by Bret Capranica | Feb 18, 2008 | Pastoral Ministry
Mohler has some good comments on how a man should discern if he is called to preach. What often is left unsaid or said less solidly than Mohler’s comments is the role the congregation should play. If the church cannot recognize a man’s call, he is more than likely not called. Has God Called You? Discerning the Call to...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 23, 2007 | Ecclesiology, Miscellaneous, Pastoral Ministry
Have you read Desiring God’s article on their approach to ministry and money? I finished this booklet yesterday and found it intriguing and am considering the implications of it for personal life and ministry. To be quite honest, I support a number of different ministries financially, yet none other than Desiring God has been this purposeful and open with their resources. I appreciate their approach and the God-centered passion and dependence they demonstrate. Any thoughts? Money, Markets, and Ministry :: Desiring...
by Bret Capranica | Jun 27, 2007 | Pastoral Ministry, The Gospel
Be sure to check out the new 9 Marks e-newsletter and the articles regarding “Challenges to the Gospel.” 9Marks
by Bret Capranica | May 8, 2007 | Pastoral Ministry, Personal, Time/Life Management
Tracing one’s time is a tool I often suggest to people when they are making the first steps in getting a hold on the use of their time. I regularly suggest that one begin with keeping a record of how they have spent their time during a week in thirty-minute increments. Go HERE for the Excel file I normally use for this purpose. So, when I am wanting to reflect and examine my own time habits, I usually do a running “tick-tock” of how I spend my time. This go-round, I actually published it to the web rather than merely kept the list on a piece of paper. What I Think Went Well: In essence, the majority of what I planned to accomplish I was able to accomplish. I did not find myself forwarding many of my tasks to the next day, I was actually accomplishing them. I was able to meet with twelve people for discipleship purposes, our pastoral team in several significant meetings, the majority of my Sunday School class for a fellowship and one of our shut-ins. According to my e-mail statistics I received 63 legitimate e-mails (not spam) to my church account and sent 25 e-mails from that same account. I made or received 31 phone calls on my cell phone, and 60 text messages were sent & received. Through various means, I did a lot of talking. I was able to have significant times of Bible intake and prayer during my devotional time and consistently read from John Owen’s book, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers. I finished Augustine’s Confessions and made progress...
by Bret Capranica | May 7, 2007 | Pastoral Ministry, Personal, Time/Life Management
The Lord’s Day is my favorite and most exhausting day of the week: 3:00 a.m. Awoke to shower and dress, with one major change – Brie woke up and was ready to eat. She has been sleeping until 5:00 a.m. or 6:00 a.m. but not this morning. So I fed her, had her changed and back in bed asleep by 3:30 a.m. 3:30 a.m. Showered and dressed. 4:00 a.m. Devotional Time 5:00 a.m. Prepared for leading the music Sunday morning and finalized preparations for teaching my Sunday School Class. 5:30 a.m. Worked on my sermon manuscript for preaching Sunday PM. 7:00 a.m. Finished dressing and preparing to leave 7:20 a.m. Left for church 7:30 a.m. Rehearsal with our instrumentalists 8:00 a.m. Rehearsal with our choir 8:15 a.m. First Worship Service. I lead the music which included leading our choir in an anthem. 9:45 a.m. Sunday School class. I lead a group of young adults in a dialogue teaching format. We discussed how to Study the Bible inductively as we prepare to launch into a new inductive study of Genesis. 10:30 a.m. Prepared choir for our Second Worship Service 10:45 a.m. Second Worship Service. Our two morning services are identical in format. The service ended this morning about 10 minutes after noon. I stayed to talk with people after the service until almost 1:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. Back at home – had lunch with a young couple from our church. 3:30 p.m. In my study, I caught up on the day’s news and a few blog headlines. I then began finalizing my sermon manuscript and preparing for the evening service....
by Bret Capranica | May 5, 2007 | Pastoral Ministry, Personal, Time/Life Management
I tried to stay away from both my phone and my computer on Friday, so I did not post yesterday. I finish this evening, thinking back on the past few days. Thursday: 4:00 a.m. Up to shower and dress about an hour later than I planned. I don’t do well to get up on time if I go to bed too late. 4:30 a.m. My devotional Time. 5:30 a.m. Because I have a meeting at 8:00 a.m., I took the time to accomplish a number of normal tasks I knew I would be unable to do. I spent about 20 minutes doing some filing in my home office, reading, writing a memo I will use next week for a short meeting with Sunday School secretaries, sending a few tasks to our receptionist via e-mail, responding to e-mail, reviewing material for my first meeting of the day and I wrote a few notes to some in our church I had been praying for. 7:30 a.m. Kelly was up with Brie to feed her, so we did not have our time of reading together. I finished packing to leave for the office. 8:00 a.m. Meeting with two of our pastors regarding our Ministry Action Plans for 2008. We had a lively and very helpful discussion regarding how we will be developing and overseeing ministry next year. 10:00 a.m. Spent time reviewing and preparing for a number of financial issues, responded to e-mail, had a few phone calls and did some basic “next item” work on a number of projects. 12:00 p.m. At the gym to work out. 1:00 p.m. At home...
