Developing Godly Leadership

Biblical Training.org has just announced a new course at their phenomenal ministry called Developing Godly Leadership which is taught by Dr. John Johnson.

Bill Mounce introduces the class:

We are especially glad to be able to announce a new class at BiblicalTraining.org, Developing Godly Leaders, by Dr. John Johnson. We have been looking for a long time to find a professor trained in practical ministry who has academic and church experience in the area of leadership.

Dr. Johnson is a professor at Western Seminary, and we are thankful to Western for the gift of this class. He is also the Lead Pastor at Village Baptist Church where he has served for 18 years.

I once, rather jokingly, suggested a book title to Zondervan Publishers: “Why Save the Lost When You can Fight with the Saved?” The sad part of the story is that they were open to the publishing project. Almost everywhere I go, I hear stories of Christians devouring one another. Alexander Strauch has even written a new book, If You Bite & Devour One Another.

Unfortunately, while many pastors are well prepared in exegetical and theological matters, the question of how to identify, raise up, encourage and train the leadership in a church is often not part of their skill set and so often contributes to the devastating statistics we hear.

Here is the course description from the website:

This is a core leadership course designed for those who intend to be future leaders in ministry.  This course will move from definitions to the core values of a leader; how to take a ministry through a vision process; engage in strategic planning, decision-making, and implementation; build great teams; work through conflict and change; delegate tasks; and effectively mentor the next generation of leaders.  Models from the corporate, political, and military worlds will be compared and contrasted with biblical definitions and illustrations of leadership.

Biblical Training is a wonderful ministry resource that gathers top notch seminary level teachers and provides these great teachers to us via the Internet.

Developing Godly Leadership >>>

Pastors Who No Longer Believe — Get Out!

Al Mohler provides some great advice to the theologically degenerate.

Pastors Who No Longer Believe >>>

2010 Shepherd’s Conference

The Shepherd’s Conference is one of those conferences that seldom disappoints, if ever.  While this years conference didn’t have the “bang” of previous years, it was nonetheless edifying and challenging, with the old standbys in the pulpit: MacArthur, Johnson, Holland and Lawson.

2010 Shepherd’s Conference >>>

Lessons Learned from Three Decades of Leading

C. J. Mahaney, Jeff Purswell and Bob Kauflin gather for a lengthy discussion reflecting on their many years of ministry together at Covenant Life and Sovereign Grace.

There is one excellent observation I will leave you with: The boys were talking about preparation for worship, and C.J. said, the Holy Spirit is not thwarted by planning or preparation.  Some believe the Spirit works spontaneously, but the Holy Spirit is more at work when we are prepared than when we are not.

Lessons Learned >>>

Past Shepherd’s Conference messages now free

The Shepherd’s Conference has become an annual pilgrimage for many pastors across the world, and an mp3 gold mine for those in the ministry.  The Shepherd’s Fellowship has made all Shepherd’s conference messages of previous years free for download.  If you are in the ministry, this will be a treasured resource that will encourage and challenge.

Registration in the Shepherd’s Fellowship is reguired. It’s free.

Shepherd’s Fellowship >>>

Rick Holland Interviews John MacArthur on 40 years of Ministry

Yesterday Grace Community Church celebrated John MacArthur’s 40 years of ministry at this church.  Rick Holland interviews John regarding his 40 years of ministry, and you might be surprised to hear some of his stories.

John relates his brush with the civil rights movement while preaching at black churches in Mississippi, including being there the day Martin Luther King was shot.  Holland quizzes MacArthur on his conversion, his participation in training camp for the Washington Redskins, and his courting of his wife Patricia.

We also learn about three years between John’s seminary training and his pastorate, where he was a representative of Talbot, and the primary purpose of his position was to get him preaching, which he did 30 to 35 times per month.

John also relates how he came to pastor Grace Community Church in 1969, and how it grew under his preaching ministry.  How the tape ministry started.

John also talks about the men who had the most influence on his life, from his father, Charles Feinberg, Ralph Kyper and the Apostle Paul.

The interview closes with John talking about what led him to work on the MacArthur Study Bible and the challenges that kind of effort brought. 

Holland interviews MacArthur mp3 >>>

Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church

What can I say about Paul Washer?  Lest I tread too closely to making too much of a man, I can’t help but be excited by a preacher who speaks for God, whose words convict and inspire awe before God and his work of the Gospel.   Here is a man who has a prophetic voice in the manner of a Tozer or Lloyd-Jones.  And in this message, Washer clearly and effectively levels ten indictments against the modern church that we must take heed of.  Here are just a few of Paul’s major points, though not necessarily his exact 10 indictments:

The modern church practically denies Scripture by embracing the sociological, the psychological and the anthropological as having authority over God’s Word.  The modern church does not know God.  The modern church has exchanged the Gospel and the power of God for tricks, techniques, and pagan-like methodologies.The modern church has robbed people of the power of the Gospel by embracing the heresy of decisionism.   The modern church is focused on prosperity and not on sin, thus defusing the one thing necessary for the Holy Spirit to deal with to restore a sinners true relationship with God.  The modern church is filled with and caters to the goats while the sheep starve under the hand of capitulating leaders.  The modern church has remained silent on the reality that God`s people are called out to be separate.  The modern church has torn Matthew 18 from Scripture, and along with it loving, compassionate church discipline.

Paul asks the loaded question of leaders, “Are you smarter than God?  Then stop acting like it!”  There is a sharp bite to Washer’s indictment, yet the cutting comes from spiritual wisdom, and one who loves Christ’s bride, the Church.

Washer spent 10 years ministering in Peru, where he started a missions organization called HeartCry Missionary Society, and has since returned to the US to oversee this organization.  He makes Grace Life Church of the Shoals his church home.

Many thanks to Chad of Christ Fellowship in Hannibal, Missouri for connecting me with Paul Washer.  You will be hearing much more about this man as my iPod is filled with Paul Washer mp3’s.

Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church >>>

The Power of the Church and Church Discipline

Waynes 3 classes on the Power of the church considers the Power of the church in spiritual warfare, the powerful promotion of the Gospel, and the power entrusted to it regarding church discipline.

The class on church discipline is particularly noteworthy.  Grudem provides very considered anecdotal evidence that God not only has his hand in disciplining those believers who are harming the church, but also that God honors a churches decision to discipline a member, often supporting the church when the sinning member tries to run to another church who may not know about the discipline.  Fascinating food for thought.

The Power of the Church mp3 pt. 1 >>>

The Power of the Church mp3 pt. 2 >>>

The Power of the Church mp3 pt. 3>>>

Biblical Leadership seminar with Alexander Strauch

Alexander Strauch gave a 4 message seminar to Desert Springs Church on the subject of Biblical Leadership.  If you are in ministry and haven’t yet heard Strauch on eldership or church leadership, this will be a good seminar to get into, even if you are a congregationalist or have no elders.

Biblical Leadership series >>>

Leadership Podcast from Sovereign Grace

C. J. Mahaney, Josh Harris and Jeff Purswell have launched the first Sovereign Grace leadership podcast targeting church leaders for enouragement, instruction and wisdom.

This first podcast focused on the purpose of the podcast, and then primarily addressed the topic of a pastor’s reading habits. A very helpful podcast.

Leadership Podcast #1 page >>>