Resources on Pastoral Ministry
“Every minister of the gospel ought to be a close student, and a diligent learner to the end of life.” – Samuel Miller, Thoughts on Public Prayer. 1849 (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1985), 274.
Read More“True piety consists in a sincere feeling which loves God as Father as much as it fears and reverences him as Lord, embraces his righteousness, and dreads offending him worse than death.” How is piety obtained? “Piety is always built on knowledge of the true God and knowledge requires instruction.” “That which can educate a man’s piety demands sane doctrine.” – Quoted in David B. Calhoun, Knowing God and Ourselves: Reading Calvin’s Institutes Devotionally (Banner of Truth: Edinburgh, 2016), 16-17.
Read More“If asked what I consider the qualifications for a good expositor of Holy Writ, I would answer these three: (1) a heart seasoned with grace; (2) a head filled with good common sense; (3) a mind stored with all that liberal education which aids exposition in general, and that of these holy books in particular.” – John Duncan in John M. Brentnall, ed., ‘Just A Talker’: Sayings of John (‘Rabbi’) Duncan (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1997), 12.
Read MoreDo you want a more effective ministry to your community? Then read your local newspaper. I subscribe to four newspapers: The Yazoo Herald, The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson), The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. By far the most important is the The Yazoo Herald. Here’s why: My church worships and serves in a community. Like all churches, my congregation represents only a slice of the community’s population. If my only interest is the people in my congregation, I lose sight of my neighbors, and that hardly squares with the admonition to love my neighbor. The local paper brings me back to the people and institutions that shape my city. What do I look for in the paper? Government officials. I have a responsibility to pray for them…
Read MoreI want my ministry students at RTS Jackson to become skilled in pastoral visitation, which includes visiting people in their homes. In the late 19th century, Bishop J.C. Ryle was troubled by “a growing disposition throughout the land, among the clergy, to devote an exaggerated amount of attention to what I must call the public work of ministry, and to give comparatively too little attention to pastoral visitation and personal dealing with individual souls.” In his excellent biography of Ryle, Iain Murray comments: “However eloquent or apparently knowledgeable a preacher may be, there will be something seriously lacking in the man who is not to be found in the homes of his people. Sermons which come only from the study are not…
Read MoreCommenting on Psalm 128:1-3, William Plumer writes: “No man over-estimates the blessings of peace and concord in all the relations of life . . . Nor until he sacrifices truth, honor, righteousness or a good conscience does he ever pay too much for them.” William S. Plumer, Psalms: A Critical and Expository Commentary with Doctrinal and Practical Remarks. 1867 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1990), 1139.
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