In our effort to become better preachers we often learn from the best preachers in our generation. We watch our heroes and take notes gleaning all we can from them.

This, by the way, is a good thing. While you should never seek to copy someone else or become them, you can always learn a great deal from studying best-practices.

But we have a lot to learn not only from our contemporaries, but also from those who have gone before. One leader and preacher who we can learn a great deal from is Paul.

Paul, the Apostle, was not only a top notch theologian who wrote a huge part of the New Testament. He was also a missionary, pastor, church-planter and movement leader. We can gain a lot from watching his life and ministry. In this episode, we'll discover five practical things preachers can learn from Paul.

Churches rely on the generosity of their members to fund the church's ministries.

It stands to reason that pastors would want to avoid doing things that end up reducing their members' giving.

But many pastors and church leaders are unknowingly hindering their church's giving. This is according to an article on Carey Nieuwhof's site which we're diving into in this episode.

Fortunately, every one of the five generosity killers is reversible and can be fixed. But you have to know what they are first. Let's dive into it in this episode.

The environment in which we preach is not always friendly towards pastors.

The trust that a person in ministry might have had three or four decades ago has been eroded.

Rather than implicit trust, we are more likely to be met with distrust, doubt and skepticism when people find out we're in ministry.

But we still are called to preach the gospel with confidence. How do we do this?

In this episode, we'll be diving into an article by Ed Stetzer in which he lays out some ways to communicate with confidence in this climate.

A new report by Christianity Today's Kate Shellnutt details the results of an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention's handling of abuse survivors within its churches.

From the report: "Investigation: SBC Executive Committee staff saw advocates’ cries for help as a distraction from evangelism and a legal liability, stonewalling their reports and resisting calls for reform."

It's a heartbreaking report that shows abuses and cover-ups going back decades within the SBC and its Executive Committee.

In this video, we'll dive into the report and draw out some lessons we can learn as church leaders and pastors.

A recent survey finds over half of all pastors say they're overworked and struggle with time-management.

This is a topic I'm passionate about because I think churches can do so much better when the pastor is in a healthy place.

In this episode, we'll dive into this issue and I'll give you some things that I have found to be helpful with overwork, overwhelm and time-management.

We are now solidly two years into the pandemic. With most restrictions lifted and churches back in full pre-pandemic operation, one thing is still lagging behind - attendance.

A recent study shows that attendance patterns have plateaued over the last six months with very little increase even as churches are back in full swing.

What does this mean for church leaders? What can we do about it? We dive into all of that in this episode.

Developing your skills as a preacher is a lifelong endeavor. You never "arrive" and that's part of what makes preaching such a challenging, but incredibly rewarding task.

This is why I love talking about how to find your voice as a preacher. Your voice is the only one God gave you. My voice is the only one God gave me. However, as preachers, it's tempting to try to fit someone else's voice into our own. This results in us being a less effective version of (insert your favorite preacher here).

In this episode, Mike Ash discusses how to find your voice as a pastor and how to best serve your listeners with what God has equipped YOU with. We dive into a plethora of other topics as well including sermon prep, preaching teams, research and study and the various trends and waves in evangelical Christianity over the last few decades.

There is a lot packed into this one, and I know you're going to enjoy it.

When it comes to fulfilling your church's vision and impacting your community, you won't get far without funds.

This is why giving is so important to churches. But the method in which we receive donations has changed over the last few years - especially in these last two years of the pandemic.

In most churches, we've seen a shift from a long-standing tradition of in-person, pass the plate style giving to some form of digital giving online.

There are many benefits to this shift and some cautions. We'll get into all of it in this episode.

It would be fair to guess that someone in your church or someone you know has been going through a deconstruction process.

What is deconstruction and why does it seem like everyone is talking about right now?

And what's the difference between deconversion and deconstruction? And how does this affect our ministries day to day as we're leading our churches?

In this episode, we will dive into all of these questions and aim to get a better understanding of what's going on in our culture right now.

In this episode, Lantz Howard of Champion Hope joins me to discuss how to be calm.

In a season of chaos and stress, as leaders we must manage ourselves well. Self-management and self-leadership include training ourselves to be calm even in times of stress.

As 2021 is coming to a close and 2022 is right around the corner, putting into practice what Lantz reveals in this episode will serve you and your ministry well.