Coaching For Pastors - Daily Coaching, Encouragement, and Support for Pastors

This week Jeff talks about HOW to reduce and minimize stress, overwhelm, and burnout in ministry. Today he coaches on accessing outside resources to develop a strategic plan for your church/ministry. That will greatly increase focus and clarity for you, and minimize ministry overwhelm. Jeff references Dave Jacobs at SmallChurchPastor.com and Tony Morgan's Unstuck Group . Support the show For...

Paul Golden from Clarks Summit University in Pennsylvania joins us. He's on staff at a college and seminary, and is the host of Post Game with Paul Golden . Paul grew up in a pastor's home, has served on staff his entire career at a Bible College and Seminary, and now has his own two kids in Bible College. Paul has a unique perspective on ministry and ministry training. You can find Paul...

Jeff has unpacked this week the causes of ministry stress for pastors. lack of a plan the unending workload incessant time demands poor boundaries between personal and ministry time too high of congregational expectations the lack of strong social support financial pressures Jeff discusses the last couple stressors today, and next week we'll cover more ways to manage these stressors so you ca...

Jeff continues on the topic of mitigating the causes of stress for pastors in daily ministry. Support the show For more great content and conversations for pastors, check out the over 400 episodes of the 200churches Podcast !

Jeff continues this week's discussion on the things that cause stress in the life of a pastor and how to overcome them. Specifically he talks about the overwhelm of a never ending workload, where a pastor's work is never really finished. How do we walk away at the end of a day and not take our ministry load home with us? Some good ministry coaching on a mindset for a balanced view of lif...

Jeff talks about the things that cause stress in a pastor's life.  Things like allowing your day to just happen to you, and entertaining the concept that your unlimited workload is never done. He offers some suggestions for minimizing and mitigating the stress from these obvious life realities. This week is all about identifying the things that stress a pastor, and learning how to deal with t...

Let's face it, there's no way we can avoid stress in ministry... or LIFE for that matter! So I think it would be good for us to plan on it, and plan for it. If we know we'll experience it, are experiencing it, and there's no avoiding it, we might at well plan for it and mitigate it, as best we can. Maybe we can even learn to leverage stress in ministry. Today I'm open with...

Thom Rainer, from the Rainer On Leadership Podcast, and ChurchAnswers.com joins Jeff to talk about issues that pastors face today. Thom is a research guy, a data guy, or as he says, "a data nerd", and shares a lot from the perspective of actual research data and not just anecdotal evidence. Thom works with pastors almost every day, and is a wealth of information and coaching on this epis...

Everybody needs it, nobody wants it, unless it's positive. But we absolutely need feedback on our messages, our sermons, if we are going to get better! I can already hear your cries... "Touch not God's anointed!" Yeah, yeah, yeah, forget about it. We need to invite and steward the critique. Ken Blanchard quoted another guy when he said "Feedback is the breakfast of champio...

There is something that we're doing in so many churches that I believe our people are paying the price for - in a lack of biblical understanding. Something we do, I think we should change, so that our people can grow healthier in their understanding of God's Word. It would definitely be not a small culture shift in many churches, yet some churches never walked away from it... Support the...

On Episode 127 we talked about having a preaching plan, a preaching schedule. Episode 128 dealt with 5 Considerations for preaching - things you should consider about yourself. On Episode 129 I talk about considerations regarding the people you are preaching to. If you work this through periodically, every 3-4 months, it will make you a much better preacher.  Enjoy this episode - it was made just...

Yesterday, in episode 127, I talked to you about a preaching calendar. But today I want to talk with you about 4 considerations in preaching. Four things that will help us sort out our crazy preacher mind! Preaching is more than constructing a sermon, or organizing our notes. Today I deal with considerations about YOU as a preacher of God's Word - a teacher, a communicator. Then tomorrow I&ap...

