Todd Linn's Blog, page 4

5 Reminders About Pastoral Care Visits

Most pastors spend a great deal of time making pastoral care visits. Thankfully, many churches are blessed with multiple staff, elders, deacons, and laypersons who share in this responsibility. In order to provide the most effective ministry, it’s helpful to evaluate our current practices. Whether visiting members in the hospital or at home, here are five things to remember about pastoral care visits:

1) Listen Before Knocking

This practice is especially relevant to hospital visits but also applicable to other situations. Because most hospital visits are unannounced, we are wise to pause for a moment at the door and listen for any signs our visit may be untimely. For example, it’s nearly always best to wait for hospital staff to finish their work before entering the room. Additionally, listening for a moment at the door may indicate another visitor is in the room. Patiently waiting for their visit to conclude honors their time together and ensures we don’t interrupt a meaningful conversation.

2) Keep Your Visit Brief

Situations vary, but most hospital visits should be around 10-15 minutes. Some visits are shorter, especially when we sense the person is tired or uncomfortable. Other visits are more extended because the one we visit is especially animated and enjoys our company. And, it may be helpful to spend a bit more time sitting with family during their loved one’s surgery. In any case, it’s usually better to hear someone say they wish we could stay longer than to know we’ve overstayed our visit.

3) Don’t Talk Too Much

Most of the time, pastors just need to show up to make good pastoral visits. Too often, however, we’re tempted to talk more than we should. I agree with Stanford business professor and communication expert Matt Abrahams: “Sometimes the best way to communicate is to say nothing at all.”1 When members are in the hospital, they usually don’t feel like talking much and are frequently blessed simply by our brief visit and prayer. This is especially true during bereavement visits. When people are grieving, it’s typically not our words that bring them comfort but our presence.

4) Take One Person With You When Possible

Taking one person with you on pastoral visits is a discipleship opportunity that may also bring additional encouragement to the one being visited. It’s also a way to build camaraderie among deacons, staff, and laypersons. And when a pastor brings along a spouse, son, or daughter, he is allowing his family to share in the care of a congregation.

5) Always Conclude With Prayer

Near the end of the visit, simply ask, “May I pray for you?” and then lead in a brief prayer asking for God’s comfort, strength, and encouragement. During hospital visits, it’s good to pray for hospital staff, too, as they are generally nearby and often appreciate prayer. If the person you are visiting is asleep, it’s usually best not to wake them. Just offer a silent prayer and leave a brief note telling them you were there.

PREVIOUS COMMENTS:directorfsmVery good advice. I recently applied for a Hospital Chaplain position at a local “Baptist” hospital. At the end of the interview, they asked if I had any questions. Since prayer had not been mentioned, I simply asked/pointed out that my wife had been hospitalized twice here in the past year each time, a Chaplain came to visit saying we are here to help, gave us a business card, and left. Why is it that they never asked if they could pray for us? The response was that is not our policy, we encourage the congregates’ local pastor to do that.
Comment by post authorTodd Linn, PhDI’m with you, brother. Seems so easy to offer up a prayer, and very rarely–if ever–does anyone object.

5 Views Of Creation

Today’s Theology Thursdays post overviews the five major views of creation: Atheistic Evolution, Theistic Evolution, Progressive Creation (aka “Day-Age” Theory), The Gap Theory, and Six Day Creation.

Personally, I support the Six Day Creation view largely because it rests on a strong exegetical base and is the clearest meaning of the biblical texts.

Whatever your view, here is today’s SlideShare presentation:

Five Major Views Of Creation from Todd Linn, PhD

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Creation Introduction

Today’s Theology Thursdays post introduces the doctrine of creation. This brief presentation overviews the five major views of creation and lists a few creationists who founded our understanding of modern science.

So here is today’s SlideShare presentation:

Creation introduction (updated) from Todd Linn, PhD

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The Pastor’s Interactions After The Worship Service

Preaching is an activity involving the whole mind, body, and soul. Consequently, preaching is often both exhilarating and exhausting. But after the sermon is over, the pastor’s ministry continues. He interacts with others immediately after the service—and his behavior during these moments will either help or harm his ministry. Here are a few actions to consider when those moments arrive:

Be Available To Worshipers

Caring preachers make themselves available to others. Greeting people after worship honors them and strengthens the bond between the pastor and the congregation. While church tradition or building size may dictate where pastors stand, a spacious lobby or location outside (weather permitting!) provides areas better suited for meaningful interaction than crowded “greeting lines” that bottleneck at the exit.

