What:
A crash course in pastoral ministry
Where: Buck Run Baptist Church, 3894 Georgetown Road, Frankfort, KY
When:
Monday-Tuesday December 16-17, 8:30am-3:30pm
Cost:
FREE!
Lodging: Free upon request in homes (limited availability), local hotels
As much as I love preaching, perhaps my favorite of all the courses I teach at Southern Seminary is my 40301 Pastoral Ministry course that I have taught for 17 years. Since I grew up a pastor's son, am father to a pastor, and serve as a pastor, I obviously have a love for pastors and, even more, a love for the Lord's church.
Next
Monday and Tuesday, December 16 and 17, the media folks at Southern are coming to Buck Run to film me teaching the content of that course for future online use. It's much easier to teach and to be engaging if I have a live audience, so I am inviting anyone who wants to come for those two days to make a trip to Buck Run, enjoy our hospitality, and draw from the
Pastor Well so you can, um, pastor
well. No academic credit is being offered for being in the audience, but you get the content of the course lectures. If you desire to serve as a pastor or if you are a pastor in need of some new ideas and challenges, this will be a great opportunity.
We'll talk about church discipline, how to baptize, working with staff, how to build a culture of generosity and grace, how to deal with a search committee. Things we aren't even planning will come up. And if you come, you can submit some questions for me to answer if they would be helpful. You can see below a partial list of things I will cover.
Some of the wonderful saints at Buck Run have volunteered to open their homes, and more will if I just ask, so if you want to come and need a place to stay, send my assistant, Tracy Hodges, an email at thodges@buckrun.org and we will do what we can. Or you are welcome to commute, to come for one day, or to make your own arrangements.
I hope to see you there!
Session 1: The Call to Ministry
The call is not a general to all
Christians but a specific moving of the Holy Spirit.
The call is the intersection of
desire, gifting, opportunity, and the testimony of the church.
The success and survival of your ministry
depends on the strength of your calling.
Session 2: The Call to a Specific Ministry
The biblical emphasis is on doing
the will of God more than knowing the will of God.
Friesen’s view of God’s will:
sanctified common sense coupled with a passionate desire to honor the Lord in
every situation.
Christians
also experience an inner witness of the Holy Spirit.
Session 3: Licensing and Ordination
Licensing
is the church’s permission to exercise gifts to fulfill one’s
calling.
Ordination is a formal and legal
acknowledgment of one’s calling, competence, and conduct.
Session 4: Finding a place of service
Preparing and sharing resumes,
making contacts, answering ads, getting recommendations and writing cover letters.
Dealing with search committees,
what materials to ask for, what to provide, what questions to ask.
Session 5: Your first church
Be honest in evaluating
expectations: are you going to plant your life here or is it a “learning
church”?
Lower your expectations of them,
raise them of yourself.
Hone your skills: preaching,
people, prayer.
Session 6: Deacons
What they do, what they should be,
biblical qualifications, function in the church
How to get them on your side, how
to keep them focused
Rotation system vs. DFL (deacon for life)
Session 7: The Ordinances: Baptism
Ordinances are not sacraments, the
four essentials of scriptural baptism, whose baptism does the church recognize
How to baptize
Session 8: The Ordinances: Communion
The
elements, who may partake (closed, close, open communion)
How to
serve, meaningful components
Session 9: Church Discipline
The three grounds for church
discipline
How to practice discipline, the
circle of confession and the circle of knowledge
Restoration
Session 10: Weddings
Developing
a personal wedding policy, church use policy vs. officiating
policy
Premarital
counseling, the rehearsal, the ceremony
Session 11: Funerals
Dealing with grief and bereavement,
visitation
Conducting the service, sermons, the
graveside
Session 12: Leadership
The top ten
mistakes leaders make (Finzel’s book)
Session 13: Personal Life
Maintaining a devotional life,
personal purity
Marriage, family, parenting your
children
Ten commandments for self and staff
members
Session 14: Personal skills
Being a people person, making people
feel important
Overcoming introversion
Getting the most out of your time,
returning calls, thank you notes, keeping in touch, using social media for
communication
Session 15: Leading through exposition
Developing a preaching plan
Using the Bible to move the church
Fostering a culture of generosity
and grace
Session 16: Leading a church through change
Changing
the church focus
The worship wars
Building projects, relocation, celebrating
the past while embracing the
future
Session 17: Leading in church business
To moderate
or not to moderate, Robert’s Rules of Order, handling
conflict
Session 18: Church finances
Developing a church budget, the
pastor’s involvement in church finances
Giving, cooperative program, Lottie
Moon Christmas Offering, etc.
Church debt, capital campaigns
Session 19: Working with staff
Searching,
hiring, working with, leading, trusting, correcting, firing
Session 20: Evangelism
Developing a missional spirit
Using evangelism training programs,
8-touch system, connect teams, advertising
Using holidays and special events
Mission trips and their purposes
Session 21: Miscellaneous matters
Integrity in accepting members from
other churches,
Allowing people to leave well
Leaving well
