Monthly Archives: August 2015

The long term pastor

Posted on August 24, 2015 | 7 comments

I’m starting my 21st year as pastor of First Baptist Church, O’Fallon, IL. We celebrated my 20 year anniversary with a reception, some ice cream (woo hoo!) and thoughtful cards and gifts. It has me thinking about the value of longevity for pastors.
Let’s face it. Some pastorates are short term for good reason. Sometimes the fit doesn’t work. Sometimes financial limitations or inflexibility or unwillingness to play nice ends relationships. Staying long term isn’t always best for the church or the pastor. I get that. But let me offer some suggestions about the benefits of long term pastorates for those who can make it work.
1. It builds Continue reading →

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Posted in Christianity, Church, pastor

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Civil War Reading

Posted on August 12, 2015 | 2 comments

The Civil War wasn’t very civil. There were more American casualties than all the rest of our wars combined. It was ugly and brutal and lasted far longer than any had anticipated.

On summer vacation I read “Battle Cry of Freedom” by James McPherson. It won a Pulitzer Prize so I figured I should give it a try. And why, by the way, have my books been skipped over in this Pulitzer Prize thing? But I digress.
The book is less than 900 pages. Long, but much shorter than some others including Shelby Foote’s trilogy. It is well documented and well written. The well written part is really helpful, especially when there are 900 pages involved.

I note a couple of things that I learned or Continue reading →

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Posted in books, history, military, Uncategorized

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