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May 09 2008

I don’t want to be “The Pastor from Gehenna!”

Posted by eutychus in Church Life, Discipleship, Pastoral Care

Mark Altrogge, who I know primarily from his songwriting for Sovereign Grace Music, has written a blog post titled “The Pastor from Gehenna” that really gets to the core of one of my inner struggles as a pastor: how do we motivate people to live like disciples of Jesus?  Quote:

My job was to whip the saints into obedience against their will. Since they really didn’t want to serve God, I had to guilt or pressure them into it. I’d say things like, “Come on, let’s worship God like we really mean it.” How self-righteous I was.

Read the article for what Altrogge understands as the solution (and I would agree).

This entry was posted on Friday, May 9th, 2008 at 11:31 am and is filed under Church Life, Discipleship, Pastoral Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 Responses to “I don’t want to be “The Pastor from Gehenna!””
  1. Mark Altrogge says:
    Friday, May 9, 2008 at 11:44 am

    Hey Les,

    Thanks for mentioning this post. I like your comment in the section about yourself that people have fallen asleep in your sermons – they have in mine too. I figure though, that they’ve probably had a tough week and church is a pretty good place to sleep. It doesn’t bother me as long as they don’t snore too loudly….

  2. eutychus says:
    Friday, May 9, 2008 at 12:23 pm

    Hi Mark,

    Thank you for visiting and commenting! I am pleased that I’ve found your and Stephen’s weblog and have linked to it and intend to visit often.

  3. pearlie says:
    Friday, June 20, 2008 at 8:26 am

    Hi Les, sorry for an off-topic comment here. I left you a note in aNobii – can you please check? Thanks :)

  4. John Mitchell says:
    Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 12:43 am

    Les – I have appreciated and grown from your sermons online and have a great respect for the job that you have to do as a pastor. I do a lot of public speaking, but the idea of trying to preach God’s Word every Sunday would be intimidating to me. I appreciate you and all of your fellow pastors who labor to faithfully convey God’s Word to those entrusted in your care. I am impressed by your servant heart and thankful to God for pastors like you and your colleagues.

    May God continue to watch over and bless you all and guide you as you teach his people.

  5. eutychus says:
    Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 4:06 am

    John,
    Thank you. I think a lot of people would be intimidated doing what you do as DA: standing in front of a judge and jury arguing for the guilt of a criminal.
    But in both of our vocations the responsibility of “getting it right” is great.
    Blessings,
    Les

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