Archive - June, 2012

Monday Morning Quick Hits

  • We all have secrets we don’t share. Secrets about our marriages, our kids, our critics…
  • Don’t keep the smartphone always within arm’s reach.
  • Have some fun, do something unexpected, and make a dent. What if church communication looked something like this?
  • References to PowerPoint in the newest Galaxy Note aren’t helping.Some truth on networking/social media/church.
  • Your email inbox is not a file cabinet. If you use Gmail some fun hacks.
  • They are commercialized and cheesy but I am a sucker for the Olympics.
  • Want to know why people visit your church’s website?
  • If you had to leave your pastoral position tomorrow would your community be able to move forward with Kingdom work? Don’t make it about you.
  • If you are about to plant a church or step into any kind of leadership role, read these 12 resolutions first. Learn from others and avoid the stupid tax.
  • Give yourself permission to not finish every book you start.
  • Working on the next Thursday blog series. How is your relationship with your Lead/Senior Pastor?
  • SmartReach and Donor Elf. Two promising new apps coming out that you should check out.
  • Rookie Pastor has an open submission policy because this isn’t about me. If you have an idea or a draft I’ll gladly take a look and if it fits it will get posted. Same goes for the general direction and content of this community. Let me know what you think, what you want to hear, and how we can help. josh(at)rookiepastor(dot)com

June 4, 2012 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

Life as a Pre-Rookie

We all are at different stages. StJohn Gill takes a look at a stage of being in between and shares some great advice on navigating it. Below is an excerpt of a great post from his blog.

I am a pre-rookie. I’m sure many of you are in the same place as me. I’m not paid to be a pastor, rookie or otherwise; yet I find myself under many of the same stresses as a rookie pastor. I don’t want to be a pre-rookie forever, but I’m lucky to be supported by a team that loves growing young people and one important piece of advice they have given me and that I have found truer and truer as time goes on is: “Don’t rush it”.

I know what its like. You’re hearing from God and boy are you stoked to just get it happening. That’s awesome. Get it happening. Get involved. Do whatever is necessary. Are you ready to be titled a pastor? Maybe not.

Read the rest of the post here.

June 2, 2012 in Challenging, Encouraging with 0 Comments

Some Traditions You Need

Man Weekend.

That’s what my wife calls it.

Sometime in April I’ll get an email from one of my friends addressed to me and about 10 other guys. Ideas will be exchanged, dates set, and excitement builds for another weekend spent with some forever friends.

Ministry doesn’t lend itself to forever friends.

It is hard to get close to people on a truly friend level when you are their pastor. It shouldn’t be difficult but we all know that life long friends are hard to find when you pastor them.

You might have better luck with other pastors. Perhaps in an ideal world you are always sending your best staff person to start something new for the Kingdom. Realistically we know that this ideal happens but people move on for any number of reasons from the understandable to the heartbreaking.

Or perhaps it is you. Rooted long-term ministry is something I desire, but I understand why it is less and less common.

We need forever friends.

Friends who knew us before. Friends who won’t take our cliches. Friends that force us to be ourselves.

If you don’t have a standing tradition of connecting with forever friends create one.

Traditions usually make a Rookie Pastor’s stomach turn, but some traditions you need.

Tonight I’ll be eating junk food, playing poker, and talking about things I can’t share here or on a Sunday morning.

June 1, 2012 in Encouraging, Practical with 2 Comments

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