The Problem with Preachers

The Problem with Preachers
Author: Dawud Aasiya-Bey
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2021-12-07
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1646106210

The Problem with Preachers: The Similitude of Preaching, Preying, and Pimping By: Dawud Aasiya-Bey Dawud Aasiya-Bey was born in Washington, D.C., and his parents relocated to Long Island, NY, when he was four years old. He grew up with three brothers in a town called Wyandanch in the town of Babylon. As a child, he attended a private, parochial middle school in Deer Park, NY, which had a church on the campus and this is where his first experience of attending mass occurred. He felt that the school was a strict environment because it seemed that minor infractions resulted in punishments that simply did not fit the wrongdoing. He envisioned church as a place where people would be friendly and kind, but such was not the case as sisters and fathers seemed to roam the school campus like their goal in life was to catch someone doing something wrong. Dawud now lives in Murrieta, California, with his wife and son, which is a small city about 60 miles north of San Diego. He is currently in the teaching vocation as a biology teacher and has been doing so for over sixteen years. Prior to teaching, he worked in the IT field, which was a volatile environment back in 2000 requiring “head-hunters” to find contractual B2B jobs, which were three to six months at best as outsourcing was the norm. Such instability introduced him to the teaching profession, as he was a substitute teacher between his IT contract jobs. His involvement in the church community as a musician (bassist) allows him to experience the church dynamic from a ‘musician for hire’ perspective while continuing his passion for playing music that centers on worship. Being behind the scenes and playing in ministries throughout the years has given him more insight as playing at churches, conferences, and gospel events allowed him to observe the networking, conversations, and sentiments that took place amongst ministries. He feels that the lifestyles and views of some preachers contradict what Jesus taught in the Bible.

Why Johnny Can't Preach

Why Johnny Can't Preach
Author: T. David Gordon
Publisher: P & R Publications
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2009
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781596381162

This book is an analysis of shifts in dominant media forms and their effects on the sensibilities of the culture as a whole. Many of those shifts have profound, and unfortunate, effects on preaching. T. David Gordon has identified a problem, one that affects all preachers (indeed, all public speakers) and needs fixing. Our preaching is just not communicating properly anymore. Fortunately, Gordon not only explains the causes of this failure but also shows us how to make things better. - Publisher.

Uncomfortable

Uncomfortable
Author: Brett McCracken
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2017-09-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433554283

Does your church make you uncomfortable? It’s easy to dream about the “perfect” church—a church that sings just the right songs set to just the right music before the pastor preaches just the right sermon to a room filled with just the right mix of people who happen to agree with you on just about everything. Chances are your church doesn’t quite look like that. But what if instead of searching for a church that makes us comfortable, we learned to love our church, even when it’s challenging? What if some of the discomfort that we often experience is actually good for us? This book is a call to embrace the uncomfortable aspects of Christian community, whether that means believing difficult truths, pursuing difficult holiness, or loving difficult people—all for the sake of the gospel, God’s glory, and our joy.

Fight for Your Pastor

Fight for Your Pastor
Author: Peter Orr
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 95
Release: 2022-10-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433584794

Practical Ways to Support and Care for Your Pastor Do you pray for your pastors? Do you encourage them? Do you have realistic expectations for them? The office of pastor is simultaneously a rewarding and draining position. Pastors today have immense pressure on their shoulders and they need the support of their congregations. Peter Orr has written Fight for Your Pastor as an exhortation for church members to stand behind their pastors through the difficulties of ministry. Orr specifies ways in which congregations can be intentional in caring for church leaders, including prayer, encouragement, generosity, and forgiveness. Featuring stories from current pastors about their struggles, this book is perfect for thoughtful church members eager to understand the weight of their pastors' positions and support leaders in their important ministry. For Thoughtful Christians: Specifically those wanting to know more about their pastors and how to care for them Current: Features insight from pastors about their personal experiences in ministry Applicable: Gives practical examples of how to love and care for pastors, including specific prayers for church leaders and the best ways to encourage them

What Is a Healthy Church?

What Is a Healthy Church?
Author: Mark Dever
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2024-09-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433596636

Key Traits of a Healthy Church to Develop within the Local Body What is an ideal church, and how can you tell? How does it look different from other churches? More importantly, how does it act differently, especially in society? Many of us aren't sure how to answer those questions, even though we probably have some preconceived ideas. This book answers those questions and many more. Author Mark Dever seeks to help believers recognize the key characteristics of a healthy church: expositional preaching, biblical theology, and a right understanding of the gospel. Dever then calls us to develop those characteristics in our own churches. By following the example of New Testament authors and addressing all members of the church, pastors and laity alike, Dever challenges all believers to do their part in maintaining the local church. Part of the 9Marks Building Healthy Churches series, What Is a Healthy Church? offers timeless truths and practical principles to help each of us fulfill our God-given roles in the body of Christ. Offers an Ideal Church Model: Encourages pastors and members to implement healthy church qualities within their local body Written by Mark Dever: Pastor, bestselling author, and president of 9Marks From 9Marks: Other titles in the Building Healthy Churches series include Church Discipline; Deacons; and Church Membership Replaces ISBN 978-1-58134-937-5

What Is a Healthy Church Member?

What Is a Healthy Church Member?
Author: Thabiti M. Anyabwile
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2008-06-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433522039

Biblically and practically instructs church members in ways they can labor for the health of their church. What Is a Healthy Church Member? takes its cue from Mark Dever's book What Is a Healthy Church?, which offered one definition of what a healthy church looks like biblically and historically. In this new work, pastor Thabiti Anyabwile attempts to answer the natural next question: "What does a healthy church member look like in the light of Scripture?" God intends for us to play an active and vital part in the body of Christ, the local church. He wants us to experience the local church as a home more profoundly wonderful and meaningful than any other place on earth. He intends for his churches to be healthy places and for the members of those churches to be healthy as well. This book explains how membership in the local church can produce spiritual growth in its members and how each member can contribute to the growth and health of the whole.

The Pastor's Family

The Pastor's Family
Author: Brian Croft
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2013-08-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310495105

Pastoral ministry is more challenging than ever with unique, complicated burdens and expectations some have not experienced in previous generations. Because of this, the number of pastors who start with a great zeal for the work, quickly crash and burn and are left with a battered faith and family. This book seeks to identify those unique challenges, diagnose the problem, propose a biblical solution, and then guide the pastor and his family to embrace these challenges while shepherding the family through them.

Rediscovering the Church Fathers

Rediscovering the Church Fathers
Author: Michael A. G. Haykin
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2011-03-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433523574

While the church today looks quite different than it did two thousand years ago, Christians share the same faith with the church fathers. Although separated by time and culture, we have much to learn from their lives and teaching. This book is an organized and convenient introduction to how to read the church fathers from AD 100 to 500. Michael Haykin surveys the lives and teachings of seven of the Fathers, looking at their role in such issues as baptism, martyrdom, and the relationship between church and state. Ignatius, Cyprian, Basil of Caesarea, and Ambrose and others were foundational in the growth and purity of early Christianity, and their impact continues to shape the church today. Evangelical readers interested in the historical roots of Christianity will find this to be a helpful introductory volume.