A State of Mediocrity?

Steve Brown July 15th, 2010

This morning, I read and graded "integration" papers from a course for Doctor of Ministry students at the seminary. The course was titled: Thriving & Surviving Pastoral Ministry.

I just finished reading the paper of one of my pastor students who wrote (referring to me):

The class helped me think about surviving and thriving. I like Steve. I like his attitude about the ministry. He has survived well. And he has thrived, it would seem. He has served churches, written books, had a ra … (Read More)

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cartoon: gag me!

nakedpastor October 27th, 2009

(If you're on the front page of the site, click the title of this post to see the cartoon.)

nakedpastor is David Hayward. David is an artist trapped in a pastor's body. Go to nakedpastor.com for more cartoons, blog posts, art and insight from a pastor who's stark naked honest about church life.

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You can't teach a frog to fly!

Steve Brown September 3rd, 2009

I've had a lousy job for most of my life!

As you know, I'm a preacher/pastor and my job description is to keep people from doing what they obviously want to do. I've often felt like an overwhelmed police officer at a rock concert charged with keeping the concert goers from using drugs.

With a job description like mine, you hardly ever get invited to parties, people are not very honest, and sometimes you feel like a wet shaggy dog shaking himself at a wedding. I tell them that I� … (Read More)

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Clement on Unity & Schism

John H. Armstrong August 4th, 2009

The church father, Clement of Rome (died c. A. D. 90 to 100), intervened in a local congregational schism while serving as an early church overseer in the first century. Some historians believe that this same Clement was identified by Paul in Philippians 4:3. That may be. Later tradition saw Clement as the third pope, something that I do not believe is terribly clear in the record that we actually possess from the era in which he lived and died.

In Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians (this … (Read More)

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Oprah, Quackery & The Public Confessional

John H. Armstrong June 19th, 2009

Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert believe television celebrity Oprah Winfrey possesses a…

“lifelong quest for love, meaning and fulfillment [that] plays [itself] out on her stage each day. In an age of information overload, she offers herself as a guide through the confusion.” (“Crazy Talk: Oprah, Wacky Cures and You,” in Newsweek, June 8, 2009)

I can’t think of a better description of the star appeal of Oprah Winfrey than that—she is a guide to millions of viewers who see her as a … (Read More)

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The Mission of Oprah

John H. Armstrong May 20th, 2009

The gospel of health and happiness is widely preached in America, especially on television. Indeed, it often appears to be the central message of some of the best known evangelical ministers in the land. But no one comes remotely close to perfecting the power of this message quite like television and media star Oprah Winfrey. She has made this message into a type of "salvific talk" that is widely popular in mainstream culture, especially among women. O, the magazine that Oprah publishe … (Read More)

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