He tweeted that bit of news. Nightlife in Birmingham: Have a leisurely, gluttonous, triple-bypass BBQ meal (need recommendations from the Birminghamians for the best spot). Find a nice park and sweat profusely while watching grass grow. For Cals…pass the evening at the Good People Brewing Company. Cals are good people, right? Most likely, attend one […]
EC not going to waste missions money on remote SBC voting…and other news
The SBC Executive Committee met this week and did a few things. Here’s a secondhand report of the highlights. Quotes are from BP: Declined a request to study further the feasibility of remote participation in the SBC annual meeting. Among the reasons cited: “Diverting missions’ offerings to pioneer the use of such technology (there being […]
Stuff not taught in seminary that might get you fired
The big three firing issues for pastors are, and I’m opining here sans data because it fits what I think: women, money, laziness. LifeWay has a series on the top five reasons but, trust me, they aren’t as deep in the SBC local church hinterlands as I am. Here are some things not taught on-high […]
Honest obits and designer funerals: How I know my day is past.
I’m fresh out of eyerolls for some of the things I see, hear, and read today. I’m deep into the attitude that as a pastor, my day is past in a lot of ways. Not that I couldn’t serve a church again if the Lord so led but that so many things have moved into […]
When you stay too long
One staple of pastoral ministry is this business of tenure. Early on in my first pastorate a layman in my church commented on the pastor of another church, “They liked to never got him out…”, a crude way of saying that the pastor, according to the church members he talked to, stayed too long. A […]
Probably not a good idea for the pastor to turn down a pay raise
It’s budget time in many churches and the largest component of most church budgets is staff pay. The economy is humming along. Unemployment is very low. Many economic measures are up and consumers have confidence sufficient to be making major purchases of vehicles and the like.
IMB missions strategy and why I’m not much interested in boutique missions
I had a conversation this week with an individual who enthusiastically promoted their personal mission organization. Although I wasn’t much interested, I listened politely but moved on to other subjects as soon as possible. Curious, I did some checking and found that there was indeed such an organization that recently registered as a corporation in […]
When should the pastor retire?
I’m several years on the downhill side of retirement from being the pastor (OK, the ‘senior,’ ‘lead,’ ‘head,’ or ‘big dawg,’ pastor) of a Southern Baptist Church. I’ve thought about retirement in a concrete way for about 15 years now, starting about a decade before I pulled the trigger, resigned my church, and retired. My […]
How to track clergy sex abusers
One of the chief complaints about Southern Baptists and clergy sex abuse is that clergy against whom there are accusations of abuse are able to relocate without consequence where they may repeat the abuse in a different church. Clearly, this is a problem. Is there a solution? The Greenville (SC) News has a very helpful […]
2018 Average senior pastor compensation: $77,979.
That is from the LifeWay/GuideStone 2018 SBC Compensation Study. The $77,979 figure is for senior pastors only and the amount includes salary + housing allowance + FRV of parsonage + Social Security equivalent + utilities paid on church owned housing + insurance benefits + retirement contribution. There were 3,536 SBC churches that participated in the […]
Saved by God’s grace but sacked by the church
On two consecutive days this week I learned of the termination of church staff members. These were in unrelated situations having in common only that a church staff member went to church on Sunday and Monday with a job and left without one. The firings were unexpected, sudden, and final. Such things always trouble me […]
NAMB goes high profile on evangelism
Baptist Press reported: Johnny Hunt to lead NAMB evangelism leadership group The group Hunt will be leading will be focused on championing the cause of evangelism among Southern Baptist churches and pastors. It will also equip pastors with tools and leadership skills that will allow them to lead their churches to become more evangelistically active. NAMB […]