Mark Driscoll asked J.I. Packer “which theological issues he would commend young Christian leaders to study in order to be prepared for the next fifty years”. Here’s the result.

1. Regeneration
   He said that the doctrine of regeneration has not been fully appreciated by many who do not understand that to be born again with a new heart and new nature means that we have at our deepest level a new identity and new passionate desires for God’s Word and ways. He commended to all young Christian leaders a thorough study on the doctrine of regeneration.
2. God-Centered Theology
   He said that theology today is rife with man-centered thinking so that the glory of God in all things is not the essence of what is taught to be faithfully Christian. The result, he explained, is that even Christians often live their lives for the supreme purpose of their perceived happiness, feelings, and satisfaction. Yet, biblical Christianity differs from the other religions of the world in that the desires and purposes of God override ours; we are not the number one priority, but rather God is.
3. Godliness Begins at Home
   This point was both surprising and refreshing. I was expecting only weighty and complicated theological admonition from such a theological giant. However, his wise counsel on this point is well needed. Packer said that most Christians do not take seriously the biblical teaching that true Christian living begins first at home with one’s spouse, children, and grandchildren. Therefore, he implored young Christian leaders to begin their quest for maturity and holiness at home in relationship with their family.
4. Trinity
   Packer stated that the fullness of the doctrine of the Trinity is not completely appreciated as it should be. The result, he said, is that some Christians have only a deep understanding of Jesus or the Holy Spirit so that they are guilty of what he called “Jesus-olatry” or “Holy Spirit-olatry” rather than a full love and worshipful appreciation of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.

May I focus on them in my study and life.

Editor’s Note

Seminaries don’t make pastors, churches do.

You’ll hear someone at 9Marks say that if you hang around us long enough. In this issue of the eJournal, we try to put some flesh on this basic idea.

Mark Dever considers why the local church is uniquely equipped and commissioned to the work of raising up future pastors. Then he offers some practical advice for every pastor and church for doing this work, whether or not they have the resources for an internship program. Both seminary presidents and pastors offer their sentiments in a couple of 9Marks forums. And one of John MacArthur’s associate pastors, Nathan Busenitz, tells the story of how Grace Community Church decided to plant a seminary within the church.

Next, we asked three different churches how they formally mentor future pastors. We hope this might give our pastor readers a few ideas they can adopt, as God provides the opportunity. And our goal is the same for the last section, where we feature a number of church-affiliated programs. Maybe a church will start its own program; maybe it will sponsor a student through one of the programs listed here.

This issue does not contain the longer, more theological articles that we often include (we will in the future!), but here’s the very simple point we hope you catch: God primarily calls and equips men for the pastorate as pastors faithfully shepherd and disciple their own congregations. If you don’t read anything else, catch this point in the first three paragraphs of Dever’s second interview below.

Great eJournal. This is a topic that I’ve been thinking about almost constantly, as I respond to God’s call on my life to pastor in Ann Arbor in the midst of looking for a new church home that places a priority on training up men to be pastors.

Here are all the articles

RAISING UP THE NEXT GENERATION OF PASTORS

• Raising Up Pastors Is the Church’s Work (Part 1 of an interview with Mark Dever)
  Seminaries are neither necessary nor necessarily advisable for future pastors. They are useful for some, so long as churches don’t surrender the commission that Christ gave to them.
• How Do Pastors Raise Up Pastors? (Part 2 of an interview with Mark Dever)
  Not every church can afford an internship program or pastor’s college. So where does a pastor begin? It turns out he begins with what’s most important.
• A Seminary President’s Forum (Answers from Daniel L. Akin, Bryan Chapell, Dennis P. Hollinger and Paige Patterson)
  We asked a roundtable of seminary presidents why their seminary is needed, as well as what encouraging work they’re seeing in local churches.
• A Pastor’s Forum (Answers from Rickey Armstrong, Stephen E. Farish, David Helm, Juan Sanchez and Sandy Willson)
  We asked a roundtable of pastors whether churches have the responsibility of raising up the next generation of pastors and, if so, why?
• The Church as Classroom: The History of Master’s Seminary by Nathan Busenitz
  Here’s the story of how one local church pursued the mission of equipping future leaders.

