Minister's Toolbox - TopPodcast.com

Latest Episodes:

EP 63: Do You Suffer From A Loser's Limp? Most Do Without Realizing It. Nov 22, 2016

Show notes

What is a loser’s limp? It is any excuse you use currently to avoid conflict.

Perhaps you need to have a discussion with your church board about your salary. Perhaps there is a deacon who is failing to fulfill their responsibilities. Maybe it is a member of your worship team who is engaging in questionable behavior.

Many times, We often hope that the problem will just solve itself. Essentially and perhaps unknowingly, we develop a loser’s limp. During the podcast, I share some clear steps to overcoming this crippling habit.

For more reading on this subject, click here.

EP 62: The #1 Thing Ministers Absolutely Must Do, But Don't. Nov 14, 2016

Show notes

What is something that just about every minister knows is absolutely essential but finds 100 ways not to do? That is the subject of today's show.

Pastors want to do it but don’t. Why is that?

90% of churches throughout the world average out at 85 members.

Some build a theology out of this phenomenon and actually teach that God wants small churches.

We pastors do church work really well. We preach and teach. Pastors administrate and make decisions, counsel, strategize and do a hundred other things.

Your church needs to develop new leaders, but most of the time it is not a lack of potential leaders but something else.

We offer a special download with additional content here.

EP 61: 3 Tips To Help You Develop A Pastor's Heart Nov 07, 2016

Show notes

Every church leader pastors or shepherds the people of God. We call church leaders ministers, “reverend,” “priest” and “bishop,” but the most common title of identification is pastor.

As you already know, the term pastor is used only once in the New Testament. We find it in Ephesians 4:11-16. Pastor is listed among 5 ministry gifts Jesus imparted to his church after the resurrection. They are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.

What if you really struggle with loving people when they exhibit un-Christlike behaviors? During the podcast, I address this and several other issues along with 3 tips that will help you improve.

During the show I mention a book entitled, The Minister as Shepherd. The author wrote this book more than a hundred years ago containing insights about past

I also mentioned a link you can access to learn more about body language.

EP 60: How Can You Get Out Of God's Way? Oct 30, 2016

Show notes

People in your church swing a hammer, go to executive meetings or manage children during the bulk of their working hours. They create houses, fix problems or train children. What do you do?

Your assigned task is to communicate with God and then tell people what you’ve heard.

People actually get up on their day off, come to our facility, sing a few songs and then settle in to see what God said to you. On top of that, they donate money to ensure you will do it again week after week after week.

With that as a backdrop, you would think that every church in the world would be packed with people seeking God, wouldn’t you? Yet, by and large, the opposite is true. During the podcast I lay out 3 ways leaders may be hindering their churches.

Here is a download of the main points we touched on today with some additional content.

I mention MileIQ that helps you take accurate mileage effortlessly to save money at tax time.

EP 59: Four Easy Tweaks to Make Your Preaching Or Teaching Better Oct 24, 2016

Show notes

Here are 4 easy tweaks to help you create better teaching and preaching

EP 58: How Much Counseling Should You Do? Oct 17, 2016

Show notes

One of the titles given to Christ in Isaiah chapter nine is Wonderful Counselor. What sort of counsel do you give?

Does counseling work, and is it an effective use of your time? Whether it works or not depends largely on two factors. First, the ground rules for the session. Second, the willingness of the counselee to be accountable.

Some of Jesus’s counsel was very short and oftentimes abrupt. Telling a potential follower, “let the dead bury the dead” is pretty direct. During the podcast, we examine the strengths and weaknesses of modern day counseling and help you decided its importance to your individual ministry.

These are the links for Bob Newhart, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Celebrate Recovery.

We also are giving away a free download outlining guidelines for counseling here.

Don't forget to visit our transcripts link if you'd like a written copy.

EP 57: Why Accountability Can Be Good (or Bad) For Your Church Oct 10, 2016

Show notes

At first glance, it seems kind of absurd to think of accountability in a negative way, but there are pitfalls that can limit your effectiveness as a church leader.

Accountability is high on the priority list of Heaven. Jesus warned his followers that every word spoken on earth would be recorded and accountable on the Day of Judgment.

Sometimes, it becomes necessary for the good for the church to remove a pastor who refuses to answer questions over a period of time about things that matter to the church.

You as a leader are accountable first to God. I talk about biblical accountability and how false accountability nearly destroyed my ministry.

I put together a free download you can download it here.

EP 56: How Do You Measure Success In Ministry? Oct 03, 2016

Show notes

It is very easy to measure ministry success by the numbers. Membership increases by 20% each year, you are successful. If they decline, you are not. Biblically these measuring sticks are completely inaccurate.

According to John’s gospel, Jesus had a congregation of 5012 which everyone deemed successful. He preached one sermon and 5000 left.

Churches today that are business, as usual, will be out of business tomorrow.

Howard Johnsons became satisfied with its style, its menus its service and its identity. They kept on with business as usual until they went out of business. Many churches follow the same pattern.

During the podcast, I discuss the nuts and bolts of ministry success from God's point of view. I also offer a free download here.

EP 55: Will You Finish Well In Ministry? Sep 26, 2016

Show notes

I participate in a weekly meeting of pastors in our region called, Gatekeepers. Every week, we get together for a no agenda meeting incorporating sharing, prayer and mutual encouragement.

One of the pastors this past week spoke about a sermon he preached recently on the subject finishing well. It is difficult to find pastors or leaders who make it to sixty and are still filled with passion and drive to do ministry.

If you take an honest look around you, it is difficult to find older ministers who are finishing well. During the podcast, I share the basics of how to stay passionate about ministry. I put them into a downloadable PDF file that you can access here.

I also promised my free eBook on how pastors should use social media.

Al Elsdon is referenced during the podcast. You can hear an amazing testimony of his WWII experiences here.

We also offer a free download here.

EP 54: Would You Survive A Diet of Worms? Aug 22, 2016

Show notes

Diet is Latin for the general assembly of Worms, a city in Germany. In 1521, Martin Luther, (a Catholic priest and professor of moral theology at the University of Wittenberg) was called to give account. His bold and thoroughly unexpected stand against corruption in the church offended the hierarchy at the highest levels.

Few of us grapple with issues that will impact the future of the world. Still, we grapple with issues that threaten the purity, direction, and effectiveness of our own churches.

We can easily fall into the habit of trying to please people. To keep people happy, we compromise our standards a little at a time. During the podcast, I offer ideas on how to deal with disagreeable people.

On the show today, I mention a great link for you history buffs about what happened at the Diet of Worms. Listen here.

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