Click here for the podcast link: https://churchleaders.com/podcast/444360-dale-sellers-hope-help-pastors-stalled.html
The YouTube version is available below.
As a church leader, you may have begun ministry with dreams of making an eternal impact. But years of striving, stress, and strain have left you feeling defeated, disillusioned, and stalled. But there is hope, in this reading plan, Dale shares how God views you and your ministry regardless of size or any other typical measurement.
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Dale has experienced both the highs and lows of ministry. He’s experienced the joys of serving people, but also has the scars from a life spent in the church. This book was not written from an ivory tower but in the battle ground of ministry. As you read through this book you will find encouragement, authenticity, truthfulness, and the words of an experienced pastor who lived through the peaks and valleys of ministry and still loves people and the church!
I know Dale personally and I can tell you this – he loves Jesus, his family, and the local church. He has personally helped me in ministry. He spoke words of hard truth into my life when I was “stalled,” but also words of incredible refreshment. Less than a year ago spoke words of encouragement that blessed me and my wife immensely. This book will challenge you and encourage you!
I am so glad that Dale wrote this book to serve countless other pastors that need to hear and believe once again there is hope and it’s found in faithfully following and serving Jesus! If you’re a layperson buy this book for your pastor. If you’re a pastor buy this book for yourself and purchase a few more for your pastoral colleagues.
Our 95Podcast episodes, blog posts, and books have been specifically designed to provide encouraging teaching and guidance on the issues that you face in daily ministry.
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According to Ephesians 4:11 – 12, the main function of church leadership is to equip believers for the work of the ministry.
Equipping others, however, is difficult. Our blog posts address the practical ways that church leaders can build communities of support and encourage other believers to be the hands and feet of Christ in the Church and the larger community.
Speaking with all integrity, my family is a huge reason why I was able to go through the cloud. But, in all reality, they should be because they went through the cloud with me!
It’s time to address the internal barriers in the hearts of spiritual leaders that keep them from reaching out for help. I hope you can overcome them if I help you identify them in your heart.
I saw the most traction in discipleship growth through intentional one-on-one and one-to-few relationships. If my older self (who still disciples others) could give my 30-year-old self some advice about discipleship, here are a few things I would say.
I was undoubtedly their campus “mom” but without the benefit of a lifelong relationship to help guide them. Yes, discipleship was messy, and as I look back on those days, I see where I could have used a different perspective. Here are three of my biggest mistakes:
Each of us has an identity fashioned by our personality, cultural background, social influences, and acquired preferences. Our organizational identity also includes our skill sets, experiences, needs, and interpretations of our roles.
I’m referring to more about what’s been happening to me internally over the last two years as I try to find the proper balance between what influences me and what I influence.
Having a host of commitments always reminds me of these wise words, “If you don’t control your calendar, your calendar will control you.” What gets scheduled gets done, and what doesn’t get scheduled gets left behind.
For me, it means making sure that I’m equipping individuals and churches to join God in His work. It means that I’m charged with encouraging those around me to participate in God’s mission of sharing about Jesus.
Whether we like it or not, though, church has changed. The message is the same, but there’s no doubt church looks different. With or without our approval.
As a volunteer, it’s often easy to fall into a rut with your serving routine. You walk in, find your badge, stand where you’re supposed to stand or go where you’re supposed to go, and put your time in while trying to look relatively pleasant.
Far too many churches spend the majority of their weekly focus on what happens in the “main service” without giving any serious thought to everything else that optimizes the ministry as a whole.
I would’ve been asking how I could use this time to move closer to God’s ring of honor. The more I reflect on these thought patterns, the more I see how much I need to confess!
Discouraged. It’s how every leader has felt at one point or another when we want to be somewhere we’re not. Dale navigated his own experiences of disappointment in himself and uncovered key truths about leadership in ministry that can anchor and guide us today.
Dale Sellers of 95Network believes this trend is largely due to discouragement among our pastors. Many church leaders begin ministry with dreams of making an eternal impact. But years of striving, stress, and strain have left them feeling defeated, disillusioned, and stalled.
Thankfully, there is hope that ministry can turn around for the discouraged pastor. As a former minister who’s been in the trenches, Dale Sellers reveals that:
In STALLED, you will discover your sweet spot and realize you are closer to being “there” than you know.
All episodes will be posted here on the website, and are also available wherever you listen to podcasts.
Hosted by Caralee Culpepper and Dale Sellers, our executive director, and a former small church pastor, our 95Network podcast is a wealth of information specifically for small-church pastors—delivered in a candid, kind, and concise way. We cover pressing topics in modern ministry, annual trends, and more.
A healthy soul is developed through a rhythm of surrender and reflection. We were not created to live our lives in a wide-open, frantic pace continually.
God takes seriously the price His Son paid to provide our forgiveness. Therefore, He will not tolerate his leaders and children choosing to withhold forgiveness toward others.
Volunteers and servers inside a local church don’t exist to fulfill a leader’s vision or ministry. In fact, as leaders in the church, we are called to equip people (saints) to find and fulfill their ministry.
It’s your responsibility to make sure you are healthy in every arena of life. Leave it to chance and you will discover the consequences are often overwhelming.
Although hearing the truth sometimes really hurts, not honestly evaluating your ministry effectiveness can lead to a ministry on life-support.
Hope is not a strategy. It’s so important to take seriously the responsibility of setting goals for how you would like to live the final quarter of life.
There is so much misunderstanding about how the pastors housing allowance works. Even most IRS agents aren’t clear on how it was originally designed to help pastors.
One of our most important desires should be to help people “know Jesus” and then to help “others to know Him” too. Far too many church leaders view discipleship as an “optional” ministry focus that gets buried in a long list of other priorities.
Church planters are taking the time to research a specific community to understand its cultural makeup before planting a specific model of church.
The pathway to finding God’s ultimate purpose for your life is often filled with a series of opportunities for faithfulness. Walking through the open door in front of you often leads to other open doors to be discovered.
Having a clear understanding of your mission, which describes “why” you exist as an organization, is a must for anyone to have long term success.
Easter and Christmas have typically been approached as “the finish line” for ministry emphasis. However, Tony and Amy encourage us to view these important dates on the calendar as launching points for ministry focus.