Do you have a preaching plan for the next 10 months? For this coming school/church year? If you do, maybe you need to build it out, add to it, insert some additional elements for creativity and to increase the effectiveness of your plan. If you don't, you definitely should have a plan. That's the topic for today - preaching plans. They are one of the best things I've ever utilized i...

Dan is a Chaplain in and Adult Care Facility in my community and a former pastor of 25 years. Dan talks with me about how we as pastors can best care for the people in our church family who are living in an Independent or Assisted Living Care Facility. He has some great insight in that area of ministry. He also talks about his transition out of local church ministry, and what that looked like for...

I sat down with Ted Lowe, Executive Director of MarriedPeople.org and MarriedPeopleChurches.org and he said something that has stuck with me for the last five years. In today's episode I play two clips of our conversation and then drive my point home with you, which I know will not be lost on you! Marriage Ministry in our churches is so important and necessary - and me included - we ALL have...

Pastor, today I ask the question - "How long does it take us to make things right in our life?!" When something goes wrong, how long before we attend to it, to fix it and right the ship of our life? General Motors took 12 years to decide to make things right with me... how long will it take us to decide to finally make progress on one of those retractable issues that plague our life? Jef...

Jeff talks today about his thoughts on his upcoming message from John 15 - where Jesus teaches about Himself as the Vine, and us as the branches. On August 10, 2020 - two years ago today - I bad storm hit his town and huge swath of the Midwest, leaving destruction in its wake. Jeff talks about that day, and how his memories connect to the meaning of John 15. If pastors do not remain in the Vine......

It's funny how we pastors will preach life change all day to our people - YET... most Monday mornings we'll look in the mirror and think "I'm never going to change!" We believe so hard for other people, but in some areas of our own lives we're practical atheists - "God isn't going to help me change!" Pastor, today I talk to you about believing you can l...

Today Jeff talks about his vacation, the upcoming Coaching For Pastors Webinar on August 16, the perfect summer day! He also challenges us as pastors to join him for the first ever, Coaching For Pastors MasterMind this fall. This episode is a good start to a great week! Enjoy it! To immediately register for the FREE Coaching For Pastors Extraordinary Life Webinar (even if you can't make it bu...

Jeff continues his discussion on pastors and politics that he began yesterday, Friday August 5 on Episode 122.  While we are NOT in the heat of a presidential campaign season this is a good time to calmly think about such things! Saturday is a good day to clean the garage and listen to Coaching For Pastors... (or substitute any other "around the house" tasks!)  Support the show For more...

Pastor, do politics, campaign-speak, and partisan talking points find their way into your weekend messages, social media posts, church emails, and personal conversations? Are you fixated on the news of the day, political issues, cable news networks, talk radio, and what's trending on Twitter? I'm sorry if those questions get an affirmative reply from you. I'm sorry for you and for y...

How many times have you entered into a message, a conversation, a confrontation, a Bible Study, a board or staff meeting - just certain of what you want to say, or what you want to accomplish - only to have fear suck the active ingredient right out of the entire situation? You leave out the last 10%, you don't say everything you need to say, you forget to make the point, the actual applicatio...

Wow - I have done a ton of funerals in my time as a pastor! I remember when I could count them on one hand, then two, then I lost track. I'm not a pastor who keeps detailed records of weddings and funerals. I could not tell you how many I've done. But I could go through my files and records and get reasonably close to the right number. But who cares?! What I do care about is bringing hop...

On Episode 117 I talked about taking a summer break and reseting yourself for the new church year. I said for me that looks like reoriented myself to the fundamentals of Fellowship with the Triune God, time spent in the Word of God, and intimacy with God through prayer. On Episode 118 I connect what Peter talks about in 1 Peter 5 to all of this. Peter says, "Be shepherds of God's flock t...

When I take my summer break I love to push the reset button. In fact, leaving town and getting away automatically does that for me. For a couple decades we have taken off the end of July and the first part of August - and have traveled a couple days to the East Coast to visit family, and it has been a reset time for me. Today I talk with you about some of the resetting that I do. I warn you, it&ap...