True confession time: I have—on occasion—succumbed to the occupational hazard of preachers to sneak a mini sermon into a public prayer. For the sake of clarity, I’m referring to talking to the hearers who are in the room while I’m supposed to be talking to God on their behalf. Admittedly, it’s a narrow distinction. Most […]

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I experienced an unexpected frog escape Wednesday evening walking across the church parking lot. A few of my family members and friends will know what I mean. For the rest of you, here’s the background: The beautiful and amazing Mrs. Sweetie spent the last few years of her education career as an elementary school counselor. […]

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Happy “not snowing yet but expected again soon” Saturday! (At least at my current location and time of writing). This morning I’m thinking about a phone call I got at about 2:00 am on July 10, 2010. My administrative assistant called to tell me that our office building was on fire. I got dressed as […]

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Happy Saturday-before-Christmas, friends! I woke up this morning with a sense of pressure, knowing that this would be my last Saturday Pondering of the year. I know there’s still one more Saturday left, but I’m starting tomorrow on my annual year-end writing sabbatical. So my next post will be on Saturday, January 4. That’s why I woke […]

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It’s hard to believe there are only two Saturdays remaining in 2024. In the next hour or so I’m heading over to Temple Baptist Church, Amarillo (where I’m serving as interim pastor) to pick up my order of delicious homemade Christmas cookies. The Christmas cookie project is a fundraiser for the church’s mission trip to […]

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  Welcome to Season 3 of the Your Church Matters podcast. In this week’s episode, I’m sharing some reflections on how churches may respond to tragedy when it’s not in our community.  How can we engage and ignite the whole Body of Christ in joining hands across the world?     When tragedy strikes elsewhere A couple of weeks ago […]

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  Welcome to Season 3 of the Your Church Matters podcast. In this week’s episode, I’m sharing a heartfelt response to the ugliness of racism as demonstrated over the weekend in Charlottesville, VA.  The church must stand with one voice and say, “No more!”     How you can help me help others: Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes and give […]

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  Welcome to Season 3 of the Your Church Matters podcast. In this week’s episode, I’m sharing some thoughts on the concept of “theological reflection” in the activities of our lives.  I’m also adding a new feature to the podcast: “What I love about the church where I worshiped this past Sunday.”     Theological Reflection “Theological Reflection” – In […]

The post 107 – God is speaking. Are you listening? [Podcast] appeared first on Dr. Gerry Lewis.

  Welcome to Season 3 of the Your Church Matters podcast. In this week’s episode, I’m sharing some thoughts I have recently been sharing with churches on the questions people bring to the worship gathering.  The content itself is a recording of my message at Joplin Baptist Church, Joplin, TX on July 23, 2017.     Questions people bring to […]

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  Welcome to Season 3 of the Your Church Matters podcast. In this week’s episode, I’m sharing some thoughts on Life Planning and life rhythms for pastors and leaders by sharing real time thoughts that occurred on a planned quarterly day of reflection on my own life plan.     For more information on Life Planning resources, click here. For more […]

The post 105 – You plan your ministry. When do you plan your life? [Podcast] appeared first on Dr. Gerry Lewis.

  Welcome to Season 3 of the Your Church Matters podcast. In this week’s episode, I’m sharing some thoughts for preachers on something every one of us has done at some point: preached one sermon that should have been more than one.     Occupational hazards of highly motivated preachers We want people to know everything we know about a […]

The post 104 – Please, Pastor, just one sermon at a time! [Podcast] appeared first on Dr. Gerry Lewis.