A Heart for Pastors

If you have spent any time doing research, you will quickly learn that pastors and their families need our support and encouragement more now than ever. Godly pastors serve with a passion to lift up Jesus and tend His sheep. I have many great friends who are pastors. We spend so much of our time and energy loving and leading people, we tend to forget that we need to take time to be refreshed. Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking we have a large capital “S” branded across our chest. With this in mind we begin believing there isn’t anything we can’t do, after all, the Bible says, “I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). We tend to focus more on the first part of this verse, “I can do ALL things…” and we stop there; read the rest of the verse, “…through Christ who gives me strength.” If the task at hand is “through Christ,” it indicates we are operating according to His will. He will give us the strength to accomplish it. If we are always frazzled, over-worked, frustrated, and weary, can we honestly say we are living our life according to this verse in its proper context?

This question leads me to my passion for ministry. I have a heart for pastors and their families. In my twenty years of pastoring, and as a pastor’s son, I’ve had the experience of serving as a bi-vocational pastor. I’m familiar with having to work an overnight shift on a Saturday night with just enough time after work to go home and shower, get dressed and be at the church to lead the morning service; take an afternoon nap, lead the evening service, and return to my secular job at midnight that night.  I have received several late night emergency calls. I have conducted three funerals in a period of seven days with the preparation of a message and the leading of the weekend services mixed in. There are meetings, phone calls, emails, weddings, outreach, ministry, and don’t forget…loving, leading and caring for my family, which includes my wife and three daughters. You get the picture…

During my years pastoring, I admit, I never took a sufficient break to rest, unwind, and be refreshed. Jesus did. There are many instances recorded in the Bible where He went up the mountain or out into the wilderness, away from all the noise, to pray and spend quality time with His Father.

Last summer God provided a way for me to take a Sabbatical to seek the Lord for His direction at this point and time in my life. While on Sabbatical, my passion to bless and encourage pastors and their families skyrocketed. I spent my Sabbatical in middle Tennessee, one of the most beautiful places on earth. Shepherd’s Fortress Ministries was born during this time. Our Mission is simply “to provide support and encouragement to pastors, pastors’ wives, and their sons and daughters.” My passion is to help provide opportunities for Christ-focused pastors to take time up the mountain to pray and be refreshed.

God is opening many doors of opportunity here in Tennessee. I was invited to attend a Pastors’ Retreat where I met several pastors. At this retreat I met an evangelist who has been faithfully serving in ministry since 1964; it is clearly evident that the joy of the Lord is his strength! He invited me to join him for a weekly Pastors’ Breakfast at a local café. The relationships that are developing out of this are priceless. In a future blog post I will expound on all that God is doing…we have some very exciting things to report and offer our heartfelt praise to the Lord for once details have been finalized!

My goal is not to make a name for myself, my goal is to lift up Jesus and serve His shepherds in a way that glorifies Him and brings encouragement to their hearts. I pray all who read this blog are enriched and drawn closer in their relationship with Jesus!

I would like to invite you to pray and seek the Lord and if He would direct your heart to send a love gift to support this ministry that would be such a blessing!

You may send your donation in one of two ways:
1. You will notice a Paypal Donation button in the upper right portion of this blog. Please click on it and you will be directed to our Paypal account. (You are not required to have a Paypal account to do so.) On some smartphones you may need to scroll down to the bottom and click, "view web version" to access this button.

2. You may send a check made payable to “Shepherd’s Fortress Ministries” and mail it to: P.O. Box 104, Brush Creek, TN 38547-0104

“Shepherd’s Fortress Ministries” is covered under the 501(c) (3) 1620 Group Exemption of “The Fellowship” Irving, TX and governed by a Board of Directors. All gifts are tax deductible.

Thank you all so much for your love and support! Many blessings to you and your family!

Walking in Genuine Faith

Lately I’ve been learning so many valuable things about fully trusting God.  I am striving to make every effort to rely on Him completely, resisting doubt and fear. I was raised in a home where the word “faith” was a regular part of our vocabulary. My dad was a man of faith. He taught me so much with his words, yet more importantly he taught me the most by his example. Although he went home to be with the Lord twenty seven years ago this month, many things I learned from him are still making an impact in my life today. He drilled Scripture into my heart within the confines of a very healthy father/son relationship. Dad taught me that faith is a gift from God and that as we exercise our faith, we grow in maturity and gain understanding. One of dad’s favorite verses is found in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” NKJV To this very day I can still hear him quoting this verse over and over again.

In Romans 12:3b Paul writes that “God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” When something is allotted to us, it generally means that that something is available for our use, yet it is up to us to take action and use it. When we read of how God has allotted to each a measure of faith, we are convinced that He has made faith available to us; however, we must exercise our faith through a life of prayer and obedience. There are no short-cuts. The great news is: Christ gives us the strength and understanding to do so. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” NKJV What a reassuring promise!

 In Matthew 17 we read an account of The Transfiguration of Jesus. Following this magnificent event, as Jesus, along with Peter, James, and John descend from the high mountaintop, they encounter a situation with the other disciples at the bottom of the mountain. A concerned dad brings his son to the other disciples earnestly desiring healing, deliverance, and restoration on his behalf. Evidently this dad assumed that those who truly follow Jesus should be people of genuine and effective faith that bring supernatural results. How disappointing it must have been for him to realize the other disciples were not spiritually equipped to confront the dilemma he and his son were facing. In Matthew 17:17 we see directly into the heart of Jesus and how displeasing it is  to Him when we do not exercise the faith He has allotted to us, “Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” NKJV After Jesus delivers, heals, and restores the son, the other disciples ask Him why they couldn’t. Jesus’ reply is found in verses 20-21, “So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” NKJV

Jesus gives us direction on properly exercising our faith in these verses. He teaches us the magnitude of faith. If you have the faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can move mountains! He totally diminishes and demolishes the activity of the devil. Even in light of all the ways the enemy was torturing this son, Jesus tells us that faith in Him, the size of a tiny mustard seed is more powerful than anything the devil could ever attempt to throw at us! Jesus says, “Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Emphasis added)

My earnest and humble prayer is to be spiritually ready for every encounter; not to promote myself, but to genuinely reach the lost and hurting through Christ Jesus and bring glory to His holy name! Today’s post began with the valuable things I am learning in terms of fully trusting God. The most important thing I have learned from the passage in Matthew 17 is that I must be a person of prayer. I’m not talking about rehearsed lifeless prayer that I repeat like an auctioneer. I’m talking about devoted, diligent, faith-filled prayers, where prayer has become the oxygen of my Christian life to the degree that I cannot live, move, or exist without it!

The text includes one last thing; it says, “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Fasting demonstrates that I am concerned more for the rescue, deliverance, and salvation of others above my personal desires. Fasting helps me to empty myself of selfish thoughts and attitudes that I may be filled with the Spirit. I must present myself before God as a yielded vessel knowing He performs His supernatural work through a life of faith and obedience.

I conclude with a question: Are you facing a mountain in your life today? Have you been un-equipped spiritually in the place where the other disciples were at the bottom of the mountain? Hebrews 11:1 says, “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.” TLB

Let me place a challenge before you: Today, purpose within your heart to be a devoted person of prayer. Make prayer your spiritual oxygen causing you to breathe in all you need to live a life of true obedience before the Lord. Finally, exercise your faith! Begin naming the impossible situations in your life in your prayers with an unshakable trust in God to respond according to His faithful promise!

Be blessed and encouraged! We serve the only True and Living God!