxious People Need Shepherds Who Point Them to the Chief Shepherd.
Peter Mead takes a break from writing about preaching in this article on The Local Church and the Missionary.
I’ve recommended articles by Tim Reigle several times. Tim is our music leader and has a ministry helping men addicted to pornography. He asks, Do You Have Perseverance?
Eric Raymond – A Tool for Reading the Bible Devotionally – make copies and pass them out.
Here’s a link to a YouTube video by Bryan Chapell on The Place of Application in preaching.
This article was published originally in 2017 but was reprinted last year. Stephen Altrogge tells us 3 Things I Know About Ministry Now That I’m Not In Ministry.
Garrett Kell tells Pastors, Train Future Pastors. What better place to learn how to pastor than from other pastors?
This will help you deal with the cultural push to deny sexual identity. Solid stuff.
This is just good reading for any pastor in any church in any location. Paul Levy urges us to Keep Your Head.
Trevin Wax, whose articles are included here on a regular basis, has a new book coming out this next week, I believe. It is not listed on Amazon yet, but the title is The Multi-Directional Leader. You can learn about it here.
Have a great week of ministry!!
I’ve collected a rather large collection of articles – so many that I am going to simply list them and make a comment or two where appropriate. I’ll have another list out Monday. Have a blessed Easter with your church family.
Grief is an Exhausting Journey – a good article to share with parents who have lost children, as well as anyone dealing with grief.
A review of Joel Beeke’s and Nick Thompson’s book Pastors and Their Critics by the folks at 9 Marks. Pastors have critics??
A Second Adam to the Fight and to the Rescue by Eric Raymond.
Another by Eric Raymond called Rain or Shine, He Showed Up. Maybe the last sentence will catch your attention and you’ll want to read this: Love while you are still able, for, in due time, you will be at a funeral, either of someone dear to you or our own.
I’m teaching an online class on 1 & 2 Peter. They are great books for our time. Travis Montgomery provides some help if you plan to preach those letters.
Winston Smith gives us In Ministry, Joy and Sorrow Don’t Cancel Each Other Out.
11 Elder Chairman FAQ’s from 9 Marks.
Here’s a 20 minute lesson on how to conclude a sermon well.
Pastors Should Have Friends within Their Churches by Jeremy Todd.
Mark Dever on Leading Change in A Church.
Enjoy. More coming Monday.
I hope you had a good weekend. In our church we are seeing more people coming back to in-person worship. I hope the same is true where you are ministering.
Here is some recommended reading:
Peter Mead writes about sermon preparation and how some sermons take longer to prepare.
This is another helpful article from Tim Reigle on dealing with sin in general and porn addiction in particular. He also writes this about restoring trust after porn addiction.
Peter Krol writes: One common challenge in Bible study is figuring out how much text to study. Whether it’s for personal study, small group discussion, or a sermon selection, students of the Bible have a number of things working against them in making this choice. Here’s some help.
This is a really good article by Kaden Classen on why our people need to be taught theology. Make sure you read this one.
The late R.C. Sproul briefly and clearly defines the Gospel. Anyone who preaches or teaches should be sure to review their understanding of the Gospel message from time to time.
Leaving a congregation is not easy for pastors. At least most of the time. Mike Ayers suggests 4 Things to Consider in a Transition From Your Church.
Probably the most needed article in this list is Jonathan Leeman’s discussion of helping our church do good on social media.
Trevin Wax writes a provocative and somewhat troubling article on the state of churches and denominations that identify themselves as Evangelical.
I’ve said before that I wish Kevin DeYoung blogged more often. Here’s a great reason why he should.
Timothy Paul Jones asks the question, “Should Pastors Preach for Conversions?”
Jeff Mingee writes to pastors about their online presence.
Here’s an article by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra suggesting permanent changes that will come to the church because of COVID.
What do you do when small group members are reluctant to participate? Ryan Higgenbottom has some guidance.
Peter Krol discusses training young people to feed themselves with God’s Word.
Not much shocks me anymore, but some things make me sad. The mess with Ravi Zacharias is one of them.
Ok. Here are a couple of productivity articles. Here’s one on organizing your desk.. Here’s one on making an effective to-do list. Here’s one on doing a brain dump. And no, that’s not what you do to your wife after you preach. And finally, here’s one on managing your tasks. Note: Several of these articles are on Medium, an article hosting website that costs $6 a month to use. They do allow you to read several articles before telling you that you need to pay up. I subscribed to it for about two months. I think it’s one of those services to maybe pop in and out of every 5-6 months. Also, because they are secular sources, they might contain the occasional naughty word that I missed. Use of inappropriate words is obviously not condoned on this blog.
