This is my experience as a Pastor leading a congregation to embrace a new vision for the future.

Why do so few pastors take sabbaticals? There may be several reasons, but one of the most common is that a sabbatical is simply never offered by the church. Most pastors would find it inappropriate to demand a sabbatical. Further, the nature of rotating leadership in churches, coupled with other dynamics of the average church, make the provision of a sabbatical an after-thought.

The culture of a church serves like a current in a body of water. Whether people are aware of it or not, every church has its own cultural current or momentum.

The man who lead Israel out of slavery was never a slave.

Sometimes, when people feel the need to construct a flawlessly coherent theological system, they are faced with gaps in the system. Those gaps are mysterious.
 

Why are Jezebel-figures able to have influence in churches? Because it's tolerated. That's exactly how Jesus confronted the issue when it was present in Thyatira. He told them that they "tolerated" Jezebel.

Often our decision making can be influenced by things like anger, anxiety, fear or worry.  It's hard to believe that any godly choices can result from any of these emotions.  What if our decision making process was free of these negative emotions and was guided by something else? 

You don't get to decide whether you will fulfill your calling, you only get to decide whether you will enjoy it.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray as those who don't need the attention of other people, and already have the attention of God.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, He prayed "lead us not into temptation". He knew that if you can avoid temptation you can avoid sin all together.

The entire Old Testament bears examples of God's people refusing to consecrate themselves and carry out their responsibilities, instead appointing a small group of people to do the entire communities job. In some ways, this attitude still fuels the modern day clergy/laity dichotomy.
The New Testament tells a different story...

We have to learn how to impart and inherit. The Fathers and Mothers must learn how to impart wisdom, maturity and depth. The Sons and Daughters must discover how to inherit lessons and resources that were already paid for with someone else's blood, sweat and tears and value the sacrifices of the previous generation.

To put it succinctly, the message of the gospel is more than simply personal salvation. The message of the gospel includes growing in holiness and sanctification through the filling of the Holy Spirit, makes divine healing central and not peripheral and offers hope in the return of Jesus.

For a long time the goal of much Christian Education ("discipleship") was focused more on establishing a Christian worldview than on leading people into an encounter with God.

I've found that often the people with the most over-the-top expressions of praise have some pretty incredible testimonies and if we just took time to listen to their stories it would make perfect sense to us why they sing and dance and shout and clap the way that they do.

If you are more convinced of your disappointments in God than you are in His inability to disappoint, you may need to take time to assess whether you are a believer or a disbeliever.

Sustaining spiritual renewal is not simply a "christian growth tip" or "spirituality hack", it's a paradigm shift. It means that the focus of your life becomes sustaining the fire of God that rests in your chest by making actionable decisions on a moment-by-moment basis.

Our response to the power of God does not validate or invalidate the work of God. It's not real just when people respond correctly. It's real if Jesus did it.

While many churches are debating the desires of the church members verses the needs of the community, a church that exists for Jesus can give itself to the will of God and to pleasing Him.

The church is not the Kingdom.  The church is supposed to reflect the Kingdom, but for now the church is imperfect.  The church needs to be regularly and consistently remade to better reflect the Kingdom of God.