By KEVIN HALLORAN via Leadership Resources In his early life as a pastor, Kent Hughes faced a personal crisis. He seemed to be doing everything right in ministry, but his church wasn’t growing—at least not compared to the church across town. This lack of ‘success’ ate at him and made his efforts seem worthless. What else do I need to do to be successful? Read more at Leadership Resources’ blog.
Guest post from Kevin Halloran of Leadership Resources. According to an unscientific poll, Thom Rainer found that approximately 70% of pastors spend 10 to 18 hours in sermon preparation before preaching. What about the pastors without 10–18 hours? Many pastors (especially bi-vocational pastors and church planters) have to balance the rigors of a full-time job, family responsibilities, and shepherding the flock into their work week, and an extra 10 hours isn’t possible. And what if someone dies? Last-minute funeral sermons don’t prepare themselves during already busy weeks. What is one to do? This is a question we think about regularly, usually in regard […]
by Kevin Halloran, reposted with kind permission from Leadership Resources. Paul commands Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:13 to “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture. . . .” Why be devoted to the public reading of Scripture? Let’s take a look at the theological foundations of public Scripture reading and some ways to give Scripture a more prominent place in public gatherings. Theological Foundations God has spoken. From the beginning of the Bible (Genesis 1:3), we see that God speaks, and His word is powerful and life-giving. At the end of the Bible, we see that a word from God ushers in […]
Reshared with kind permission from Leadership Resources. The difference between a hearer of the Word and a doer of the Word is stark—just read James 1:22–25. Those who only hear the Word and fail to live it out deceive themselves (1:22) and are like a man who looks into a mirror, “goes away and at once forget what he looks like” (1:24). But the one who hears the Word and does it “will be blessed in his doing” (1:25). As preachers of God’s Word, we desire to do God’s Word and produce other doers of the Word. One crucial step […]
Article shared with kind permission from author Kevin Halloran of Leadership Resources. Preachers want their people to love the Word of God. They also want to grow as preachers and keep their preaching calendar fresh. Preaching a whole book of the Bible in one sermon is one way to accomplish all three of these objectives and might be worth adding to your preaching repertoire. Here are a few reasons: Preaching book-overview sermons encourages Bible engagement in the congregation. All preachers should want their preaching to engender responses like, “I can read this for myself!” The more exposure your people have to […]
Enjoy this audio interview with Leadership Resources, Kevin Halloran and Phil Smith reshared with kind permission. Kevin Halloran: When we think of the Pastoral Epistles, we usually think of 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus because they were written to pastors and bear the official title of “Pastoral Epistle.” Even so, some have called the book of 2 Corinthians the “Supreme Pastoral Letter” because it helps us see the pastoral heart and pastoral suffering of the Apostle Paul in a unique way.[1] Since Leadership Resources is an organization that encourages and equips pastors to teach God’s word with God’s heart, I […]
Continued from Part 1 Helping People Grow Through Coaching. Reshared with kind permission of Leadership Resources International. KH: I noticed when you were with LRI at our staff training, you asked a lot of really good questions. How did you get so good at asking questions, and what is your goal in asking questions? [Note: This “asking good questions” is different from the hermeneutical principle LRI uses with the same name.] CG: Naturally, I’m interested in people. I think that’s the way I’ve been put together—just the way God’s made me. My dad actually was a great asker of questions, […]
Resharing with kind permission from Leadership Resources. This is Part Three of a series. Read Part One or Part Two. Listen to the interview here or read the transcript below. Audio Player KH: When you were with our staff, you shared a method called the IGROW method for coaching. Can you give us a two- or three-minute overview of that? CG: One of the classic coaching methods is the GROW method which stands for: What’s the Goal? What’s the Reality of the situation? What Options do you have? What’s the Way forward? Experts have added: What’s the Issue up front? (Thus, IGROW.) I like to use the IGROW […]
Reshared with kind permission of Leadership Resources International. LRI’s Kevin Halloran recently conversed with LRI Founder, Bill Mills, about God’s faithfulness in the ministry of LRI and how He transformed a one-to-one discipleship ministry into a ministry training pastors in over 35 countries. Listen to the audio of our full 45-minute conversation (listen below or with this link) or read the first portion of the transcript. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for future interviews. Kevin Halloran: Bill, the story of LRI, like the story of any organization or any ministry, begins with one person. You didn’t grow up in a Christian home. Can you […]
Resharing with kind permission from Leadership Resources International. This is Part Two of a series. Read Part One that shares Bill Mills testimony and about the early years of Leadership Resources’ ministry or listen to the complete interview below. Bill: [Following how God was moving] led to some drastic changes in the nature and direction of our work. We were doing one-to-one discipleship. People were coming to us from all over the place—students from seminaries and Bible schools, housewives, business guys. It was a rich and rewarding ministry. But the more we studied the Scriptures, the more we realized that we were taking […]