Husband, Father, and Pa to the best and most amazing. Blessed man!Pastor of Hoschton Baptist Church, the best church ever! Author of Heroic Church Membership.
There is a sorrow in ministry few ever see. You pour yourself into someone. You pray, teach, care, sit with them in their grief, celebrate their milestones, invest years. Then one day, they leave. Not because of sin or deep conflict. Just something small. A preference. A programming change. A shift in feeling. And they are gone.
You do not resent them. You want what is best for them. But it still hurts. Because pastoring is not a project. It is personal. You gave them your heart. And now there is a quiet space where connection used to be.
You learn to release. You trust that they belong to Christ, not to you. You preach the truth to your own soul. But you never fully get used to it.
Someone once said the average person loses seven deep relationships in a lifetime. A pastor may lose that many every year. Some departures are healthy. Some are holy. But many are just confusing. And you carry the ache in silence.
Still, you keep going. You keep loving. You keep showing up. Because Jesus did. He was left, misunderstood, betrayed. And He kept opening His arms.
So we do too. We trust the Lord with the losses. We keep planting seeds, and we believe that nothing done in love is ever wasted.
Reflecting on over a decade of pastoral ministry, I share five invaluable lessons from my journey in this latest post: "Shades of the Past." Discover insights on humility, clarity in preaching, and more. Read it here: https://t.co/IMkIOCJ4UH
When you stand behind the lectern to proclaim God’s Word, you’re not the vine—you’re just a branch. And that same truth holds on the most “Monday” of Mondays. Rest in that.
And... drink an extra cup of ☕️.
To the ministry leader serving faithfully in the quiet places… This is for you. But God hasn’t called you to panic—He’s called you to persevere.
https://t.co/uPvB8yZ3Nn
What a tremendous realization “Jesus has given me all the resources He wants me to have to do everything He wants me to do right now.” @caryschmidt must be reading my mail…
Preached the second half of Romans 1 today… that’s just a heavy, heavy chapter! No way to teach it truthfully and lovingly without feeling a deep and profound sorrow for the lost human condition. Thank God for the gospel!!
Press Release from Josh Sullivan
I want to begin by thanking God for delivering me from what was undoubtedly the worst experience of our life. I also want to thank him for delivering me from my sin 28 years ago when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour.
Staying married for a lifetime isn't a magic formula. It's quite simple: repent and forgive. That's it. Keep doing that for a lifetime and you'll learn more about God's grace and His covenantal love for you than any self-help marriage book you can buy.
God called me to be a pastor.
*I was an average student. I made a 23 on my ACT.
*My dad insulated houses. My mom was a secretary. There were no pastors in my family.
*At 19 years of age, my home church rejected me as a candidate to become their youth pastor.
*I failed my first theology test in Bible College.
*My favorite pastor told me that my personality was not suited for ministry.
*I spent 10 years at @SBTS getting an MDiv and a PhD. One of my favorite professors, Stephen Wellum, never liked any of the papers I wrote for his courses and seminars.
*I was rejected twice for the Theology PhD program at @SBTS.
*My prospectus for my dissertation was rejected for a year by my professors at @SBTS until it was completely rejected, and I had to write a new one on a new subject. That’s why I wrote on concupiscence.
*For my American Church history comprehensive exam, my professor, Gregory Wills, required a verbal exam because my written exam wasn’t comprehensive enough.
Yet, today, people call me Pastor and Doctor.
What’s the moral of the story? God equips those He calls. He can turn a hillbilly into a pastor and theologian.
Quit your whining and get to work.
Coach: “Your child needs to be at practice. It benefits them, & the team. Commitment matters.”
Parents: “Yes, coach. Wouldn’t miss.”
Pastor: “Your child needs to be at church. It benefits them, & the faith family. Commitment matters.”
Parents: “Wow, pastor. That’s legalistic!”
Ministry is not for the faint of heart. If you need constant affirmation, appreciation for your efforts, applause for your preaching, praise for your leadership, or abundant patience when you fail, this calling will crush you. It’s not that these never occur—they do—but never with the frequency required to sustain a man who depends on them for his joy.
The formula is simple: Love. Lead. Limp. Do this faithfully for a few decades, then embrace obscurity and die. The world may not notice, but the Savior you served will, and His reward is greater than anything you sought from men.