Over the last couple of years as ministry has changed for many churches, I find myself occasionally talking to a friend or colleague who left pastoral ministry and has found himself looking for employment in the secular world. Job interviews inevitably get around to asking about employment history, experience, and skill sets. How does a … Continue reading 2 Hats the Pastor Must Not Wear
Author: nsbeal
I am a pastor (Immanuel Baptist Church), husband, father, and lighting rep. So I have lots of time to spare! I'm interested in lots of things, like home remodeling, literature, gardening, and writing.
In Which Baloo Explains the Importance of Ontology
It was probably 1991 and one of my refuges during a year back in my birth country was American cartoons; cartoons like Talespin. In a way I envy my children who at ages 8 and below are able to navigate multiple streaming services to find the show they want. At age 11, I felt like … Continue reading In Which Baloo Explains the Importance of Ontology
A Year Later
It was a year ago that we went in for our first specialist visit to discover the extent of our unborn daughter's heart condition. Katie was somewhere around 21 weeks and we had just celebrated Christmas. We laid our little girl to rest on March 19, and two weeks ago we were finally able to … Continue reading A Year Later
An Unreasoning Faith
It has to be the most unrealistic illustration ever. No one who has been present when a child is born thinks that on any such occasion since the dawn of time would the sudden presence of shepherds bring about joy. Why not throw in a few foreign dignitaries for fun? Nevertheless, this was the last … Continue reading An Unreasoning Faith
A Simple Paradigm for Pastoral Ministry
Our family's first computer, purchased in 1995, used an MS-DOS operating system that required typing individual commands at a prompt. My dad purchased "DOS for Dummies" and was off to the races. Now, many many many years later, the complexity of those earlier code based systems has a simple interface that only requires users to … Continue reading A Simple Paradigm for Pastoral Ministry
Bring Back the Weddings / Bring Back the Funerals
A request to have more weddings and funerals at your local church.
Why Are Elders Held to A Higher Standard?
There are two issues that make this a pertinent question to ask: 1) the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer, and 2) the egalitarianism of our culture. The priesthood of the believer states that all believers share a priestly status so that no mediator outside of Christ is necessary. The protestant Reformation broke from … Continue reading Why Are Elders Held to A Higher Standard?
Resources for Laymen
Book recommendations for laymen in the church.
I Love Your Body
On a warm Spring day, you laid a blanket on the grass and met me with a picnic basket on my lunch break. There, in front of our first house, you told me that we were expecting our first child. When summer had faded into Fall and and Fall had frozen over into winter, I … Continue reading I Love Your Body
The Omitted Ordinance
The importance of the Lord's Table in the life of a Christian congregation.
Nathan Writes 