Mike Leake

“It takes a crucified man to preach a crucified Savior.” –Alexander Maclaren “I abhor the thought of God being robbed of his glory…” That was part of the response that a young man was giving in one of my seminary classes. I shudder as I type the latter part of his comment. “…and if that means the damnation of infants then so be it”. It’s not my concern to throw this dude under the bus. Truthfully, I see some of myself in him. Getting so wrapped in theology, idealism, and the way things ought to be that I forget the way that things actually are. Grace will likely grab hold of this young man … [Read more...] about Why Ministers Need the Wilderness

I’m a new pastor. I’ve got about $100 and not much of any library. I want hard copies—non of that e-reader stuff. When I was ordained last week a former professor bought me 5 books from your preaching list. Now I need to focus on building a few resources to help me with pastoral ministry. What do you suggest? Here is my answer: Dangerous Calling by Paul Tripp for $12 The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter $8 9 Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever $11 The Conviction to Lead by Albert Mohler $15 Brothers We Are Not Professionals by John Piper $10 Instruments in the Redeemers … [Read more...] about How Would You Spend $100 on Pastoral Ministry Resources?

“We don’t have bulletins”, said the pastor quite proudly. “Why not?”, inquires a sheepish visitor. The pastor confidently answers, “We want to give the Spirit freedom to work and move in our worship services. We do not want to be shackled and confined by some order of service”. -- That is a real conversation I overheard in a church that I was visiting. At the time I was giving the pastor a thumbs up. I grew up in a Baptist church where the only time you shouted or raised your hands was if somebody elbowed you in the kidney when you nodded off during the pastors sermon. Therefore, … [Read more...] about One Mark of a Truly Spiritual Church

This is the last straw! Did you hear that the Obama Administration is trying to pass legislation to prevent Christians from owning a Bible without also owning a Quran? It’s true. I saw it on Facebook. On the same page I saw proof that President Obama is really a Muslim terrorist. Guys we really need to take back our government from these liberal nuts. We need God back in the White House. So write your senator today and tell them “Quran? We don’t need no stinkin’ Quran!” --- The above snippet has never actually appeared on Facebook, but it might as well have. Every week there is … [Read more...] about The Little Church that Cried Wolf

A couple years ago I was dealing with a bout of deep discouragement. Actually that’s the sanitized wording for it. The more accurate description would be “wounded pride”. I had been working my tail off in blogging and writing and I was still barely getting traffic. I whined to my wife. “I don’t think anybody is even reading my stuff. Is it even worth my time and effort?” Those are good questions to ask. But my wife knows me and she knows my passion for writing. She knew that this was not a reasoned assessment of whether or not my time was being wasted on writing. She was able to see … [Read more...] about Blogging Wisdom From My Wife

There is nothing quite like delivering your first sermon. Really there is nothing quite like delivering any sermon. It is a unique event. And with this many young men launching into the ministry (or even those that have been going at it for awhile) often look to books for help in preaching. If that describes you here are a few books that I would recommend. On Preparing a Sermon Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell. This is the best book that I have ever read on preparing a sermon. Preaching to a Post-Everything World by Zack Eswine. Eswine is a wonderful addition to Chapell’s … [Read more...] about Suggested Resources On Preaching

I’m on my couch attempting to relax. It’s been a stressful week and I would love to escape into a favorite television show. My muscles begin to relax…my shoulders loosen up a little. “Ahhh, yes…finally a little time to…” An agitated little boy approaches me. He’s whimpering and snot crying. My relaxation will have to wait. Finally, after a couple minutes of wailing, I am informed of the problem. He has lost a piece to a toy. It’s a piece that he has 8-10 others just like. He could still play his game if he didn’t have this little insignificant piece. Unfortunately for my relaxation … [Read more...] about Searching for Dirt

That title bothers you doesn’t it? It bothers me too. But that is telling. We revere angels—as maybe we should. So I invite you to imagine a scenario with me for a moment. You’re driving home from work. You haven’t had codeine or any other mind-altering substance. You’ve been sleeping well. You didn’t have Indian food for lunch, either. All of a sudden you get this weird urge to pull over to the side of the road. You ignore it for awhile but after it keeps gnawing at your guts you sheepishly veer off to the shoulder. Your car has not been stopped for more than 15 seconds when a man … [Read more...] about That Angel is an Idiot

In his book, 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters, Albert Mohler states that, “Leaders who want to make a difference, and to make that difference last, must write.” I am passionate about writing. I’ve often wondered if I’m a pastor who writes or a writer who pastors. In actuality I don’t think these two can be easily separated. Writing is a huge part of my pastoral ministry. It’s easy for me to heed Mohler’s advice to write. Other pastors have to work harder at writing. For those of you that read my article yesterday on 7 Reasons Why Pastors Should Be Writers, and immediately thought … [Read more...] about Six Tips for Helping the Busiest of Pastors to Start Writing

All genuine preaching is rooted in a feeling of desperation. You wake up on Sunday morning and you can smell the smoke of hell on one side and feel the crisp breezes of heaven on the other. You go to your study and look down at your pitiful manuscript, and you kneel down and cry, ‘O God, this is so weak! Who do I think I am? What audacity to think that in three hours my words will be the odor of death to death and the fragrance of life to life (2 Cor. 2:16). My God, who is sufficient for these things?”  -John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching, 41-42 If a pastor is not convinced that he … [Read more...] about A Word From an Inadequate Preacher