Give Your Undivided Attention

When people take time to speak to us, we value them by listening carefully and maintaining eye contact. We must resist the temptation to look around or otherwise give the impression we are too busy. To be sure, this practice can prove challenging at times. While talking with one person, we may feel another tapping on our shoulder. Or, peripherally, we see someone else waving at us. In any case, we should always endeavor to give our attention to those standing before us.

Be Careful Making Commitments

It’s surprisingly easy to forget commitments made after a worship service. We may forget something we promised to do for someone because we don’t usually have our calendars or the ability to make a quick note. Rather than making commitments in those busy moments, consider saying something like, “I can’t write this down at the moment; will you please message me about this later?”

Receive Encouragement Wisely

Some members have a gift for encouraging us with kind comments about the worship service or other matters. Because pastors understandably want to give glory to God, they often quickly direct those compliments upwards, failing to receive (or remember) a blessing intended by the other. Instead, consider taking a moment to respond meaningfully: “Thank you. I appreciate your encouragement!”

Receive Criticism Graciously

Unfortunately, not every word is encouraging! There are times when others offer criticism. Perhaps they felt the service was too long, or the music was too loud. Maybe there was something about the sermon they didn’t like. It’s usually best to take a deep breath and extend grace at these times. Rather than becoming defensive, consider a simple and disarming response: “Thank you for that. I’ll give that some thought.”

Debrief Somewhere In Quiet

Once we have the opportunity, it is helpful to find a quiet place where we can review all the interactions we’ve had. Recalling most conversations, visitors’ names or special prayer requests only takes a few moments. This is also a better time to consider those words of encouragement and criticism prayerfully. End the time in prayer, thanking God for the honor of preaching and for the privilege of shepherding His people.

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Angels With Believers At Death

Today’s brief Theology Thursdays post continues our treatment of angelology, what the Bible teaches us about angels.

What does the Bible teach about the presence of angels at the death of a believer? For one, it teaches Christians should never regard their approaching death as a hopeless tragedy. In the words of Billy Graham, “The way to life is by the valley of death, but the road is marked with victory all the way.”

With that encouragement in mind, here’s today’s SlideShare presentation:

Angelology 7 (Angels at Death) from Todd Linn, PhD

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Why Your Sermon May Be The Best Counseling You Can Offer

As a minister, I have often said that most of my pastoral counseling is simply my “preaching” a former sermon to the one seeking counsel. How often have pastors counseling troubled members found themselves saying, “I wish you had been in worship last Sunday–we studied this very issue!” Or, “If the two of you will be in worship this week, I believe you both will see how God’s Word addresses this very concern in your marriage.”

While counseling books and methods are useful, consider how a preacher’s storehouse of expositions is especially helpful in counseling members. For example, think about how a sermon on Matthew 7:1-5 may unearth a judgmental spirit between troubled spouses. Or how a sermon on Ephesians 4:32 has the potential to free an individual from the chains of bitterness and resentment.

In a previous post, we examined the benefits of writing a full sermon manuscript. We may add to these benefits the blessing of having access to expositions ready for use in future counseling opportunities.

Let us consider a few reasons why one of our expositions of a biblical text may be the most helpful counseling we can offer our members:

It Teaches The Sufficiency Of Scripture

The Apostle Paul writes of the profitability of all Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and Peter teaches that God has given us everything we need to live a godly life (2 Peter 1:1-4).

The doctrine of sufficiency does not mean that other sources of truth are necessarily wrong or unhelpful but instead that all other sources are subservient to the final authority of the Bible.

Using biblical expositions in pastoral counseling affirms our own belief in this doctrine and teaches our members about the singular nature of the Bible’s authority and power.

It Builds Confidence In The Word

When members see how the Bible addresses their deepest hurts and darkest challenges, they learn to trust it. Their confidence grows as they see God has a helpful word to meet their needs.

And not only does the confidence of our members grow, but our confidence grows, too! We witness how God’s Word speaks to the very concerns of our members, and we learn to stand firmly upon the authoritative Word of God.

It Helps Our Members Grow

Providing copies of our sermons to members helps them grow in biblical knowledge.

Imagine a member sharing that he cannot forgive someone who wronged him. After listening compassionately, we offer a bit of “homework” to help him work through his problem.

We encourage him to read or listen to a message we have preached on forgiveness and ask him to consider how the exposition speaks to his situation. We also ask him to share his insights at the next counseling session.

