Quiz

Question--Was the Lord Jesus Christ the only man in history who chose to die so that others could be saved? The definition of saved does not have to mean eternal salvation in this question.

The Mission

Isn't it amazing how patient the Lord is with us?

Could you imagine if God showed you all your faults in a moment...we would dissolve.

Instead God works with us over our whole life time...lovingly showing us where we err...and graciously shaping us and molding us more and more like Jesus.

In this last year I find myself being challenged more and more on what is the churches mission.

As I am being challenged I feel a holy discontent in my heart...we need to learn to become more like our God.

I can remember reading Calvin's Institutes and Calvin said that God lisps to us...He speaks down to us like a nursemaid does to a little child.

How often do we try and make the little childs in our life become fully mature adults before we allow them to fellowship with us.

Over the years I find that I have grown very comfortable in talking systematic theology and other forms of Christian study...and yet in the area of having a heart of compassion for the lost I fail miserably.

Lord, give us vision on how we can love our city, reach out to the unlovely, speak to them in their language...not that we can become like them...but instead so that they can become like Jesus.

Death By Ministry

I saw this on Mark Driscolls blog...shocking stats indeed!

2. How healthy are pastors and their families?

At our 2006 Reform and Resurge Conference in Seattle, my good friend Pastor Darrin Patrick from The Journey in Saint Louis (www.journeyon.net) spoke frankly of the burden that pastoral ministry is. He presented the following statistics, which he gathered from such organizations as Barna (www.barna.org), Maranatha Life (www.maranathalife.com) and Focus on the Family (www.family.org).

Pastors

Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.

Fifty percent of pastors' marriages will end in divorce.

Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.

Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.

Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.

Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression.

Almost forty percent polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry.

Seventy percent said the only time they spend studying the Word is when they are preparing their sermons.

Pastors' Wives

Eighty percent of pastors' spouses feel their spouse is overworked.

Eighty percent of pastors' spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.

The majority of pastors’ wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.