According to a recent survey of 5,000 U.S. households, only 45% of those polled say they are satisfied with their jobs—down from about 60% in 1987. Yet, due to the promotion-freezing job-slashing recession, people feel stuck in these unsatisfying jobs. You could always quit. But Yale Professor Amy Wrzesniewski proposes an alternative solution in the Harvard [...]
Tag Archives: Ministry
Scraps of Thoughts on Daily Prayer
July 13, 2010 – 12:41 PM
There are three kinds of prayer I try to find time for every day -- meditation (or contemplation), petition, and repentance. I concentrate on the first two every morning and do the last one in the evening.
Am I Called to the Ministry?
June 7, 2010 – 6:59 AM
I'm often asked, "How can I know if I am called to pastoral ministry?" Here is a very quick checklist of questions I would want to ask in any discussion about a call to the ministry.
How Piper Almost Quit
February 16, 2010 – 6:38 AM
John Piper shares a journal entry from 24 years ago. Here's the introduction: Are you so discouraged you don’t know what to do next? I want to help you get through this. Maybe this will help. The following quote is from my journal dated November 6, 1986. I had been at Bethlehem 6 years. If [...]
The Country Parson
December 2, 2009 – 7:06 AM
Young pastors or seminarians often ask me for advice on what kind of early ministry experience to seek in order to best grow in skill and wisdom as a pastor. They often are surprised when I tell them to consider being a 'country parson' -- namely, the solo pastor of a small church, many or most of which are in non-urban settings. Let me quickly emphasize the word 'consider.' I would never insist that everyone must follow this path. Nevertheless, it is worth thinking about. It was great for me.
Kevin DeYoung and the Effective Minister
October 21, 2009 – 1:45 PM
From Kevin DeYoung's post today on how to be an effective minister for Christ: Look at what God says in 2 Peter 1:5-8: For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and [...]
Counterfeit Gods -- The Personal Story
I often get asked how I personally became acquainted with the pervasive influence of idolatry in the human heart. Like many younger ministers I worked far too many hours, never saying "no" to anyone's request for my pastoral services. When salary increases were offered to me, I turned them down. When administrative help was offered [...]