Recent Articles

There comes a point in ministry when you realize you’re working hard—but you’re not sure what you’re aiming for anymore.You’re preaching every week. You’re caring for people. You’re putting out fires and keeping things moving. But somewhere along the way, the sense of direction has faded. Instead of leading forward, you feel like you’re maintaining the status quo.Too many church leaders don’t know what they want for their church, and often they don’t know what they want for their family either. The result is frustration. You’re busy, but you’re drifting.Most pastors don’t fail because they’re unfaithful. They stall because they’re unclear.All leaders need clarity. When Joshua stepped into leadership, it was at a moment when clarity was desperately needed.After the death of Moses, God gave Joshua an assignment that looked impossible. The land God promised was already occupied by nations larger and stronger than Israel (see Deuteronomy 7:1). Even the Promised Land had problems.That’s an important reminder for pastors. Even when God is blessing your ministry, difficulties will come. Faith doesn’t remove obstacles; faith moves forward in spite of them.God never asks us to do anything without his help. And in Joshua 1, God gives Joshua a leadership key to success that still applies to every pastor and church leader today.God Begins with ClarityBefore Joshua ever leads a battle, God gives him something far more important: clear direction.“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west" (Joshua 1:2–4 NIV).In these verses, God clearly outlines what Joshua is to do, when he is to do it, and where he is to go. Joshua isn’t left guessing. He has a precise assignment and a specific target. He knows exactly what God wants him to do.If you’re going to be a leader God can use, you must first be clear in your direction.What feels personal in a pastor’s heart never stays personal for long. Direction—or the lack of it—always shapes the people you lead.Nothing precedes purpose. Until you know why something exists, you have no foundation, no motivation, and no direction. That’s true for churches just as much as it is for leaders.If you’re starting a new church, your first task isn’t programs or plans—it’s defining purpose. And if you’re serving in an existing church that feels plateaued, declining, or discouraged, your first task is to recapture that purpose.Absolutely nothing will revitalize a discouraged church faster than rediscovering its purpose.As I prepared to start Saddleback, one of the most important things I discovered was that growing, healthy churches have a clear-cut identity. They understand their reason for being. They are precise in their purpose. They know exactly what God has called them to do—and they know what is not their business.When that clarity is missing, confusion fills the gap.If you ask church members why their church exists, you’ll often get a wide range of answers. Many assume the church exists primarily to meet their needs and their family’s needs. Meanwhile, pastors often describe the church’s purpose very differently. When a congregation and its leadership can’t even agree on why the church exists, conflict and stagnation are inevitable.Clarity Is a Leadership ResponsibilityThat’s why clarity isn’t a luxury for leaders. It’s a responsibility.I’ve seen this play out repeatedly in ministry. At Saddleback—as we built up our people and our programs—we spent years looking for a piece of property that would become our church campus. We faced resistance, delays, and setbacks. But eventually God brought us to the right property, and the direction was clear.That clear direction raised morale. It increased commitment. It energized people. Simply having a clear destination created momentum. When the direction was specific, people were willing to sacrifice and move forward together.When you get specific, people get excited.Many pastors hesitate to define direction because clarity feels risky. Once you name a goal, it can be evaluated. Once you define a direction, you open yourself to criticism. Vague vision feels safer—but it can’t inspire faith.Clarity is an act of faith.God didn’t tell Joshua to feel ready. He told him where to go. And that clarity gave Joshua the confidence to move forward into uncertainty.The same is true for you. God doesn’t hold you responsible for outcomes you can’t control—but he does call you to be clear about the direction he’s given you.So let me ask you this:Where has God already made the direction clear—but you’ve kept it vague to avoid risk?Clarity won’t remove the challenges in front of you. But it will give you the confidence to move forward through them.

“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NLT)Pastor, you know the word sanctification. You’ve preached it. You’ve taught it.But 1 Corinthians 6 reminds us that sanctification isn’t only about our hearts or habits. It’s also about something deeply practical: our bodies.Paul says your body belongs to God. It’s the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. And because of that, honoring God includes how you care for yourself physically—not as a side issue, but as faithful stewardship.So how do you honor God with your body?It’s not about image or perfection. It’s not about comparison.It’s about stewardship.Your body is something God has entrusted to you. He designed it with limits, rhythms, and needs. Caring for it is part of managing what he has placed in your hands. When you ignore those limits—chronic exhaustion, poor rest, neglect—you’re not just tired. You’re mismanaging a trust.The psalmist prayed, “You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands” (Psalm 119:73 NLT). God built wisdom about health, rest, and self-control into the way he made you. Stewardship means paying attention to those signals instead of overriding them.Paul uses the image of an athlete to make the same point: “All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize” (1 Corinthians 9:25 NLT). Discipline isn’t about appearance. It’s about readiness. Athletes care for their bodies so they can finish what they’ve been called to do.In the same way, caring for your body allows you to stay available to God’s work—week after week, season after season. Stewardship isn’t about doing more. It’s about lasting longer.So as you begin this week, ask yourself this stewardship question:What’s one small adjustment I can make today to better care for what God has entrusted to me?