Assignments like these engage our members in biblical study and help them experience spiritual growth.

So, pastors, use your biblically rich expositional sermons for your pastoral counseling this month!

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Watch Your Head, Keep Your Mouth!

In our previous study, we learned that one key to enduring trials and avoiding temptation is to delight in God’s goodness and to delight in the gospel. James now turns to some practical expressions of our living out the gospel. Remember that this letter is written to Christians. James is not writing here about becoming a Christian; he’s writing about behaving as a Christian.  

The phrase at the beginning of this passage seems to build upon this gospel foundation. James writes, “So then,” which is better translated, “So know this,” or “Take note of this.”  We might say, “Listen up!”  Then, James calls for practical Christian evidence that flows from a changed life. 

Particularly in view here are Christian behaviors related to speaking, hearing, and thinking. Given this area of focus, you could say James is asking us to participate in a “Check-up from the neck up.”  

Watch Your Mouth 

James instructs first: “Let every man be swift to hear” and “slow to speak.”  In the words used by many of our mothers: Watch your mouth! There are two essential actions regarding properly using our mouths: we must close them tightly when we listen and open them slowly when we speak.

Close Tightly When You Listen 

Be a good listener. Don’t become the person you yourself recognize as a bad listener. We all know the type. You’re talking to this person, and all the while, you get the sense that this person isn’t really listening but is instead thinking of what they’re going to say when you are finished. And you feel like you need to hurry through the rest of your words in order to make a point because they’re getting ready to interrupt you to speak their mind. Don’t do that! 

Exercise restraint and keep your mouth closed while you listen to whoever is talking to you. Honor them by looking them in the eye and taking time to hear them out. Listen. Then, when it is your turn to speak, take care to speak wisely.

Open Slowly When You Speak 

Someone said God has given us two ears and one mouth, so we would listen twice as much as we would speak. Be a good listener. Know the danger of talking too much, of being a chatterbox.  

Solomon warns, “When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise (Proverbs 10:19).”  In another place, he advises, “Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue (Proverbs 17:28).”

Are you a good listener? Here’s a helpful question: What do you do with your cell phone when someone is talking to you? Let me suggest you put it away. Put it in your pocket or in your purse. Silence it. Honor the person who is talking to you by giving your full attention. When you turn to your phone to look at a text or a tweet, you are dishonoring the person talking to you and turning to someone else who is actually interrupting and doesn’t know it. Exercise the wisdom of restraint. Be swift to hear. 

James moves from the discipline of proper speaking and hearing to the discipline of proper thinking, especially the thinking we do in response to emotions.

Keep Your Head

Our initial response to jarring emotions is often wrong. We may allow our emotions to get the best of us and fail to “keep our head,” as Rudyard Kipling advises in his famous poem “If—” which begins with a call to “keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you.”  

Keep your head. In other words, don’t react in a way you will later regret. Paul writes, “Be angry and do not sin (Ephesians 4:26).”  Don’t allow your anger to lead you down a path that will hurt others and bring shame upon the Lord. Instead, James says, be “slow to wrath.”

Be Calm 

To be “slow to wrath” is to be calm, unruffled, and even-tempered. Apply this to the context of James’ call for wise listening and speaking. If we respond rashly to criticism or concern, we may sin by saying or doing something we later regret. We may even lash out in response, endeavoring to project our wrongs onto others.

Hear again the wisdom of Solomon: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger (Proverbs 15:1).”

Watch your mouth. Keep your head. They go together. “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.”

A lady once approached evangelist Billy Sunday in an effort to defend her frequent angry outbursts. She reasoned, “There is nothing wrong with losing my temper,” adding, “I just quickly blow up, and then it’s all over.”  Sunday wisely responded, “So does a shotgun. It quickly blows up, and look at the damage it leaves behind.”

It is nearly always better to be in the position of wishing you had said something than to be in the position of regretting what you actually said. How often do we wish we had not said what we actually said to our son, daughter, parents, or spouse? Indeed, “when words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise (Proverbs 10:19).”

Be Christlike 

James goes on to say why being an angry and bitter person is so unbecoming of a Christian. He argues, “for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

When James uses the word “righteousness” in his letter, the meaning generally differs from how Paul uses the same word in his letters. James is not talking about “saving righteousness” or “imputed righteousness,” the righteousness of Christ. He does not have the doctrine of justification in mind. Again, his letter is not about becoming a Christian but about behaving as a Christian.  

