Not For the Faint of Heart: One Youth Pastor's Lessons Learned in Church Revitalization

by Joseph Schmidt

Repentance is not an accidental action, but rather it comes as the fruit of waking up and remembering.

“A true shepherd leads the way. He does not merely point the way.” -Leonard Ravenhill

when A.W. Tozer’s wife was interviewed after his death and after she remarried, she answered the way she did. She was asked about the difference between the two men and she said, “Tozer was God’s man. My husband now is my man.” God forbid that our wives say this about us!

Good preachers will anticipate questions or objections their listeners may have based on the passage being taught. If we do this in our preaching, we should also be able to do it when vision casting, describing an event, discussing starting a new ministry, or anything else that requires communication.

“We must understand that not every subtraction is a loss and not every addition is a gain.”

Take a trip to your nearest evangelical seminary and take a look at what textbooks they require their students to read or call the bookstore and get a list. This will help you stay current and on your toes. Many pastors also find great encouragement reading biographies of missionaries, pastors, church fathers, puritans, and reformers.

“The practice of discipline in the congregation begins in the smallest circles. Where defection from God’s Word in doctrine or life imperils the family fellowship and with it the whole congregation, the word of admonition and rebuke must be ventured.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Adrian Rogers tells the story of how he handled or believed we should handle a bloated membership roll. He said tell the church that you’re the shepherd and yet you don’t know who the sheep are and you have to give an account before God of the sheep so we should reach out to these folks. He said we should tell them the pastor said, “I want everyone who wants to be a member of this church to be a member.”

“Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor.” -Charles Spurgeon

we need to remember that accusations harden the heart however questions convict the conscience.

Enlist two other congregation members who will each commit to calling the counselee twice per week for the duration of counseling to ask how they’re doing and offer to pray with them. *These congregation members do not need to know the specific counseling problem.