Effective Pastoring: Giving Vision, Direction, and Care to Your Church
Overview
"A great deal of confusion exists today as to what pastors are to be," Lawrence writes. "Are they chaplains, CEO's, preachers, managers, or counselors? Paul gave us the answer long ago: They are to be equippers, disciple-makers." Just as the great artist Michelangelo took a chipped and flawed piece of marble and transformed it into a masterful sculpture of David, so does a pastor with his flock. "This is pastoring", writes Lawrence, "serving as sculptors of souls."
Top Highlights
“The higher up a leader goes in competence demand, the deeper down that leader must go in character discipline. We can be certain of this: For every new level of opportunity God gives us, He will demand a new depth of growth from us.” (Page 18)
“Abundance thinkers understand that they don’t define their identity through their accomplishments; instead they discover and develop their identity through knowing Christ.” (Page 13)
“The deficit thinking person is a driven person, that is, all his energy is focused on himself, on seeking to buy an identity through his accomplishments. Drivenness is the desperate effort of a deficit thinker to define his identity, all done in God’s name, but apart from God’s resources.” (Page 8)
“I believe approximately one-third of a pastor’s time should be spent in preparing and delivering sermons, but the other two-thirds must be invested in creative equipping, and that means teaching in a variety of settings.” (Page 74)
“Authority, on the other hand, is the use of gift, position, and opportunity to release others at the right time so that pastor and people serve Christ together.” (Page 109)
- Title: Effective Pastoring: Giving Vision, Direction, and Care to Your Church
- Authors: Bill Lawrence, Chuck Swindoll
- Series: Swindoll Leadership Library
- Publisher: Thomas Nelson
- Print Publication Date: 1999
- Logos Release Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- Subjects: Clergy › Office; Pastoral theology
- ISBNs: 9780718040024, 0718040023
- Resource ID: LLS:2220F0DF2045540BC379B870DF8D02A3
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-06T20:44:17Z
Charles R. Swindoll (1934– ) is a pastor, author, educator, and radio preacher. After serving in the United States Marine Corps, “Chuck” Swindoll attended and graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary. He was then ordained into the ministry and served under J. Dwight Pentecost for two years. In 1998, Swindoll founded Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, where he continues to serve as the pastor. He was the president of Dallas Theological Seminary in 1994 and now serves as its chancellor. Swindoll’s radio ministry Insight for Living airs on over 2,000 stations around the world. He has authored several books, including Understanding Christian Theology, Biblical Counseling for Today, and the volumes in Swindoll’s New Testament Insights (4 vols.).
Bill Lawrence is the President of Leader Formation International and Senior Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Ministries and Adjunct Professor of DMin Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, where he served full-time for more than twenty three years (1981-2004). During this time, he also served as the Executive Director of the Center for Christian Leadership for twelve years. Additionally, he served twelve years as founding pastor of South Hills Community Church, San Jose, CA (1969 to 1981). Bill is the author of two books: Beyond the Bottom Line: Where Faith and Business Meet (Moody Press) and Effective Pastoring (Word Publishing).