Noble Task

Pastor, honoring widows is an important part of your assignment. Make sure you're giving proper attention to them this week.

Preaching Team member Jeremy Cummings shares a devotion for us from 1 Timothy 5.

Paul sums up pastoral priorities with a twofold focus: Yourself and the teaching. Keep a close, persistent watch on these things, and you'll do a good job.

It takes immersive practice to make visible progress when it comes to Christlikeness and effective ministry of the word. Register for App Region Pastors' Conference here. ⁠ Pastor of the Week Pray for Church Planting Director Adrian Dixon and send him a word of encouragement at adixon@acgc.us ⁠ .

You don’t have to overtly rebel against God to neglect your ministry. All it takes is a lack of devotion to it. All it takes is the allowance of distraction. Soon, if you’re not careful, you will have drifted into a passive, weak, minimal approach to the glorious gift you’ve been given. Register for App Region Pastors' Conference here. Pastor of the Week Pray for Pastor David Sheppard of Elk V...

Let's refocus on the public reading of Scripture, exhortation, and teaching in 2026. Pastor of the Week: Paul Bricker (Beckley AC Church) Pray for Pastor Paul this week and send him an encouraging note at Paul. Bricker@va.gov. Books Studies If you want to hustle and join a book study of On Pastoring, by H. B. Charles, let me know ASAP. Pastors' Conference: January 30-31 Click here for info...

If someone in your church disrespects you, don't set them straight, set them an example. Beacause the best way to gain the respect is to be respectable. If you need counseling for any reason, you can receive anonymous help by calling Blue Ridge Christian Counseling at 540-404-1318. Tell them you're an App Region pastor and they'll work discretely with us to cover your counseling expens...

App Region pastor, in the busyness of the Christmas season, remember, you’ve been commanded to command and taught to teach.

Avoid nonsense this week. Train for godliness instead. Be sofocused on your efforts to study and respond deeply and truly to God’s word that you have no time for vanity and silliness. Work so hard on your godliness that your progress is visible to everyone. Do that this week and it’ll be a week well spent.  

You think a lot about what effect your ministry has on yourpeople. For the next few moments, let’s ask a different question: What effect is your ministry having on you ?

Pastor, how do you know if you’re doing a good job? By measuring church growth? Altar calls? Sermon complements? Building projects? Pastor appreciation gifts? It’s hard to know, isn’t it? Let’s look at 1 Timothy 4:6a together and see how a pastor's goodness or badness is actually measured.

Let's conclude our conversation about expository preaching with Josh Baker, pastor of Tabernacle AC Church in Lenoir, NC. Books mentioned in this episode: Preaching and Preachers by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones The Supremacy of God in Preaching by John Piper Preaching Old Testament Narratives by Benjamin H. Walton Expository Preaching by David Helm

Let's continue to talk about expository preaching with Josh Baker, pastor of Tabernacle AC Church in Lenoir, NC.

Let's continue to talk about expository preaching with Josh Baker, pastor of Tabernacle AC Church in Lenoir, NC.

Let's continue to talk about expository preaching with Josh Baker, pastor of Tabernacle AC Church in Lenoir, NC.

Let's talk about expository preaching with Josh Baker, pastor of Tabernacle AC Church in Lenoir, NC.

Pastor, there’s no way around it. Some will leave your church. Some will withdraw. Some will remove themselves. Some will fall away. It was happening in Ephesus under Timothy’s ministry and it’s likely to happen in your ministry too. Let’s listen to what Paul says to Timothy about it. It’ll help us better understand how these departures come about, which will help us better protect our churches.

The final segment from my conversation with Matt about praying. Book recommendations: A Praying Life , by Paul Miller Praying with Paul , by D. A. Carson Power through Prayer , by E. M. Bounds The Valley of Vision , edited by Arthur Bennett Gospel Driven Ministry , by Jared Wilson The Unhurried Pastor , by Brian Croft and Ronnie Martin The Bruised Reed , Richard Sibbes

Continued conversation with Matt about praying.

Let's talk about praying with Matt Rice, pastor of Dulin's Grove AC Church in Charlotte, NC.

Pastor, if you find the relational parts of ministry more natural than the teaching parts, make extra effort to develop your theological depth.

Final segment from my conversation with Heath about pastoral care. Book recommendations: The Shepherd Leader The Care of Souls

Continued conversation with Heath about pastoral care.

Let's talk about pastoral care with Heath Simpson, pastor of Advent Community Church in Mechanicsville, VA.

Pastor, it's of urgent importance that you know "how one ought to behave in the household of God" (1 Timothy 3:15).