“It is the LORD who gives wisdom; from him come knowledge and understanding. He provides help and protection for those who are righteous and honest.” Proverbs 2:6–7 (GNT)Pastor, are you facing a difficult decision right now—about your church, your leadership, or the direction of your ministry?Those moments come more often than we like to admit. And they can feel especially heavy when people are looking to you for clarity, confidence, and answers.Scripture reminds us that wisdom doesn’t originate with us. “It is the LORD who gives wisdom” (Proverbs 2:6 GNT). God never asks you to lead out of your own insight alone. He promises to supply what you need.In Proverbs, Solomon offers three simple first steps that are especially helpful when the pressure is on.First, check the Bible.Before you seek opinions or strategies, anchor yourself in God’s Word. Wisdom begins with listening. Proverbs reminds us that God “provides help and protection” (Proverbs 2:7 GNT). When you open Scripture, you’re not just looking for answers—you’re placing yourself under God’s care.Next, get the facts.Faith and preparation work together. The Living Bible paraphrase is blunt about rushing decisions: “What a shame—yes, how stupid!—to decide before knowing the facts!” (Proverbs 18:13). Taking time to gather information, ask good questions, and understand the situation in front of you is not a lack of faith—it’s an expression of wisdom.Finally, ask for advice.Pastoral leadership can feel lonely, but you were never meant to be isolated. “Without advice plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22 GW). Seek out trusted voices—people who know you, understand your calling, and have walked similar roads. One of the quiet burdens pastors carry is the pressure to appear certain. But needing counsel doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you’re wise enough to trust God to speak through his Word and his people. Humility and wisdom always travel together.As you step into this week, remember this: You don’t have to have every answer. You just need to stay close to the one who does. God delights in guiding pastors who seek him first—and he will faithfully give you the wisdom you need, one step at a time.

Pastor, some of the most painful moments in ministry are the ones you never planned for.You didn’t ask for the conflict. You didn’t expect the criticism. You didn’t see the disappointment coming. One day you were serving faithfully, and the next day you were wondering how things got so complicated.When you’re in that place, it’s easy to start asking hard questions. Why is this happening? Did I miss something? Did I mess something up? You may even wonder whether God is really using this season at all.Here’s something you need to remember:God never wastes a hurt.What you’re going through is not random. It hasn’t slipped past God’s attention, and it hasn’t arrived without purpose. Even when the situation feels confusing or unfair, God is still at work—shaping you and preparing you for what he wants to do next.The truth is, God often does his deepest work in our lives through the very experiences we would never choose for ourselves. And if you’re willing to trust him in this season, he can use even your worst experiences to shape your ministry in lasting ways.If you’re in a painful season right now, you may not need all the answers. But you do need a few solid truths to hold onto—truths that steady you when circumstances feel uncertain and remind you of what God is really doing.There are a few things God wants you to remember in seasons like this. These three truths won’t make the pain disappear. They won’t fix everything overnight. But they can help you see your situation through God’s eyes and trust him as he uses even your hardest experiences to shape your ministry.Truth #1: This Isn’t RandomPastor, what you’re walking through right now is not an accident. It didn’t sneak past God or catch him off guard, and it didn’t arrive without purpose.If you belong to Jesus, nothing enters your life—or your ministry—without your Father’s permission. God is paying attention to every detail, even the ones that confuse you. The Bible tells us this in Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (NIV).That doesn’t mean God caused what’s happening. It doesn’t mean he enjoys your pain. And it doesn’t mean this season is his ideal plan for your life. But it does mean that he is fully aware of it and fully present in it.Truth #2: God Is Not the Author—He Is the RedeemerWhen ministry hurts, it’s natural to assume God must be behind what you’re experiencing. But there’s an important distinction you need to remember. God is sovereign, yet he is not the author of sin, injustice, or cruelty. He never delights in your pain, and he never asks you to pretend that what hurts doesn’t hurt.When you sin, that’s not God’s will. When others wound you, misunderstand your motives, or speak against you, that’s not God’s will either. And when pressure builds because you’ve been carrying more than you were meant to carry, that strain isn’t something God designed.But God does allow things he does not approve of—and then he redeems them.That means even painful experiences can be used by God for a greater purpose. Ask Joseph. Standing in front of the brothers who had wronged him, he said: “Even though you planned evil against me, God planned good to come out of it. This was to keep many people alive, as he is doing now" (Genesis 50:20 GW).God takes what is broken and brings healing, what is confusing and brings clarity, and what feels unfair and uses it to shape something good in your life and ministry.Redemption doesn’t mean the pain didn’t matter. It means God refuses to waste it. Even when circumstances feel unfair or confusing, you can trust that God is at work in what he allows, using it to shape you and prepare you for what’s next.Truth #3: God Is Shaping You for What’s NextOne of the hardest parts of painful seasons in ministry is not knowing how long they will last or what they are producing. When the pressure doesn’t lift and the answers don’t come, it can feel like you’re stuck—like this moment is the end of the story.It isn’t.God often does his deepest work in us before he does his most visible work through us. He shapes the heart long before he changes the situation. What feels like delay is often preparation.Throughout Scripture, God brings life out of what looks finished. He uses loss, limitation, and weakness to form leaders who are more dependent on him and more compassionate toward others.That shaping work is not wasted time. It’s how God deepens your faith, strengthens your character, and prepares you for what lies ahead. Even when you can’t see the connection yet, God is forming something lasting in you.This season will not define you. But God can use it to refine you. And when he is finished with what he’s doing in your heart, you’ll be better prepared to serve with humility, wisdom, and grace in whatever comes next.Pastor, take heart.What you’re facing today may feel heavy, confusing, or unfair—but it is not meaningless. God is with you in it. He is shaping you through it. And he is not wasting a single moment of your faithfulness.You may not yet see how this season fits into the bigger picture. But one day, you’ll look back and recognize that God was doing more than you realized—forming you, steadying you, and preparing you for what only he could see ahead.Until then, keep trusting him. Keep walking faithfully. And remember: God never wastes a hurt.