A Weekly List of Links and Resources Especially for Pastors
Happy Ides of March. If I remember correctly, this is the day that Julius Caesar was killed. Which reminds me of a joke from a kids’ joke book that I had years ago:
What did Caesar say after Brutus stabbed him? “Ouch.”
Here we go with some articles for this week:
Pastors are Paid to Stare Out the Window Good stuff from Jared Wilson.
Nathaniel Williams urges pastors to Preach to the People in the Room.
Michael Krueger shares some timely counsel about dealing with people who object of our views on morality.
YOUNG PASTOR ALERT! “Your Ministry Heroes May Be Right There in Your Church.”
Another gem from Jared Wilson. How does a guy manage to consistently write such good stuff? “Pastor, do you know that Jesus does not need your help?”
Here are Three Maxims for planning worship services. Do we really do enough thinking about why we do what we do?
Quiet small group studies are pretty much one of the worst things in the world. This article can help prevent that.
Peter Mead writes about the “Sweetest Agony” of ministry.
Chris Thomas urges that we not preach “Pre-Fab Packages of Frustration.”
Trevin Wax, always worth reading, suggests caution in the way we view the post-pandemic church.
We’ll close out this week with Peter Mead’s thoughts on sermons and prep time and why some need more than others.
Have a great week!
My function at church involves two main components. One involves coordinating congregational (pastoral) care and the other involves teaching as the opportunity presents itself.
I’ve been working for the last few months in preparation of an online series that is called Roots. The point of the series is to help our people understand theology, but to go beyond just understanding a doctrine to learning why that doctrine is important. What is especially challenging in this is that each “episode” will be no longer than seven minutes.
We released the first video last week and will roll new ones out every week on Tuesdays. Between learning video technology and doing the actual scripting and recording, it has been a busy several weeks, hence I’ve been absent again. But I wanted to catch up because I have a backlog of great reading.
By the way, if you’re interested in the Roots series, you can text the word “roots” to 610-708-1100. That will enroll you in the distribution list and you’ll get a text message each week. If you are outside of the US, you can be added via email. I’m not suggesting you do this because of the theological acumen I possess, but in case you want to see something that might work in your church. Be warned, however, that we’re planning 80-100 of these videos. 😬
Here are some worthwhile articles:
Do you wonder what people get from your ministry? This article says “it ain’t what you preach.”
Paul Levy, author the article above, shares a letter he wrote to his church in July called “The Slowness of God.”
Ryan Higginbottom has some help for those who lead small groups. The kinds of questions we ask can make or break our studies.
The ever-present Peter Mead tells us 7 Ways to Not Really Preach a Passage. And then Wanted: Expository Preaching Advocates.
Simple title, deep subject: Redeeming Pastoral Ambition.
Tim Reigle shares some thoughts about the Lost Art of Deep Conversation.
J.A. Medders writes Pastor, Your People Need the Hard Texts.
Darryl Dash encourages pastors to keep preaching.
Joe Carter answers questions about What You Should Know About the Pro-LGBTQ Equality Act. Pastors here in the US should keep an eye on this. This one, by Brandon Freeman, is related.
Here’s a good one. I’m going to write a bit on this soon. Here are 4 Ways Young Pastors Can Love Elderly Saints.
Trevin Wax shares some thoughts about The State of Church Attendance as Covid Turns One.
Ed Welch gives us Shaking Off Some Lifelessness with the Psalms.
Enjoy!!
I actually published something last night but decided this morning that I didn’t like it. So . . .
Here are some helpful articles for your reading pleasure and edification:
Kregal Publishers has a series of books that ask/answer 40 questions, and a new one is 40 Questions About Pastoral Ministry by Phil Newton. Here is a review.
Peter Mead has a helpful article on what to be aware of between the beginning of the service and the sermon.
David Prince writes “Sermon Delivery Matters.” A quote: “I once heard a group of self-styled sophisticated evangelical types almost mocking John Piper because of his passionate and energetic delivery. I asked, “Do you think it is fake passion? An over-dramatized act or genuine?” Their answer was that it is genuine but still dangerous. I told them to sign me up for that kind of dangerous passion.”
I believe that all of us need to be ready to explain why we have trusted Jesus, but I also believe that there are some people more gifted in transitioning conversations to the Gospel. Regardless of your situation, this is a helpful article.
I found this article by Paul Tripp from back in 2019 on leading with humility and accountability. It’s titled, “How to Lead With Humility and Accountability.” And it’s a good read.
So, so, good, and so important. “We Must Reclaim Friendship From the Bonds of Social Media.”
I’ll be back with more in a couple of days. There’s some meat up above to digest.
