Tree of Life Church

Just for Pastors 25: Let Them All In!

You don’t have a mandate from the Lord to run a church for one sort of person – a youth church, a Nigerian church, a middle-class church, an elderly church. A church should have a mix of whatever is in the community around it – that is a healthy church. A church should mirror theContinue reading “Just for Pastors 25: Let Them All In!”

Just For Pastors 24: Take Charge of Your Service!

Every church service should have the power of the Spirit manifest, we should be seeing the gifts happen. It’s that simple. You have to provide a system in which those gifts flow – and you both enable those who have something from God to share, and those who are a little kooky and spooky toContinue reading “Just For Pastors 24: Take Charge of Your Service!”

Just For Pastors 23: Titles and Respect

If you want to survive in ministry, you need people not just to like you but to respect you. They need not just to relate to you, but they need to appreciate your fruitfulness. Now, at the end of the day, people are going to make their own choices, and many are stubborn, selfish andContinue reading “Just For Pastors 23: Titles and Respect”

Just for the Pastors 22: Let’s Talk About Money

As a pastor you have to understand on a very deep, heart level that money is not evil, and you should not be poor. You should have a lot of money, and because of that, you should be learning how to handle money with wisdom, faith and gentleness. If you cannot handle money well, satanContinue reading “Just for the Pastors 22: Let’s Talk About Money”

Just for the Pastors 21: Let’s Talk About Sex

Lester Sumrall said that ministers only fall for three reasons: power, money and sex, and the hardest fall is when it involves sex. When a minister commits adultery, there is always steps before that, often pornography. Sexual sin will not just destroy your ministry, it will destroy your soul and your family too. It’s serious.Continue reading “Just for the Pastors 21: Let’s Talk About Sex”

Just for the Pastors 20: Keep Good Company

1 Cor. 15.33 is very clear: do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good habits. As a pastor, you have to be careful of the company you keep. There is definitely a time we need to minister to people, but there is also a time in which we need to fellowship with the wise, weContinue reading “Just for the Pastors 20: Keep Good Company”

Just for the Pastors 19: Learn the Power of Withdrawal

For the last month in our Dagenham church, I have been teaching about powers that every Christian has – the power to perceive, the power to give, the power to prepare and the power to receive God’s Word. But today, I want to talk about a super-power that is available to every pastor. If youContinue reading “Just for the Pastors 19: Learn the Power of Withdrawal”

Just for the Pastors 18: Help Stop Others Stumbling

9 But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. 10 For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? 11 So because of your superior knowledge,Continue reading “Just for the Pastors 18: Help Stop Others Stumbling”

Just for the Pastors 17: Base It All on Jesus!

Everything you do should be based on Jesus. Want to start an outreach ministry? Go and sit down and read the gospels and look at how Jesus did it. Want to operate in signs and wonders? Go and sit down and read the gospels and look at how Jesus did it. Want to gather aContinue reading “Just for the Pastors 17: Base It All on Jesus!”

Just for the Pastors 16: Shepherds Don’t Go Out Drinking with the Sheep

When I was a youth pastor, I was leading a youth camp with my wife, and we found out one of the young teenage girls was self-harming. We called her parents and they took her home. She was livid at us and screamed at us “I thought you were supposed to be my friends”. IContinue reading “Just for the Pastors 16: Shepherds Don’t Go Out Drinking with the Sheep”