• How can we have an effective pastorate? • How can our ministries, our preaching, support church health? • How can we be faithful in our ministries? There is a parable for young preachers in Walt Disney's Dumbo, the little circus elephant that Continue Reading
March 22, 2013 2 Comments
Thoughts on Faith from a Garden in March and Pastoral Ministry
For a gardener, like myself, March is an in-between month. The dried, gray-brown stalks on the oak leaf hydrangea, left over from last autumn, stand at attention, like a proud, old war veteran in his outdated, ill-fitting military uniform. And like a Continue Reading
March 12, 2013
Difficult but Necessary: Relinquishing Leadership in Winter to Renew in Another Season of Ministry
March 11, 2013 Dearly Beloved in the Lord: I greet you in the name of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. I write you to also make an announcement that must come on the heels of a series of providences that both surprised me and have tried me—body and Continue Reading
March 2, 2013
Walking the Tight Rope Between Reserve Chaplaincy and the Pastorate
I trust the following question and answer about chaplain ministry and the local pastorate will provide some opportunity for prayerful reflection by those considering the call. Dear Dr. Milton: May I ask you a question about the chaplaincy? The biggest Continue Reading
January 14, 2013
A Promise to the Persecuted Church Today
Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting a new student at RTS who has sacrificed much to come to this seminary to prepare for a life of service to the Church back in his persecuted nation. It took some creative and Providential work to get that young man Continue Reading
January 6, 2013
“Rend the Heavens and Come Down!” My Burden to Pray for Revival in 2013—Part 2
I don't have any institutional mantra to offer for the new year. I don't have any new program or corporate vision statement that I want everyone to sign on to for 2013. What I do have is a burden that is on my heart – a burden for God to rend the Continue Reading
December 28, 2012
The Best: A Charge to our Married Men in Seminary and a Letter to All
My beloved students in Christ, I write to you, as this old year is winding down, and we count off the hours before a new one, to remind you of the best gift God has given you. It is not your gift to preach. It is not your gift to counsel. It is not your Continue Reading
October 8, 2012
Discerning God’s Call for Your Life
One of my favorite stories about calling comes from south Louisiana. A Pentecostal preacher was having some chest pains and was rushed to the hospital. It was quickly determined by the medical personnel that he needed open-heart surgery. So they put him Continue Reading
October 3, 2012
Pairing: John Constable and Gerald Finzi
If I were to have a soundtrack for John Constable's (1776 – 1837) English landscapes, particularly his well-known sketches and paintings of clouds dominating the landscapes of East Anglia, I would choose the English pastoral compositions of Gerald Finzi Continue Reading
