Great words from James MacDonald or Harvest Bible Chapel about the critical difference between ministering equippers and servants in the church. (Video not working? try here) This is a pretty important distinction. In particular, I’ve seen people go into youth ministry because they love working with youth. Then they become full-time ministers and realize that [...]

There is a huge range of debatable issues in theology and in the practice of ministry that a person could take sides on.  An average church member generally isn’t required to have fully developed theological opinions.  They are often asked to agree with and support the theological and philosophical stance their church, but aren’t required [...]

In the face of all the multiple demands at seminary, the temptation to laziness can be acute.  I’ve spoken with a number of students who succumb to laziness, to their own hurt.  They have much to get done, but cannot get themselves to do it. Often laziness will show up as procrastination; or choosing to [...]

“I’m preaching tomorrow. Yeah, I’ve never been to this church before, so I’ll just recycle one of my sermons from class.” If you are, or have been, in seminary, you may have heard a classmate say this. Perhaps you have said it- or thought it- yourself. Now, there is nothing wrong with “recycling” a sermon. [...]

In an interview with the dean of students at a leading evangelical seminary, I asked about the most common reasons people did not complete seminary.  One of his answers was a shock to me: students get caught cheating. Seminary students have ample opportunity to cheat. You can plagiarize-representing the academic work of others as your [...]