Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Grounded in Faith, Formed in Community
Since graduating from seminary in 2011, one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced as the pastor of a small, rural congregation is recruiting, retaining, and replacing leaders within the church. At Nixon United Methodist Church, we have a practice of rotating new leaders out of leadership after three years. This policy has been challenging to…
The great Welsh preacher, Christmas Evans (named “Christmas” because he was born on Christmas Day, 1766), was famous for saying: “I’d rather burn out than rust out in the service of the Lord.” The sentiment is clear: keep doing anything so you do not become stagnant and rust; it is perfectly ok to do too…
When I was coming through seminary, I heard a few distinct messages loud and clear: “There won’t be a church job for you when you graduate, so don’t expect to find one.” “Don’t worry too much about understanding budgets, your church will have a financial secretary to help you with that.” “Taking on some…