HOW THREE CHURCHES MENTOR PASTORS

• “I Learned the Hard Way”
  Mentoring at South Woods Baptist by Phil A. Newton
• “Why Are We Joyfully Committed?”
  Mentoring at Bethlehem Baptist by Tom Steller
• “Look, It’s the Church’s Job”
  Mentoring at Lakeview Baptist by Al Jackson

Every marriage needs, and deserves, frequent reflection. Julie and I went through the Capital Hill Baptist Church’s Do-It-Yourself Marriage Retreat last Saturday night. My folks watched Malachi and we went out to eat and talked through our marriage so far, the highs and lows, and addressed specific areas like spirituality, family, and sexuality. It was a great time of thanking God for how He has brought together two sinful people in order to create a family that will glorify Him in all that we do. I was especially encouraged with Julie’s recognition and appreciation of the ways I’ve been working on myself to changed behaviors and attitudes that directly affect her.

If anyone reads this blog, which I highly doubt, I couldn’t more highly recommend doing this retreat with you and your spouse.

Mike Wittmer, author of one of my most favorite books, Heaven is a Place on Earth, and most recently, Don’t Stop Believing: Why Living Like Jesus Is Not Enough
, has been publishing blog posts recently about some questions he asked of some Emergent Christians at a conference. These Emergent believers sure have a lot of difficulty saying that there are actual beliefs that are needed in order to have faith in Christ and, thusly, to rightly practice those beliefs. Here are the posts

• January 30, 2009 – Original Question
• February 1, 2009 – Question “answered”
• February 2, 2009 – More questions, less answers

Informative post from Pastor Jamie Munson, Lead Pastor of Mars Hill Church ~ Seattle. A former pastor was the first person that ever thought I could make a good executive pastor. I’ve thought about it many times since, but I feel more called to leading a congregation by preaching and teaching.

1. Know your calling – First and foremost, you’re called to be a Christian who worships Jesus. Second, you’re called to lead your wife and kids. After that, comes your broader ministry. If for you that means “executive pastor,” then you need to ask yourself: Are you content with being a behind the scenes guy?
2. Fear and respect – You must fear God and respect the Lead Pastor. Don’t mix that up, and if you do, repent. 1 Timothy 5 and 6 lay out a very concrete explanation of the distinction between who is to be feared and who is to be respected.
3. Mutual understanding – There is no cookiecutter job description for either role; it depends on the gifts and talents of each man. You have to know one another’s strengths and weaknesses—what you’re good at, and what he’s good at. This understanding requires a real friendship, mutual respect, trial and error, and good communication.
4. Key relationships – All too often, the lead pastor is the relational glue between lots of people. The elders, board, staff, deacons, community leaders, and key donors all depend on their relationship with the lead pastor to move things forward, design new ministry, solve problems, make decisions and stay committed 100% to the ministry of the church (I don’t really understand that sentence…are you saying it’s a good thing, a bad thing, or simply how it is?). That is a lot of pressure and responsibility, and the lead pastor needs help. Not just administrative help, but leadership help. The executive pastor must provide relational leadership so that the lead pastor is not the sole hub to which every spoke is connected.
5. Project management – This varies from man to man, but most lead pastors I know hate project management and administration. They like communication, they like knowledge of what’s going on, but the ins and outs of every detail suck the life out of them. To make project management successful, you must take on and capture every detail you can, and build a team around you to help.
6. Different hats – The relationship between the lead pastor and executive pastor is complicated and muddy, but also life-giving, if properly understood. The relationship is mult-dimensional, and understanding what hat to where when is vital.

Matthew
———–
26:36 p
26:39 p
26:41 p
26:42 p
26:44 p

Mark
——
1:35 p
2:28-20 f
6:31 p
6:46 p
8:7 p