Darryl Dash's Blog, page 74

Change Maker

This blog is about helping people grow in life and ministry.

Change Maker: Turn Your Passion for Health and Fitness into a Powerful Purpose and a Wildly Successful Career is not.

I should explain why I’m reviewing this book.

My Wife’s Job at PN

Char came home one day and told me she’d taken on a client: an online nutrition coaching company. I was horrified. I checked out the website and wasn’t reassured. It sounded as reputable as a snake oil sales outfit.

That company was Precision Nutrition. I soon discovered that they kne...

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

Pastor, Don’t Imply That Church Is Optional

The challenges are real. Let’s not make them even harder with statements that seem to pit true Christianity against the church.

Why You Should Go to Church [28 Biblical Reasons]

Being a part of a church isn’t just important, it’s essential.

Here are 28 reasons rooted in scripture on why we should faithfully go to church.

Small-Town Pastor, Preach Bespoke Sermons

Don’t squander the enormous opportunity God has given you. Serve a few people well for a long time. Give the...

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The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

My spiritual director laughed when I told him I’d preordered this book.

He knows me well. He wouldn’t have been surprised by how overloaded I felt just last Thursday, or how often my schedule feels out of control. It’s probably the greatest threat to my spiritual health and my effectiveness as a pastor. He wouldn’t have been surprised that a friend booked lunch with me recently to express concern about my busyness.

A busy pastor is a lazy pastor, said Eugene Peterson. Yes, I know. But I’ve got to run. I’ve...

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

Here Come the Skinny Cows

Conventional wisdom suggests that a church whose budget is not 100 percent supported by tithes and offerings is not sustainable. We believe, however, that a coming revolution in church economics will necessarily redefine the notion of church stability altogether, as an increasing number of congregations find they are not stable or sustainable by this definition.

Does Your Church Offer Weak Community?

The problems you may face with waning or stagnating membersh...

The Pastor’s Justification

At the end of a long day, I read these words from Jared Wilson’s book The Pastor’s Justification: Applying the Work of Christ in Your Life and Ministry:

Jesus Christ alone is the hope, treasure, joy, and purpose of pastoral ministry. Not church growth, not church planting, not church success, not church business, not church programs, not church activities, not church popularity. Let everything be a means to this end: the treasuring of Christ and the enjoying of his glory.

There’s nothing I don’t already kno...

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

3 Reasons Church Leaders Should Observe the Sabbath

Here are three practical reasons we — particularly as church leaders — should keep the Sabbath.

For Jesus’s Sake, Be Kind

What if we were like King David, taking the initiative: Who might I intentionally show kindness to today? Even more: Is there someone unexpected who I could bless?

Eye Opening Facts From Barna On Church Planting Finances

While church planting is by nature high risk, we really need to help this movement take dramatic steps forwar...

Not “How Can I Lead?” but “How Can I Serve?”

A guest post by Ashley Hibbard

There are many unhealthy aspects of the Christian “celebrity culture” that has infiltrated almost every corner of the church, but one of the most deadly may be one of the least addressed: the need to be noticed. It seems to me that all too often, the need to be noticed masquerades as leadership.

I once heard an individual go a struggling church leader and offer help if he needed “someone to lead things or run things.” I knew of another, more mature individual who offered his help...

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading: God Is on His Throne, Everything Is Going His Way, and He Loves Me

I had a friend who used to answer a common question in an uncommon way. He has since moved to another city, but his response has never left me. For a long time, when I would ask how he was, he gave a three-fold response.

Christianity Is Not a Frowning Contest

G. K. Chesterton is widely credited with saying, “Jesus promised his disciples three things: that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy,...

The Almost Invisible Church

I love this paragraph from James K.A. Smith’s new book On the Road With Saint Augustine:

Let your eyes skate past the megachurch industrial complex and take note of the almost invisible church in your neighborhood that you’ve driven past a thousand times without noticing. Check on it some Tuesday night, and see if there aren’t lights on in the basement. Maybe the food pantry is open. Or the congregation is offering financial management classes or marital counseling for couples who are struggl...

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

Open Your Bible, Bless Your Church

Of course, studying God’s Word is always better than not studying his Word. But the best place to do this is with fellow members from your local church.

Just Put Your Phone Away!

I am not one of those anti-tech, your phone is changing you in dangerous ways types. But for the couple of hours or so that we are meeting together as God’s people, we really should be able to put them away.

Few American Teens Share the Gospel...