Thom S. Rainer

Latest

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  Oct 26, 2013

  10 Traits of Joyous Pastors

  I recently wrote the names of 23 pastors that, at least from my perspective, seem to find the greatest joy in their ministries. While such an exercise is admittedly subjective, it was nevertheless enlightening and encouraging.

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  Oct 20, 2013

  7 Habits of Highly Effective Church Staff Meetings

  I confess. I used to hate meetings. In fact I was very vocal about meetings being a waste of time. In most meetings I attended, I daydreamed about a dozen other ways I could be spending my time more productively. Over time I would discover the problem was not the meeting per se, but the way the meeting was managed.

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  Oct 18, 2013

  10 of the Most Common Questions Asked by Pastors

  I wish I could respond to every phone call, email, text, Facebook post, Twitter direct message, blogpost comment, and several other forms of communication I receive. Pastors ask me questions, lots of questions. I am both honored and humbled that they would think that I could be a source of information or expertise.

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  Oct 15, 2013

  7 Reasons Your Church Needs to Go on a Diet

  Most churches—more than eight out of ten—are busy. Too busy. These churches need to slim down their plethora of programs, activities, and ministries. They need to go a busyness diet.

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  Oct 8, 2013

  5 Stages of a Pastor's Ministry

  For more than two decades I have studied, contemplated, and written about the tenure of a pastor. Why is pastoral tenure relatively brief on the average? Does that tenure contain common and distinct stages? Is there a particular point in the tenure when more pastors leave the church?

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  Oct 2, 2013

  7 Responses to Prevent Pastor Burnout

  In my recent blog post, I noted seven reasons pastors burn out. I was delighted to receive a full response to my post from Lee Haley, executive pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I offer his response in full below: With over 40 years in the ministry, nearly 15 in an itinerant ministry, I have seen the challenges of many pastors who burn out. I offer the following seven responses for churches to consider:

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  Sep 28, 2013

  7 Reasons Pastors Burn Out

  I admit I haven't seen recent statistics on pastoral burnout but, at least anecdotally, it's high. It seems that hardly a week goes by that I don't hear another story of a burnout victim in pastoral ministry. Why?

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  Sep 26, 2013

  7 Ways to Respond to Power Groups in the Church

  As many of you requested, and as I promised, I am utilizing this article to address possible ways to respond to power groups. My list is not exhaustive, but I do hope these seven suggestions are helpful.

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  Sep 23, 2013

  Henry Blackaby and the Positive Power of Social Media

  We would soon learn that Dr. Blackaby had a heart attack and became disoriented. Christians around the world were able to hear through social media of his latest purported location according to his credit card charges. Of course, we were praying that he was the one actually using the credit cards—and he was.

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  Sep 22, 2013

  8 Types of Power Groups in Churches

  This topic will cause some discomfort for many of you. The very thought of the presence of power groups seems contrary to the spirit and grace of the gospel. But power groups are very real in churches.