Tag Archives: pastors

Apr 29 2015

Supporting Equippers – Part 4 – Profile of an Equipper: 'Guest Blog by Loren Rosser'

Supporting Equippers - Part 4 - Profile of an Equipper

Supporting Equippers – Part 4 – Profile of an Equipper

One of the reasons we often overlook supporting real-deal equippers is due to the very fact that they are so down to earth, humble, approachable, authentic, and familiar. It is so odd. In our past we readily supporting distant celebrity preachers in a pulpit with whom we may have never had a personal private moment. We voluntarily “tithed” to see that person compensated. Yet now that we don’t do that any more, we react to the idea of supporting those we are close to. If familiarity breeds contempt, it often manifests in our financial relationship to those who truly equip us. This blog is the last of a four-part series by Loren Rosser and is posted by permission.

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Apr 28 2015

Pastors are in the Fall: 'Guest Blog by Nick Vasiliades'

Pastors are in the Fall

Pastors are in the Fall

The expression of pastoral ministry in the church can tend to aggregate at extremes in the Body of Christ. On the one hand you can have pastors who are oppressed by domineering and controlling board members and elders, whose mission in life seems to be to be to break pastors down and keep them in poverty. On the other hand, you can have pastors who think themselves as demi-gods at the top of a pyramid hierarchy who think people are little more than resources given by God to them to fulfill carnal ambition rooted in insecurity and thinly veiled as “corporate vision.” In Part One here, by my friend, Nick Vasiliades, explains why fundamental values and ideas in most western churches of how pastors are expected to function are the underlying reasons for so many misconceptions and malpractice of one of the necessary, precious, and legitimate gifts of the resurrected and ascended Lord to His church. Is it possible to be a supernaturally gifted “carer of souls” and avoid reactionary expressions? Yes, but not as long as we cling to biblically baseless definitions, values, and expressions of pastoral ministry.

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Feb 18 2015

Supporting the Equippers – Part 3 – Identifying the Real Deal: 'Guest Blog by Loren Rosser'

Supporting Equippers - Part 3 - Identify the Real Deal

Supporting Equippers – Part 3 – Identify the Real Deal

Most the folks who have angst about supporting equippers have been stuck with the wrong equippers. They’ve encountered the charlatans, the big shot, the power hungry, greedy, selfish, know-it-all, wannabes. Some who have encountered the genuine article didn’t even recognize them as such. Their religious training had taught them that whoever is in the pulpit on Sunday is equipping them for ministry, whether or not real equipping was taking place.  This blog is the third in a four-part series by Loren Rosser and posted here by permission.

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Jan 29 2015

Supporting Equippers – Part 2 – Establishing Us in Christ: 'Guest Blog by Loren Rosser'

Supporting Equippers: Establishing Christ the Foundation

Supporting Equippers: Establishing Christ the Foundation

If someone were to ask me to place a monetary value on the equipping I have received in my life it would be impossible to come up with a number. What value does one place on being grounded in Him?  Coming up with a monetary value is impossible because the things of the Spirit are worth far more than those of the temporal. Yet the scriptures are clear these gifts I have received have economic value. This blog is the second of a four part series by Loren Rosser and is posted by permission.

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Jan 20 2015

Supporting Equippers – Part 1: The Standoff: 'Guest Blog by Loren Rosser'

Supporting Ephesian 4 Equippers: Part One - The Standoff

Supporting Ephesian 4 Equippers: Part One – The Standoff

Many are moving away from mandatory financial obligation within religious systems.  They are pursuing genuine relational connections within the body of Christ. However, the issue of financial compensation of those who function within the body of Christ in a full-time capacity of Ephesian 4 equippers is a controversial and reactionary topic.  There’s currently a standoff of sorts taking place within in the body of Christ. This blog is the first in a four-part series by Loren Rosser and is posted by permission.

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