How ‘Being a Creed’ Helps in Pastoring

Mike Leake

I’ve grown weary of articles telling others what they should and should not do. I am especially weary of the “Pastor, Here Are 14 Things You MUST Do to Succeed” posts. I say all of that to say, take what I’m saying here as the simple ramblings of a guy who has found help and think you might too—or you might not.

For quite awhile now I’ve had this practice of trying to learn a new skill every month. It’s had me trying to learn to make an omelet, learning a Rubik’s cube, and pretty soon it’ll have me trying my hand at both improv comedy and pottery.

This has been incredibly helpful to my soul and to my mental health. I encouraged folks awhile back to Be a Creed. I think it’s a helpful practice for really anybody to try to learn a new skill every month. But today I want to say that it’s been absolutely helpful to me as a pastor.

First, it’s a reminder to me that I’m human. I don’t mean here that it keeps me off a pedestal (though that’s always a needed practice). I mean that doing these things reminds me that I’m not fundamentally Pastor Mike. I’m Mike. I’m not a resource, I’m a human. I’m a human that is trying to make an absolutely killer oatmeal crock-pot recipe. Not for a sermon illustration. Not for some deeply spiritual thing but because God created me with taste buds and to find enjoyment in things like oatmeal.

Which, as a side note, this is why I went home and wept after our Pastor Appreciation meal back in October. The gifts and cards they gave were amazing and I would have been blown away by that alone. But there has been a way they’ve communicated love to my family and I that makes us feel a part of the family. I feel valued and loved as a person and not just as the guy who preaches.

But for some reason I think there is always a pull to dehumanize our pastors. So to perpetually do battle with the professionalization of pastoral ministry, I’ll keep trying to make an outrageously wonderful oatmeal. Just because.

Secondly, When I try new skills I’m sometimes awful at them. This not only keeps me humble but it keeps me fresh and alive. It’s good to fail. And to fail miserably. If we only try things we are good at and succeed in, then we are going to be very flat characters and even the things we do well are going to become dull.

Lastly, it allows me to put energy into something tangible. This is also why I’ve taken up woodworking. Pastoral ministry is difficult in that it’s never really finished. But I can finish a crafting project. I make oatmeal. I can learn the Rubik’s cube. I can discover that I’m absolutely terrible at making an omelet. (I still can’t get it to look like an omelet). Having an end to something helps our pysche.

Maybe you’re the type of person that is able to thrive nose to the grind, writing sermons, thinking deep thoughts, building relationships, and all that stuff 24/7. I’m not. I collapse. So, I’ve learned that doing things like this will help me to be far more productive and healthy.

And it’s enjoyable.

Read This! 12.12.19

Mike Leake

Ten Tips on Sermon Illustrations

If you want to know how to do this well immerse yourself in Spurgeon and the Puritans. They illustrated phenomenally well. They used Scripture but they also used day to day things. As a side note it is rather comical when the Puritans use common held medical advice for illustrations.

John Newton, My Friend

Mine too! It’s a goal of mine to help many others rediscover Newton. I have a book idea that would make his letters current and be specifically written to pastors. But I’m not sure I’ve the talent to bring it to fruition. (That isn’t me being needlessly pessimistic about my writing skills. It’s a serious concern—I want to do justice to Newton’s work).

30 Books Every Christian Should Read Before Turning 30.

I’ve read 22 of them. I think my list might be a little different. Maybe I should do a 40 books pastors should read before turning 40. I’ve been shaped by so many good books.

Christianity Is Not a Frowning Contest

I think Alcorn is right. I’ve argued for awhile that we’ve forgotten how to lament. I think the other pole is missing as well. We don’t know how to be absurdly happy.

52 Ideas For Your Church This Year

There are some really fun and creative ideas in here. I rarely print off an article (with this being the 21st century and all) but I did print this one to go through in a future missions meeting. I think some of these might be great outreach or fellowship ideas.

Resting in God’s Sovereignty over My Anxiety

I believe there is a ton of truth in this article. There is a way that anxiety might be the means that God leads to propel us into greater joy in Christ. “Plenty of ink has been spilled on the numerous ways we can be sinful in times of depression, anxiety, and worry. I am careful to own my sinful thinking and repent. But have you ever considered that the other side of the anxiety-sin coin could be begging (dare I say, demanding) that the Lord remove the very thing He is using to refine us? Could my prayers for deliverance actually be sinful discontent?”

8 Practices That Divide

Mike Leake

Division within the body of Christ is ultimately a heart issue. But it’s also, in part, a culture issue. What I mean is that there are certain practices which will stoke the flames of controversy and division rather than assisting us in mortifying our hearts which are so prone to division.

