Greatheart's Table

Thanks for the encouraging words many of you have sent my way. I write with pastors in view – so if you know any who might benefit from joining us here, do let them know. But I am discovering that many of you who have found the content thus far helpful are not pastors. I say, the more the merrier. I’m glad to have you as well. Pass an invite on to others you know. Either way, if you have a f...

Thanks for listening to Greatheart’s Table. For reasons this post will explain I don’t know how many of you there are out there, but I’m grateful for all of you, or perhaps both of you, as the case may be. In this post, I’m thinking about our motivation for ministry. It’s possible we pay more attention to the acclaim of the chosen than we do to the call of the Chooser, and that can be wearisome. W...

Hi! Welcome to Greatheart’s Table. A friend recently stopped by a donut shop in Michigan whose slogan is “Donuts: We made them taste good; you made them famous. I want to adopt that idea. I do what I can to make these posts taste good. If you agree, then I need you to make them “famous.” Fame is not my goal, but being a service to as many as I can is. If you find these posts tasty, ple...

Hi! Welcome to Greatheart’s Table. If you have not joined us before, I encourage you to read or listen to the first post which explains what Greatheart’s Table is all about. I hope this to be an encouragement to pastors, and to those who care for them, and to any others who might take a seat at the table. Pastoral ministry, I suggested in our last post, can be panic inducing. In this one, I’d like...

Welcome to Greatheart’s Table. There is a lot of conversation about pastors being in crisis. It certainly can feel like a crisis moment, and I understand the panic some feel. But perhaps that is a bit premature. Perhaps we need some perspective. I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can email me — greatheartstable@gmail.com — or leave comments on the newsletter. The more I hear the more I know what...

Thanks for joining us at Greatheart’s Table . Since my plan is to publish on the first, second, and fourth Monday of the month, there will (probably!) be no installment released on May 17. I say “probably” because I’ve enjoyed doing this and could see myself just plowing on through. Nevertheless, you can for sure expect to hear from me again on the 24th of May. In this post I’d like to consider ho...

Thanks for joining us at Greatheart’s Table. I wanted to give a shout out to Nicole Turner who designed the logo for Greatheart’s Table. I am finding that in some nooks and crannies of the internet my placeholder logo frustratingly still appears. When that happens, it only goes to show how good Nicole is, and I’m grateful for her work. Sometimes, I think pastors don’t realize the potential we have...

Thanks for joining us here at Greatheart’s Table. If you have comments or questions, I’d love to hear from you. When you leave a comment or send an email, you will help shape the direction this takes. In this edition, we note that it is not only running a church that can make pastoring hard for pastors. Sometimes the demands screaming from every corner of the church are painfully frustrating. I fo...

The inadequacy some pastors feel may arise from a disconnect between what they feel called to do and what they are expected to do. We want to care for people; the people expect us to run a church. Somehow we have to find a way to do both. So pull up a chair and let’s consider how we might think about this idea of “Running a Church.” Quote is from – Eugene Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor (...

This episode welcomes you to the podcast giving listeners an idea of what we are about here. As with all episodes, it replicates the content of the print newsletter. To check that out or subscribe, you can go here . Podcast music provided by Over the Rhine , and used with permission. Intro: “All My Favorite People” / Lyrics Outro: “Called Home” / Lyrics Thanks for joining u...