When James uses the word “righteousness” in his letter, he generally has in view the practical expression of one’s faith, the daily behavior of believers, and actions that are consistent with their faith. 

It’s the same understanding of righteousness Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. He said, for example:

Be careful not to practice your righteousness before others to be seen by them…So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others (Matthew 6:1-2; NIV).”

So James warns: “The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”  A paraphrase of this verse may be: “When you lash out at someone, allowing your anger to get the best of you, you do not look like a follower of Jesus. Your behavior is inconsistent with the faith you profess. This does not please God!”

**Excerpt from You’re Either Walking The Walk Or Just Running Your Mouth (Preaching Truth: 2020), pages 39-43, available on Amazon.

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John Broadus On Preaching

Today’s post provides choice remarks on preaching by John Albert Broadus, the legendary professor of New Testament interpretation and homiletics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and second school president from 1889 to 1895. 1

Nearly every preacher has some working knowledge of Broadus’ seminal classic, On The Preparation And Delivery Of Sermons. While the book is a bit dated, Broadus’ homiletic teaching is timeless.

The following quotations appear in “The Founder’s Day Address of 1933” by A.T. Robertson, published as “Broadus in the Class Room” in the Review and Expositor vol. 30 (1933), 157-169. 2

Ministries are often shaped profoundly by the simple, practical wisdom gleaned from a concise and memorable quote. With this in mind, I hope these statements will bless you as you prayerfully prepare this weekend’s message.

Remarks on Preaching“The moment that you think you can preach well enough, quit.”“Gentleman, reflect on the thing which you are going to talk about.”“Don’t be satisfied with doing well if it is possible to do better.”“Get an illustration from Mother Goose and you will wake up the children, and then you are a made man.”“Don’t try to explain the Scripture by mean strength and awkwardness.”“Talk about what you know and pass over what you don’t know.”“It is better not to see any deeper into a millstone than there is a hole in it.”“If a man fails to establish in early life habits such as will enable him to maintain freshness in old age, he cannot supply the deficiency when the time comes. Preachers’ habits are soon formed.”“Study fine pictures. As you study, it draws out of you something you didn’t know was in you. That something is the one indispensable thing in preaching.”“Gentlemen, when you preach, strike for a verdict.”

That last statement especially captures Broadus’ preaching ministry and is a helpful reminder that we do not preach merely to have preached! Our preaching is urgent: we must point our hearers to Jesus Christ and tell them how to live out the truth embedded in the text.

“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”
(2 Timothy 4:2)

Angelology

Unlike many Chesterton quotes, this one he actually said:

Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.

G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (Chapter VII)

Whether he intended the line as a humorous witticism we’ll leave to the reader, but it’s a good quote at any rate and a good segue to our next presentation for Theology Thursdays.

For the next ten Thursdays, we’ll be studying what the Bible teaches about angels. How many angels are mentioned in the Bible? Do angels have to “earn” their wings? Do they even have wings? Are they to be worshiped? What does the Bible actually say?

So without further ado, here’s today’s introductory Slideshare presentation of angelology–literally, the study of angels:

Angelology 1 (Introduction on Angels) from Todd Linn, PhD

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What Do A Few Crooks, Prostitutes, And Grieving Parents All Have In Common?

They all discovered the goodness of Christ through life-changing encounters!

Journey through the New Testament Gospels and enjoy a verse-by-verse study of seventeen unique individuals whose lives were powerfully transformed by the Good Lord Jesus Christ.

Reading Good Lord will help you:

Learn More About The Biblical JesusSee How Jesus Christ Changes LivesExperience Your Personal Encounter With Christ

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You’ll enjoy reading about seventeen different people in the Gospels who met Jesus Christ up close and personal, people like a tax collector, a skeptic, a wealthy ruler, a religious fanatic—and more!

Each study contains a verse-by-verse treatment of the biblical text and concludes with a helpful “What About Your Encounter?” section with questions for further study and application.

You’re also invited to share your personal encounter with Christ on the Preaching Truth website!

Use in small groups or for individual and devotional study. Great for pastors, teachers, and any person interested in a faithful study of Gospel encounters with Jesus Christ!

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Todd Linn earned his Ph.D. in preaching from Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY, and is the author of the verse-by-verse study of the Book of James: You’re Either Walking The Walk Or Just Running Your Mouth! and Preacher Points: 31-Day Devotional For Pastors. Todd has a pastor’s heart and a love for the Word. He writes in a popular style that combines scholarship, humor, and practical application.

You will enjoy Good Lord!