Of course there are things which believers ought to be divided from. There is a false unity which is just as deadly as a bitter division. But there are also many needless divisions which arise in the body of Christ. I bemoan all the division within the church. Awhile back I wrote about the pain of feeling without a tribe—as my former tribe seems to have ugly exploded. Because of this trial I’ve been thinking a good deal about unity and division within the body of Christ—especially within the church universal.

I stumbled upon a helpful little book recently. It was originally written by Jeremiah Burroughs in the early 1600s. But it likely would have been lost to history had it not been reprinted by Francis Asbury in the 1700s and then Asbury’s copy also resurrected about a hundred years later. I find it interesting that each of the times when this book was printed or reprinted the church found itself in a period of serious but mostly needless division. Perhaps Burroughs work would be helpful for us again today.

The whole thing is worthy of a read. (You can buy it here or get a free .pdf here). Today I want to summarize for you Burroughs 8 practices which divide:

  1. Associating with whisperers. “Many men of moderate spirits, if let alone, yet meeting with men who tell them stories, and speak ill of those men that heretofore they had a good opinion of, before they have examined what the truth is, there is a venom got in their spirits.”
  2. Needless disputes. Unnecessary disputes are the necessary practice of those who only have gotten a little knowledge and want to make a name for themselves.
  3. Not keeping within the bounds God hath set. Meddling with things that do not concern you. Trying to gain a higher standing for ourselves than God has designed will always come with worms.
  4. Propagating evil reports. Let reports be raised, fomented, and spread: whether they be true or no, it makes no matter, something will stick. (Did Burroughs have Facebook and Fake News?)
  5. An inordinate cleaving to some, so as denying due respect to others. “And ministers, and others in public places, should not entertain, much less seek for or rejoice in, any honour or respect given to them, which they see detracts from that esteem and countenance that are due to others.” When we divide ourselves into party and weigh the words of our chiefs as more prominent than others.
  6. Because men cannot join in all things with others, they will join in nothing. Because you disagree with somebody on one thing you dismiss everything he says. (This would be similar to our cancel culture).
  7. To commend and countenance what we care not for, in opposition to what we dislike. When we join with those who are wicked men because they help us defeat our enemies.
  8. Revenge. Practicing revenge is the way to continue divisions to the end of the world.

Did Burroughs not just perfectly describe our current climate?

How did we think we’d survive when we created a climate centered around personality and fueled by an unquenchable thirst to move beyond our station? Did we not think that all of our articles pressing into disputable matters wouldn’t blow up in our face? Did we really think that if we could put it under the umbrella of gospel-implications that we’d be fine?

When the world around us exploded into fake news and increasing polarization did we think the solution was to dig further into our own tribes? And when we were tempted with ungodly leaders—that we’d call our Cyrus—to defeat our godless enemies, did we not think we’d be planting in the soils of division? What crop did we think we’d harvest?

When we started drawing up more and more sides on even more disputable matters and we did this in a climate where you were either absolutely for me or against me, did we not think that revenge would further perpetuate our divisions?

Lord, heal us.

—

Photo source: here

Read This! 12.10.19

Mike Leake

8 Signs of True Repentance

There is a painful story that is underneath this post. It’s helpful for all circumstances but I think it’s especially helpful for those trapped in a cycle of abuse to be able to diagnose true repentance from false. Anytime someone feels “owed” forgiveness it’s usually an indicator that it isn’t legit repentance.

3 Dangers of (Merely) Messy Christianity

There is a ton of truth in this. Redemption is messy. Look at how messy it was in the Exodus. The new Exodus is just as messy. But it’s not ONLY messy. And to exalt the mess as if it ought to be messy isn’t ultimately helpful.

Is Scripture Sufficient for Counseling?

I think the “all-or-nothing” nature of this debate/discussion has caused us to speak past one another. To me this is an incredibly important sentence: “Sufficiency does not mean that Scripture provides a script for all occasions”.

Three Sentences Pastors Hate to Hear

Though the wording might be different I think the core of these sentences anyone would hate. But there is something about hearing them right before trying to preach that makes it really difficult. And “people are saying” is one of the most difficult to navigate in those moments. Rainer is correct when he says, “Most church members really love their pastors. The few exceptions, though, are incredibly painful exceptions for pastors.”

Here Come the Skinny Cows

This is a bit of a “sound the alarm” piece but I think it’s correct. I also think the call here for rethinking church economics is necessary. One of the biggest factors, I believe, is the difference in giving among millennials and builders. I think it’ll shift more to “cause” oriented giving.

How to Master Any Subject by Making it Interesting

I’ve seen this play out in my own life. There is also another side to this for teachers/preachers. This shows the importance of answering the “so what” question early on in our sermon/talk and helping our people know why this matters for them.