Darryl Dash's Blog, page 69

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

Blowing Up the 3 Bs

What are the metrics for a churchs success? For decades now, pastors have joked about the three Bs: bodies, buildings, and budgets.

But what if the three Bs were never a great metric for understanding the health of a local church?

Questions for Church Planters About Reopening

Here are a few questions to ask before you reopen your church plants.

What Theological Hills Should We Be Willing to Die On?

How do we distinguish between...

The Minister’s Wife

You could argue that Im not the most qualified person to review a book called The Ministers Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Doubt, Friendship, Loneliness, Forgiveness, and More by Karen Stiller, but I happen to know one ministers wife very well. So maybe Ill take a shot.

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Here are three reasons why I think you should read this book, regardless of whether youre a pastors wife or not.

The Honesty

If youre a pastor or a pastors wife, youll recognize yourself in this story. Youll be amazed that Stiller...

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

Ministry Is Never Just a Job

Some years ago, a young pastor kindly asked me for advice as he was launching into ministry. I proposed to him three commitments that will not fail to give any pastor strength for the journey.

The De-conversion of Saruman: Five Lessons to Learn

Perhaps one of the most remarkable (and often overlooked) examples of apostasy is Saruman in Tolkiens Lord of the Rings. We can learn a lot about the way de-conversions work through...

God’s Sovereignty and Our Responsibility

A young woman asked the great preacher Charles Spurgeon if it was possible to reconcile Gods sovereignty and mans responsibility.

I wouldnt try, he said. You dont reconcile friends.

Its hard for us to understand the relationship between Gods sovereignty and human responsibility, just as its hard to understand how light seems to act like waves and particles. Just because somethings hard to understand, though, doesnt mean that its not true.

In the Bible, divine sovereignty and human...

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

For the Churchs Sake, Dont Let this Crisis Go to Waste

Church leader/ Pastor Elder, can you feel it? Feel that uncertainty of being launched out into the unknown? We have collectively, in the last month in the North American Church, been forced to try and redefine what we think successful ecclesiology looks like.

See part one of this two-part series as well.

Navigating Different COVID-19 Recovery Convictions

Navigating our varying COVID convictions is a...

The Bible in 40 Days

Someone at our church suggested that we read the Bible over 40 days. Some of us took up the challenge, and we learned a lot.

Here are a couple of blog posts (part one and part two) describing the challenge.

Reading the Bible at this pace didnt take as long as youd think. I found that it took me anywhere from an hour to 90 minutes each day. Some days were more challenging. The plan allowed for a day off each week, which allowed for some time to catch up if necessary.

My Plan

I invested in an...

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

Strategies for Winter: Redemptive Leadership in Survival Times

For leaders of organizations in any of these categories, your focus now should be to survive the winter by building for the ice age.

Lessons From Monastic Life For Quarantine

Cloistered life is blessed when its regulated. We need a rhythm and structure to our day.

The Pressure on Pastors During Covid-19

Pastors are dealing with a lot of pressure right now, and many of the pressures today are...

Living Like We’re Not in Control

Char and I lived through the death of a dream lately. Something big didnt turn out the way we always thought it would.

Heres the crazy part. Its almost like we expected things to turn out the way wed hoped. We imagined the future, and then considered ourselves entitled to what wed dreamed.

We do this all the time. I catch myself thinking about what it will be like to write my next book, to move into our next building as a church, to pay off our mortgage, to retire, to grow old with my wife....

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

A Prayer Guide for Pastors

Since these traits are so crucial, it seems good and right for the pastor to pray diligently about each of them. To that end, Ive prepared a prayer guide for pastors that suggests some ways a pastor can pray that he would exemplify these traits.

Will the Churchs Digital Wave Continue after the Coronavirus?

In this season of isolation, lets not forget that we long for gathering, for in-person contact, because we were created...

What Church Can Be: An Optimistic Vision (With Blueprints)

Its important to learn biblical truth, but its even more valuable to see biblical truth lived out. We need more than principles; we need examples.

Im grateful for books on church planting and pastoral ministry, and Ive learned a lot from them. Some books lean toward the truth side; theyre helpful because theyre timeless. Some books lean toward the application side; theyre helpful because theyre practical. What we really need, though, is both.

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In other words, we need a book like What Church...